Protesters shut down Brazilian highways, call for military to intervene after divisive election result | CBC News

Brazilian authorities said on Wednesday they are making headway in their efforts to clear blockades set up across the country by truckers to protest President Jair Bolsonaro’s narrow loss to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an Oct. 30 runoff election.

Brazil’s Federal Highway Police (PRF) said protesters were blocking highways partially or fully in 146 locations as of early Wednesday evening, down from around 190 the previous night. The blockades began Sunday after polls closed in Brazil.

Although smaller than in previous days, the protests are still likely disrupting fuel distribution, industrial activity, food deliveries to supermarkets and shipments of grains to ports.

Anvisa, the national health agency, warned that the blockades could lead to shortages of medical supplies. 

ANP, the oil regulator, changed rules related to minimum fuel storage requirements on distribution sites and relaxed cooking gas bottling requirements in a bid to prevent potential energy shortages. 

Abear, a trade group which represents Brazilian airlines, warned that the jet fuel supplies may be compromised.

“Authorities must urgently lift blockades and roads giving access to airports,” said Eduardo Sanovicz, head of Abear.

Police said 688 roadblocks had been cleared across the country, though roads remained blocked or partially blocked in 17 of Brazil’s 26 states, most notably in farm states like Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso, where Bolsonaro has strong popular support.

Bolsonaro not conceding defeat

A right-wing nationalist, Bolsonaro has not conceded defeat but has stopped short of contesting the election result and has authorized his chief of staff to begin the transition process with Lula’s representatives.

In remarks on Tuesday, the Brazilian president said the protests resulted from “indignation and a sense of injustice” over the vote, and he did not explicitly ask his supporters to take down the blockades or stop the protests.

The Justice Ministry on Wednesday said more than 900 fines had been issued against drivers who are participating in the protests and using vehicles to block roads.

Truckers, a key Bolsonaro constituency that benefited from his policies to lower fuel prices, have disrupted the Brazilian economy by shutting highways in recent years.

Calls for military intervention

Some of the protesters have called for military intervention to keep Bolsonaro in power.

“We hope the army will intervene in this situation, we know that those elections were fraudulent,” said Reinaldo da Silva, 65, a retired government worker at a rally at the entrance to a São Paulo army barracks.

“I came today because I want Brazil to be free, socialism does not work with the Brazilian nation.”

Similar rallies were held at barracks in a total of nine states and the capital Brasilia, according to Brazilian online media portal UOL.

Brazil’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has cultivated strong ties to the military since his 2018 election, winning over the political sympathies of some of the top brass.

Like many politically conservative Brazilians, he has often waxed nostalgic for the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Lula, by contrast, was jailed in the 1970s for protesting against the military government.

But the armed forces have been wary of direct involvement in politics since the dictatorship, which left the country in economic chaos.

Paulo Chagas, a retired cavalry general who campaigned for Bolsonaro in 2018, said in a message to Reuters: “The military know full well what their duty is: the constitution does not allow them to intervene in politics.”

General Otavio Rego Barros, a former spokesman for Bolsonaro, said in a column published on Wednesday that it was time for the election losers to concede and think of Brazil’s future.

He criticized “groups with no sense of responsibility that still seek to destabilize a weakened social fabric with provocations and misinformation.”

Chagas and Rego Barros fell out with Bolsonaro over his pressure on the armed forces to endorse him politically.