Two explosions with one death have shaken the political heart of Brazil and have forced the security forces to evacuate the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, in Brasilia, the capital, this Wednesday around seven thirty in the afternoon (local time ). The headquarters of the Presidency, the two chambers of Congress and the headquarters of the Supreme Court are concentrated in the square and it was the epicenter of the attempted coup d’état carried out by thousands of Bolsonaro supporters in January 2023. The death of the only victim has been defined by the Military Police of Brasilia as “a self-extermination with explosive.” The deadly attack in Brasilia occurs five days before Rio de Janeiro, located almost 1,200 kilometers away, will host the summit of the leaders of the G-20, the club of the largest economies on the planet, starting next Monday. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not in his office, but at his residence, which is four kilometers away. Authorities have not provided any official information about the deceased or his motivations.
Although the details are still unclear, the information agrees that a person has died in the vicinity of the headquarters of the highest court due to an explosion. The second explosion occurred in a car located hundreds of meters away, in the parking lot of one of the Congress annexes. Incidents involving explosives are extremely rare in Brazil.
The vehicle, which partially burned, was loaded with explosives, according to a Military Police sergeant cited by the press. “The car has some kind of bomb. There are several explosives broken up and tied with bricks around it, but the explosives have not completely ignited.” The vehicle has a license plate from Santa Catarina, a southern State.
According to some Brazilian newspapers, which do not cite any source, the car belongs to a candidate for councilor who ran for election in 2020 for the far-right Liberal Party of former president Jair Bolsonaro. They add that this person published a series of threats against President Lula and other senior officials of the republic on social networks just before the attack.
After the two explosions, the security forces immediately evacuated the headquarters of the Supreme Court, where at that time a hearing had just ended in which several of the court’s 11 judges had participated in person. The Supreme Court has confirmed in a statement that the officers and officials who were in the building when the explosions were heard have been removed from there as a precaution. The Chamber of Deputies, which was debating a proposal to extend tax exemptions to churches, has also suspended the session due to the incident.
Dozens of police officers, soldiers and firefighters have been deployed in the huge square. Explosive deactivation teams have also gone to the area, according to the newspaper Globe. And the Planalto palace, seat of the Presidency, has been cordoned off. Both the presidential palace and the Supreme Court headquarters are glass buildings, designed by Óscar Niemeyer, but the explosions have not affected the transparent facades, as seen in television images.
On January 7, 2023, images of the Plaza de los Tres Poderes went around the world when a mob of followers of former President Bolsonaro forcibly entered the headquarters of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches. More than 200 of the extremists who participated in the assault have been tried and sentenced to long sentences for attempted coup d’état, among other crimes. Some of those convicted and those investigated for that attack have fled to Argentina in the hope that the ultra Javier Milei Government will not grant their extradition, which the Brazilian justice system has already requested.
Next Monday and Tuesday the G-20 summit will be held in Rio. Among the heads of state who have confirmed their presence, the presidents of the United States, Joe Biden, now leaving the White House, and of China, Xi Jinping, stand out. And it is expected to be the scene of the first meeting between Lula and the Argentine Milei. Xi is scheduled to travel to Brasilia in exactly one week for a state visit.
