This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on the day’s events below:
Hi, I’m the Guardian’s world news liveblogger, Helen Sullivan, and I’ll be taking on this live coverage of the protests in Brazil for the next while.
If you see anything you think we may have missed, or have other questions or comments, the easiest way to get in touch is on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Continue reading...President Lula denounces ‘fanatical fascists’ and announces federal security intervention after Bolsonaro supporters storm political buildings in capital
Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the country’s congress, presidential palace and supreme court on Sunday, in a grim echo of the US Capitol invasion two years ago by backers of former president Donald Trump.
About 6.30pm local time, three hours after initial reports of the invasion, security forces managed to retake the three buildings, Brazilian media reported. TV images showed dozens of rioters being led away in handcuffs. Police said 300 people had been arrested over the attacks.
The leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, announced a federal security intervention in Brasília – bringing policing under the control of the central government – lasting until 31 January after capital security forces initially were overwhelmed by the invaders. He said the law enforcement bodies showed “incompetence, bad faith or malice” and promised swift action. Lula, as the president is widely known, defeated Bolsonaro in election run-offs last year.
Bolsonaro responded to Sunday’s attacks with social media posts defending his record in government while saying invasion of public buildings crossed the line. “Peaceful demonstrations, within the law, form part of democracy,” he wrote on Twitter. “However, depredations and invasions of public buildings like those that happened today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, are exceptions to the rule.” He stopped short of condemning the mob outright and instead hit out at Lula’s claims he was responsible.
In a press conference, Lula blamed Bolsonaro and complained about a lack of security in the capital, saying authorities had allowed “fascists” and “fanatics” to wreak havoc. “These vandals, who we could call … fanatical fascists, did what has never been done in the history of this country,” said Lula, who was on an official trip to São Paulo state. “All these people who did this will be found and they will be punished.” The president later toured the wreckage of his presidential palace.
The sight of thousands of yellow-and-green clad protesters running riot in the capital capped months of tension after the 30 October vote. Bolsonaro, an acolyte of Trump who has yet to concede defeat, peddled the false claim that Brazil’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud, spawning a violent movement of election deniers. Bolsonaro flew to Florida 48 hours before the end of his mandate and was absent from Lula’s inauguration. The violence in Brasília could amplify the legal risks Bolsonaro faces. It also presents a headache for US authorities as they debate how to handle his stay in Florida.
Supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Ibaneis Rocha, the pro-Bolsonaro governor of the federal district, where Brasília is located, to be removed from his post for 90 days amid outrage that authorities had failed to prevent the attack. De Moraes wrote that the attacks “could only have happened with the acquiescence, or even direct involvement, of public security and intelligence authorities”.
Two Democrats in the US Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joaquin Castro, called for Bolsonaro’s extradition from the US. “The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida,” Ocasio-Cortez said, as she compared the protests to the 6 January storming of the US Capitol. “Nearly two years to the day, the US Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil.”
The US president, Joe Biden, condemned what he called the “assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil”, adding that Brazil’s democratic institutions “have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined”.
The supreme court, whose crusading justice Alexandre de Moraes has been a thorn in the side of Bolsonaro and his supporters, was ransacked by the occupiers, according to social media images that showed protesters clubbing security cameras and shattering the windows of the modernist building.
Brasília’s governor, Ibaneis Rocha, wrote on Twitter that he had fired his top security official, Anderson Torres, previously Bolsonaro’s justice minister. The solicitor general’s office said it had filed a request for Torres’ arrest.
Continue reading...Joe Biden says situation in Brazil is ‘outrageous’ as presidents across South America denounce ‘assault on democracy’
Joe Biden said the situation in Brazil was “outrageous” after supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the country’s congress, presidential palace and supreme court on Sunday, with some senior US lawmakers calling for the far-right figure to be extradited from the US.
Biden’s words of condemnation were echoed by world leaders across the globe, including some of Brazil’s closest neighbours.
Continue reading...Marcela Ríos stands down before expected congressional complaint over pardons of those involved in 2019 political violence
Chile’s justice minister, Marcela Ríos, has resigned her post, the country’s president, Gabriel Boric, said on Saturday, amid accusations of wrongdoing over pardons given to people connected to violent 2019 protests.
Lawyer Luis Cordero Vega will take up the job in the coming days, leftist Boric added in a video statement, thanking Ríos for her work during her 10 months in the role.
Continue reading...Death of young woman follows other accidents on the network, including one in 2021 that killed 26
Two subway trains collided between stations in Mexico City on Saturday, killing at least one person and injuring 57, authorities said.
Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on her Twitter account that the accident happened on Line 3 of the capital’s Metro system, without specifying the cause of the crash, which occurred between the Potrero and La Raza stations.
Continue reading...Journalist touring residence with new first lady is shown torn sofas, broken windows and art damaged by the sun
Jair Bolsonaro’s wrecking of the Amazon made him a global outcast – but his acts of desecration were not limited to the rainforest.
A report by the Brazilian broadcaster GloboNews suggests that even the official presidential residence – a 1950s masterpiece by the architect Oscar Niemeyer – was defiled by the far-right politician during his four years in power.
Continue reading...Ovidio Guzmán’s arrest on Thursday prompted heavy fighting from cartel gunmen in the city of Culiacán
Mexican authorities have captured Ovidio Guzmán, a son of incarcerated drugs kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, prompting a wave of retaliatory attacks from cartel gunmen in the northern city of Culiacán.
After a night of violence, gunmen exchanged fire with security forces, blocking roads with burning vehicles and shooting at army helicopters and police aeroplanes bringing reinforcements to the city.
Continue reading...Jamaican police say fatal shooting of Sean Patterson, 33, was ‘contract killing that emanated from Britain’
A British man who was shot dead in Jamaica this week was the victim of a contract killing ordered in Britain, according to local police.
Sean Patterson, 33, a personal trainer from west London, was found with gunshot wounds to his upper body and head at about midday on Monday in Bogue Hill, St James, police said.
Continue reading...After Bolsonaro’s defeat and Duterte’s departure, 1.7 billion people are now living under populist rule, report says
The number of populist leaders around the world has fallen to a 20-year low after a series of victories for progressives and centrists over the past year, according to analysis from the Tony Blair Institute showing the number of people living under populist rule has fallen by 800 million in two years.
The research claims 2023 could be an equally decisive year for populism, with critical elections in Turkey and Poland. Those two elections could see two of the most influential populist governments in the world fall, though that may yet require divided opposition parties in both countries to form clearer coalition programmes than they have managed so far.
Continue reading...Sean Patterson, 33, reportedly killed by gunman while he was standing by pool at guest house in Bogue Hill
A British man has been shot dead at a villa in the St James parish of Jamaica.
Sean Patterson, 33, a personal trainer from west London, was found with gunshot wounds to his upper body and head at around midday on Monday in Bogue Hill, police said.
Continue reading...Few of the country’s previous World Cup winners traveled to pay homage to the football legend
Some of Brazil’s best-known footballers have faced a furious backlash as fans and pundits questioned why they had failed to attend ceremonies bidding farewell to Pelé.
Hundreds of thousands of people waited for hours under a burning sun on Monday to file past the recently deceased soccer legend’s coffin at Santos’ Vila Belmiro ground.
Continue reading...Statement contradicts president’s announcement of six-month truce between country’s five largest armed groups
Colombia’s largest remaining guerrilla group has contradicted government claims that they had agreed a national ceasefire, in a setback to plans to bring peace to the Andean nation after decades of violence.
President Gustavo Petro had announced on New Year’s Eve that the country’s five largest armed groups had agreed to a six-month truce, but on Tuesday the National Liberation Army (ELN) rejected the claims, saying it had not been consulted on any such plan.
Continue reading...Coffin of Brazilian footballer, who died aged 82, taken to cemetery near stadium where he began career
The Brazilian footballer Pelé has been buried in the port city where he began his career nearly 70 years ago, with the country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, flying in to lament the “irreparable loss”.
Pelé, who died last week age 82, scored most of his 1,283 goals for Santos football club and it was at a cemetery near the team’s Vila Belmiro stadium where he was laid to rest on Tuesday afternoon after an emotional three-hour procession through town.
Continue reading...Republican is accused of using stolen checkbook and fake name at shop outside Rio de Janeiro in 2008
As the fabulist New York Republican representative-elect George Santos prepares to be sworn in on Tuesday, Brazilian prosecutors say they are reopening a criminal fraud case against him.
Santos, who faces federal and state investigations involving possible criminal activity related to his two congressional campaigns, is accused of using a stolen checkbook and fake name at a clothing shop outside Rio de Janeiro in 2008, the New York Times reported on Monday citing court documents.
Continue reading...Spain’s poor western region is welcoming back heirs of those who once left it – especially from troubled Argentina
Galicia has long been one of Spain’s poorest regions and since the mid-19th century Galicians have emigrated in their tens of thousands to seek a brighter future in the Americas. But now they’re coming back.
The Galician regional government says that returnees – the majority are Argentinians – are settling in the area at a rate of three a day. After more than 150 years of steady depopulation, in 2019 more people arrived than left, while, for the first time in its history, the reverse was true for Argentina.
Continue reading...Family and friends stand over open coffin in Santos, as Fifa president asks countries to name stadiums after football legend
Thousands of mourners braved punishing heat to pay their final tribute to footballing legend Pelé on Monday as the president of Fifa said he would ask every member country to name a stadium after the recently deceased Brazilian player.
Fans lined up outside the 106-year-old Vila Belmiro ground in Santos – the city in south-eastern Brazil where Pelé first made his name as a star goal scorer in the 1950s – overnight and at about 10am mourners began filing past the coffin that had been placed under a shaded tent in the middle of the field.
Continue reading...Leftwinger promises environmental protections and social progress as he’s sworn in as president
A tearful Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to haul Brazil out of Jair Bolsonaro’s era of “devastation” and kickstart a new phase of reconciliation, environmental preservation and social justice after being sworn in as president.
Fighting back tears as he addressed tens of thousands of supporters who had packed the plaza outside the presidential palace in Brasília, Lula declared the end of “one of the worst periods in Brazilian history” under the former far-right president.
Continue reading...The return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has led to an outpouring of optimism in the South American country – and relief at the downfall of Jair Bolsonaro
They are billing it as Lulapalooza – a momentous explosion of Brazilian politics and dance – and Mayse Freitas wouldn’t miss it for the world.
“I think it’s going to be the greatest show on earth … It’ll be the happiest day of my life,” said the social activist from the Complexo do Alemão, one of Rio’s largest favelas, as she geared up for the festivities.
Continue reading...Remains discovered wrapped in aluminium foil at Queretaro airport while being sent to South Carolina
Four human skulls were discovered inside a package at a Mexican airport that was due to be sent by courier to the United States, local authorities say.
The skulls were found wrapped in aluminium foil inside a cardboard box at Queretaro intercontinental airport in central Mexico, the national guard said on Friday.
Continue reading...Huge crowds expected for funeral of footballing great as well as the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Brazil has been gearing up for one of the most monumental new years in its history as the South America nation prepared to both welcome a new president and say goodbye to one of its most famous sons.
Huge crowds are expected in Brasilia on 1 January to see Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inaugurated for a four-year term, while a day later football fans will gather in Santos to bid farewell to Pelé, the football legend who died on Thursday.
Continue reading...