Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has “condemned” the attempted coup that took place in Brazil.
On 8 January 2023, following the defeat of then-president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian general election, a mob of his supporters attacked Brazil’s federal government buildings in the capital, Brasília.
The mob invaded and vandalized the Supreme Federal Court, the National Congress building, and the Planalto Presidential Palace in the Three Powers Plaza, seeking to violently overthrow the democratically elected president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had been inaugurated on 1 January.
In a press conference, Prime Minister Skerrit stated that “Dominica stands in full solidarity with the government and people of Brazil.”
“We are in lockstep with the international community, in our unequivocal condemnation of attempts by anti-democratic forces in that country to undermine the will of the people. These ongoing efforts to destabilize the government of Brazil shall not stand, and the full extent of the law must be used to bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said.
“This movement inspired by antidemocratic leaders and fed by conspiracy theories remains a grave threat to democracy – not just in Brazil, but throughout the Americas. We are beginning to see a metastasizing of such tendencies in many of our nations, big and small, underlying the need for each of us to be vigilant in the defense and protection of our democracies, guided by fully established norms and the rule of law.”
He said that “It is unacceptable that some forces in many nations continue to peddle the notion that any election they lose is not proper – even though there is no evidence to support their claims.”
The attack occurred a week after Lula’s inauguration and followed several weeks of unrest from Bolsonaro’s supporters. It took more than five hours for the Brazilian security forces to clear all three buildings of the rioters. The storming of the government buildings drew swift condemnation from governments around the world.
In response to the attack, Lula announced that he had signed a decree authorizing a federal state of emergency in the Federal District through the end of January 2023 The Congress was not in session at the time of the attacks, but it swiftly ratified the declaration by 10 January.