Brazil’s Minister of Justice Flavio Dino announced on Monday that he instructed the nation’s Federal Police (PF) to investigate a speech by lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, in which he condemned “teachers who indoctrinate.”
The younger Bolsonaro, a member of the Brazilian Congress’s Chamber of Deputies, made the offending remarks at a pro-firearm event in Brasília on Sunday. During the event, Eduardo Bolsonaro reportedly compared teachers who ideologically indoctrinate children to drug traffickers, without naming any specific ideology. Bolsonaro asserted a “teacher who indoctrinates” may even be worse than a drug trafficker.
“If we, for example, have a generation in which parents pay attention to their children’s education, take the time to see what they are learning in schools, there will be no room for teachers who indoctrinate trying to kidnap our children,” Bolsonaro said. “There is no difference between a teacher who indoctrinates and a drug dealer who tries to kidnap our children into the world of crime. Maybe the indoctrinating teacher is even worse because he will cause discord within his home, seeing oppression in all kinds of relationships.”
Justice Minister Dino instructed the Federal Police to determine if there is evidence of “possible crimes” in Bolsonaro’s Sunday speech.
“I have ordered the Federal Police to analyze the speeches made this Sunday at an arms act held in Brasilia,” Dino posted on Monday on his official Twitter account. “The objective is to identify evidence of possible crimes, notably incitement or apology for criminal acts.”
The event was held by Pró Armas, a group that advocates for the right to bear arms in Brazil. According to the organization, the peaceful annual event received the proper authorization from local authorities and transpired without any incident. The group did not allow anyone to bring firearms to the event.
The event was held in Brasília’s Esplanada dos Ministérios, part of a major avenue of the Brazilian capital that houses the offices of Brazil’s federal ministries and the nation’s top court, Congress, and presidential palace.
Um dia histórico! IV Encontro e caminhada pela Liberdade PROARMAS.
É a primeira manifestação PACÍFICA e ORDEIRA, após a tentativa de intimidação de um certo regime.Sabe quando nós vamos parar? NUNCA!@BolsonaroSP @PollonMarcos @PROARMASBrasil
Estamos voltando 👊🇷 pic.twitter.com/8xrpWX1EJl
— Maicon Sulivan (@maiconsulivanbr) July 10, 2023
The group has defended former President Jair Bolsonaro’s firearm policies. Bolsonaro’s administration oversaw a plan that facilitated the legal acquisition of firearms by Brazilian civilians. Bolsonaro’s firearm policies were immediately reversed in the first hours of radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s third presidential term, which began on January 1. At the event this weekend, Bolsonaro also asserted that Brazil, under Lula da Silva, is heading in the same direction as neighboring socialist Venezuela.
“Venezuela is the most violent country in the world, and Brazil is going to move in that direction again,” Bolsonaro said. “Unfortunately, it will steal a lot of innocent lives, because the guys at the Ministry of Justice don’t want to give us all access to self-defense.”
In addition to the Federal Police’s investigation, several leftist lawmakers have announced legal actions against Bolsonaro over his speech. Brazilian lawmaker Sâmia Bonfim of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) filed a lawsuit at the Brazilian Attorney General’s office against Bolsonaro over his Sunday speech.
“Eduardo Bolsonaro is a coward! In a country marked by attacks against schools, using a platform at an arms event to incite hatred against teachers and equating them with bandits is a crime!” Bonfim said on Monday. “It won’t go unpunished. I’m triggering the [Attorney General] against this fascist right now!”
Similarly, PSOL lawmaker Guilherme Boulo said on Monday that his party will file a complaint with the Ethics Council of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies against Bolsonaro, arguing that Bolsonaro’s “insult to all Brazilian teachers” cannot go unpunished.
In 2018, a former PSOL member, Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, stabbed then-presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly in the abdomen during a campaign rally, failing to kill him but leaving him with chronic health complications.
PSOL lawmaker Luciene Cavalcante and Idilvan Alencar of the Democratic Labour Party also filed reports against Bolsonaro at the Attorney General’s Office and with the nation’s top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF). The lawmakers claim that Bolsonaro’s speech “constitutes true hate speech against teachers,” and incites its listeners to “attack and intimidate” them.
Eduardo Bolsonaro has not publicly commented on the matter at press time.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.