São Paulo, Brazil – Seeking to project strength amid mounting legal troubles, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro led a rally on Sunday in downtown São Paulo, calling for blanket amnesty for those charged or convicted in the violent January 8, 2023 attacks on Brazil’s democratic institutions.
The demonstration, held along the iconic Avenida Paulista, drew an estimated 45,000 people, according to researchers at the University of São Paulo.
It was attended by a number of prominent right-wing politicians, including seven sitting governors as well as federal lawmakers allied with Bolsonaro in Congress.
The rally followed a similar script to one held in Copacabana last month, and featured fierce criticism of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court — particularly Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing several investigations involving Bolsonaro.
Among them is a criminal case in which the former president will stand trial alongside seven others, charged with five crimes: leading an armed criminal organization, attempting to violently abolish the democratic rule of law, staging a coup d’état, causing damage to federal property, and the destruction of heritage-protected buildings.
Standing atop a sound truck parked in front of the São Paulo Museum of Art, Bolsonaro delivered a defiant speech to an impassioned crowd.
He denounced the investigations that have uncovered a coordinated effort to keep him in power after his 2022 electoral defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as well as the alleged links between those efforts and the storming of Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and Presidential Palace on January 8.
“Only a psychopath would say that what happened on January 8 was an armed attempt at a military coup,” Bolsonaro declared.
While the event’s central theme was the push for amnesty — a move that, if approved by Congress, could ultimately benefit Bolsonaro himself — the former president also used the platform to float the possibility of a political comeback in 2026. That is despite a 2023 ruling by Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) that rendered him ineligible to run for public office until 2030, citing abuse of political power and misuse of public communications.
In a veiled suggestion that he might seek help from abroad to overturn that ban, Bolsonaro noted that by 2026, two Supreme Court justices appointed by him will also be serving on the TSE — implying they could influence the court’s stance.
“Next year, the Electoral Court will have a completely impartial profile, and we’ll be able to trust the elections,” he said.
Bolsonaro also made a cryptic reference to his son, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, who recently relocated to the United States. The former president hinted at the possibility of foreign intervention on his behalf, suggesting that allies abroad might offer assistance.
“Don’t worry about me. Cowardice may happen. One of my sons is missing here today — Eduardo Bolsonaro, who speaks English, Spanish, Arabic. He’s in the United States, connected with important people around the world. I still have hope that something will come from outside,” he said.
Featured Image: Bolsonaro leads demonstration in São Paulo. (Photo credit: broadcast via youtube)
