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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 23 (AP) A few weeks before Brazil’s presidential election, police on Tuesday executed search warrants on several business leaders who allegedly participated in a private chat group that included support for a possible coup and the military. Participate in political commentary.
According to a statement from the federal police, the search and seizure order was issued by a Supreme Court judge in charge of the state’s electoral authority.
They targeted key supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro, according to two people whose properties were searched and sources with knowledge of the operation.
Many of the comments are speculative and appear to reflect personal opinions rather than a coordinated effort to undermine Brazilian democracy.
However, they have added to national tensions over whether Bolsonaro’s unsubstantiated allegations that the electoral system is vulnerable to fraud set the stage for an illegal power grab if votes don’t go his way.
The first round of elections will be held on October 2, with a possible runoff on October 30.
According to sources with knowledge of the search, the search warrants targeted the eight businessmen in a story that appeared last week on news site Metropoles, which posted screenshots of their chat groups on the private messaging app WhatsApp.
The person did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Many of the executives who appeared in the Aug. 17 Metropoles report said they supported democracy, and Bolsonaro’s allies immediately denounced the action as an excess of justice.
Bolsonaro’s meteoric rise from fringe lawmaker to presidential candidate in 2018 was aided by the company’s automated WhatsApp messages to the electorate.
In addition to issuing the search warrants, Justice Alexander Demoras determined that the businessmen had their social media accounts blocked and their bank accounts frozen, according to the online news site G1.
According to the site, Demoras also lifted the seal on their bank records and authorized federal police to take their testimony.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s son and federal lawmaker, tweeted: “This is clearly an attempt to intimidate any prominent person into taking a political stance in favor of Bolsonaro or against left-wing action.”
“This is an attack on democracy in the campaign. Censorship. There’s no other word!”
In an Aug. 17 report, Metropoles said it had been monitoring a WhatsApp group called “Businessmen & Politics” for several months.
It reproduced messages allegedly sent by owners of a popular restaurant chain, shopping malls and construction companies, among others, expressing their loyalty to Bolsonaro and supporting the president’s claims that the judicial system was working against him.
Some have highlighted the benefits of authoritarian governance models.
“I prefer a coup to the return of the Workers’ Party. A million times,” one of the members said in a released screenshot, referring to Da Silva’s left-wing party.
“Of course no one will stop doing business with Brazil. Like they have done with several dictatorships around the world.”
The Associated Press could not confirm the authenticity of the screenshots.
Bolsonaro claimed that the electronic voting machines used in Brazil since the mid-1990s were prone to fraud, but provided no evidence.
He also said some members of the electoral authority backed former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who led all polls in the office he held between 2003 and 2010.
The Supreme Court said in an email that de Moraes’ decision to issue a search warrant has been sealed.
The brief police statement referred to eight arrest warrants in five states.
The targeted executives include Luciano Hang, owner of Brazilian retailer Havan and an avid Bolsonaro supporter, according to several news outlets, including La São Paulo.
Hang said on his official Twitter account that the Met’s story was “irresponsible” and created a false narrative: “I never talked about a coup.”
Other members of the group are more talkative. “If the side we defend wins, the blood of the victims becomes the blood of the heroes!” wrote one executive.
Another expressed interest in giving out bonuses to employees who voted for Bolsonaro, before another member told him it could amount to vote buying.
Several members supported Bolsonaro’s pledge to hold a large military parade along Rio’s Copacabana Beach on September 7, Independence Day. One netizen wrote: “I want to see if the Supreme Court has the courage to rig the election after the military parade…The army is praised by the public.”
Another said the parade would “clearly show which side the Army is on”.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said the army would not be marching, but would hold a “limited” display there. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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