Prosecutors in Brazil keep an eye on Bolsonaro’s assets as his wealthy supporters criticize violence

Officials said the money is to be used to help pay for damage to public property when protesters stormed government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8. Investigators have also identified more than 100 companies suspected of financing the rioters and will ask that their assets be frozen, CNN Brazil reported, without saying where they got the information from.

Authorities are expanding their investigation into the worst acts of political violence in Brazil in decades after arresting more than 1,500 rioters, with a focus on tracing who paid to transport Bolsonaro supporters to Brasilia and who financed the protest camps in front of military barracks.

Authorities are also investigating possible links between the protesters and some members of Brazil’s huge agricultural sector, a key financial backer of Bolsonaro, but Justice Minister Flavio Dino said it was too early to say who financed the unrest.

The prosecutors “they will not stop at people detained at the scene”, Dino told GloboNews on Tuesday. “We will escalate this investigation as much as possible, up to the high places that directed the terrorism in Brazil”.

Latin America’s largest economy is reeling from the fallout from efforts by Bolsonaro supporters to reinstate him to power, which included vandalizing government offices, breaking windows and destroying works of art. Like the rioters who stormed the US Capitol in 2021 in support of Donald Trump, the former president’s allies are convinced that voter fraud prevented him from winning re-election in the October vote he lost to Luiz Inácio Lula. da Silva.

Some of the biggest financial backers of Bolsonaro’s 2022 campaign repudiated Sunday’s acts of violence, including agribusiness magnate Hugo de Carvalho Ribeiro, lawyer and preacher Fabiano Zettel and Luciano Hang, the billionaire owner of the chain of department stores Havan.

Bolsonaro, a populist former army captain who stunned political analysts when he won the presidency in 2018, relied on a web of individual backers both large and small to try to hang on to his post last year. Most of the financial support for his campaign came from the powerful agricultural sector. Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of soybeans, beef, coffee and sugar, with the sector accounting for around 25% of gross domestic product.

After narrowly losing to Lula, Bolsonaro retreated to the presidential palace and then took refuge in Florida while his successor took power. But opponents say his comments in interviews and tweets encouraged some of his supporters to think they could overturn his election defeat, ultimately leading to the riots.

Bolsonaro himself condemned the protests on Sunday. After being admitted to a hospital near Orlando on Monday with abdominal pain, he told CNN Brazil that he hopes to shorten his trip to the United States and return to Brazil.

Zettel, a partner in a São Paulo law firm focused on the financial sector and the largest single donor to Bolsonaro’s 2022 campaign, tried to distance himself from the unrest.

“Voting results must be honored, democracy defended by all of us”, he said in an emailed response to questions from Bloomberg News.

Hang also criticized the violence on January 8.

“I never endorsed nor would I endorse acts of violence and vandalismHang said in an email in response to questions. “I did not donate, participate in or encourage any undemocratic act, nor act against public property. I repudiate everything that was done on Sunday.”

Ribeiro, a member of the extended Maggi family, one of Brazil’s largest landowners, was the third-biggest donor to Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign last year. He said that rioters should be “identified and punished”, in an emailed statement. Ribeiro is a shareholder of Amaggi, a commodity conglomerate that billed more than US$7.3 billion in 2021.

Farmers in Brazil, like those in the United States, tend to lean toward conservatism and align with Bolsonaro’s declared religious faith and family values. They also appreciate your willingness to defend your priorities over environmental concerns, especially in the Amazon.

Brazilian farmers have rejected the idea that they bear any responsibility for the Brasilia riots. Comments that suggest otherwise”are inappropriate and do not reflect the real importance of agribusiness for the country”, said a group of soybean producers in the state of Mato Grosso on Monday.

For now, while the authorities are trying to find those responsible for financing the riots, they are still trying to locate the people who broke into government buildings.

As in the United States after January 6, 2021, Brazilian authorities are examining selfies and social media posts to identify and detain more participants. The Ministry of Justice has created an email address where people can report protesters, and has already received more than 30,000 tips.