Just Like Jan. 6 Rioters, Brazilian Rioters Are Getting Busted by Their Own Social Media Posts — Including Bolsonaro’s Nephew
The violence that shook Brazil’s capital city Sunday reminded many observers of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and new parallels in this “déjà coup” keep emerging, including rioters getting busted by their own social media posts.
When former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed into the Capitol in an effort to interrupt the certification of the Electoral College votes, hundreds of them were charged with various federal crimes and a lot of the evidence used to arrest, indict, and convict the Jan. 6 rioters came from their own social media posts. Investigators collected the posts, messages, photos, and videos (some even live-streamed while the riot was happening) to paint an undeniable record of their actions — perhaps most amusingly from the aspiring casanovas who boasted of their insurrectionist prowess on dating apps like Bumble.
Like Trump, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro promoted baseless claims of election fraud before the ballots were even counted in his narrow loss last October to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Lula was inaugurated earlier this month, and Bolsonaro defied the longstanding Brazilian tradition of the outgoing president handing over the presidential sash to his successor and instead traveled to Florida, renting a house in a gated community near Disney, just south of Orlando. His supporters have been camped out in the capital city of Brasilia for months, and swarmed into the government buildings that host the Congress, the presidential palace and offices, and Supreme Court on Sunday, violently clashing with police and committing significant acts of vandalism throughout.
Security forces had used tear gas to clear out the rioters and reportedly arrested about 1,500 people.
CNN’s Senior Latin Affairs Editor Rafael Romo reported on the latest developments in Brazil Monday, telling anchors Victor Blackwell and Alisyn Camerota that “the situation is finally, finally under control,” but the capital buildings still “looked like a war zone,” with “smashed windows” and “demolished offices.”
“They even tried to set on fire the carpet in the main hall of the congressional building,” said Romo, saying the damage was “extensive” and included “blood, feces and urine” in the presidential palace rooms.
At least 70 people were injured, six of them severely, Romo added, but no fatalities according to the Brazilian health ministry. Lula met with his cabinet for the first time Monday as government officials worked to make the vandalized offices safe and operational, and the new president has vowed to prosecute the rioters.
Bolsonaro has remained mum so far regarding the riots, but one of the rioters was identified as the former president’s nephew.
“It’s a nephew who — imagine this — he was identified because he decided to take pictures of himself and post them on social media,” said Romo. “And that’s how Brazilian media first found out that it was him, that he was participating and was in the middle of the chaos on Sunday. Imagine that, Victor and Alisyn.”
“Yeah. He just posted there on the internet,” said Blackwell.
“Wonder how he was caught,” Camerota deadpanned. “Wow. What sleuths.”
“The mystery is solved,” Blackwell replied.
Watch above via CNN.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
