MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro avoids talking about defeat and his team announces start of transition to Lula

Bolsonaro says he will “comply” with the Constitution after electoral defeat. Photo: EFE / Joedson Alves

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's team will start the transition process with authorities from Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's Workers' Party even though he did not expressly admit he was beaten in last Sunday's runoff.

The incumbent head of state gave a short speech from Brasilia Tuesday at around 4.30 pm local time, after which he did not take any questions.

He did however explain that street rioting nationwide was the result of fudgy elections after which he emerged as the leader of over 50 million Brazilians who stood for peace, liberty, and economic prosperity.

Bolsonaro also vowed to keep on fighting as President and as an ordinary citizen for the values of God, family, and the colors of the Brazilian flag, always within the country's Constitutional boundaries, even though he has been repeatedly labeled as an “antidemocratic person”, he said.

However, he explained that the riots and the blockades of several highways in the country were the result of “indignation” and the “feeling of injustice” for what happened in the presidential elections, in which - however - he emerged as the leader of more than 50 million Brazilians who defended peace, freedom and economic prosperity.

Bolsonaro also pledged to continue fighting as president and as an ordinary citizen for the values of God, the family and the colors of the Brazilian flag, always within constitutional limits, despite the fact that he has been repeatedly branded as anti-democratic.

In the two days following the election, Brazilian law enforcement was called in to disperse the numerous roadblocks set up by truckers and other supporters of President Bolsonaro, who insist that Sunday's elections were rigged and that Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva's victory was a fraud.

In his brief speech on Tuesday, Bolsonaro insisted that he would not oppose protests, but that he would always stay within the four walls of the Constitution and therefore would not endorse violent methods such as those used by his political rivals.

The highway leading to São Paulo's Guarulhos airport, the largest in the country, was blocked, causing cancellations and delays in some flights.

With tear gas, highway police shock troops tried to disperse a protest in Novo Hamburgo, on the outskirts of Porto Alegre, an AFP photographer noted.

“At the moment we are with 267 active blockade points” and other roadside demonstrations, reported Marco Antônio Territo de Barros, executive director of the Federal Highway Police (PRF), who said more than 300 events had already been put to an end since Sunday.

In Sao Paulo, the road blockade affected passenger transport at a major bus terminal, where police were trying to negotiate the exit of demonstrators carrying signs reading “Lula no!”.

Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes shared a video showing the Municipal Guard using pepper spray to disperse a group of protesters. “Here the laws are respected,” Paes wrote.

Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema, a political ally of Bolsonaro, also ordered local security forces to break up blockades in that state. “The election is over, we have to guarantee everyone's right to enter and leave,” Zema tweeted.

The police interventions come after a High Court judge ruled for the “immediate unblocking of roads and public roads.” Calls to support the blockades multiplied on Twitter and in bolsonarista groups on Telegram, AFP's digital research team found. A pamphlet circulating on the networks calls for a protest on the Esplanade of the Ministries in Brasília in the afternoon.

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) threatened to fine or imprison the director of the Highway Police (PRF), Silvinei Vasques, if blockades and traffic jams persisted. The uproar increased when local media reported that Vasques had posted on his Instagram profile a message calling to vote for Bolsonaro, which he later deleted.

The state that registered the most blockades was Santa Catarina (south), where Bolsonaro won almost 70% of the vote.

“Our strong representation in Congress demonstrates the strength of our values: God, homeland, family and freedom,” Bolsonaro said in his speech.