Former Brazilian President FHC Calls for Protests Against Current Government

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) used his Twitter account on Saturday, October 5th to criticize federal government measures, albeit in a covert fashion, and call for protests in defense of Brazilian democracy.

“The violence of criminals as well as of the government are worrisome,” wrote FHC on social media. “Weapons in the hands of criminals, or those who do not know how to use them, increase fear. Dismissing employees in cultural areas for ideology echoes madness. Without reaction, democracies die. There is freedom to protest. Let’s use it,” he added in the post.

In the passage in which he states that the weapons in the hands of those who do not know how to use them, one can gauge a criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro’s project of the generalized release of possession and carrying of weapons in Brazil.

The federal government has also dismissed ANCINE officials, allegedly for ideological issues, and established a kind of ideological censorship commission for cultural projects to receive support from the state-owned bank Caixa Economica – a move termed “nonsense” by the former president.

Head of Institutional Security Cabinet reacts

Hours after the former president’s posting, it was the turn of General Augusto Heleno, head of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI), to rebut in Spanish: “Por qué no te callas” (“Why don’t you shut up?”) said the member of Bolsonaro’s government.

General Heleno’s reaction is a reference to a response from the then King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, to then President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, in 2007.

During the XVII Ibero-American Conference held in the city of Santiago, Chile, the king ordered Chávez to remain quiet after the Venezuelan’s interruptions during the speech of then Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in defense of former Prime Minister José María Aznar. Chávez harshly criticized Aznar for his alleged support for the failed Coup against the Venezuelan president in 2002.

Source: UOL