118 HRES 106 IH: Condemning the undemocratic attacks on Brazil’s Government institutions and supporting the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent Presidential election.
U.S. House of Representatives
2023-02-08
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IV
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 106
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 8, 2023
Mr. Cicilline (for himself, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Wild, Ms. Titus, Mr. Allred, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Cohen, and Mr. García of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
RESOLUTION
Condemning the undemocratic attacks on Brazil’s Government institutions and supporting the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent Presidential election.
Whereas, on October 30, 2022, Brazil’s former President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, won the majority of votes cast in a runoff election to become Brazil’s next President over incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro;
Whereas Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party did well in the 2022 elections, winning 99 seats in the 513-member lower house, 13 of the 81 Senate seats, and 2 Governors’ races, in addition to participating in coalitions that elected at least 6 others;
Whereas Bolsonaro made his first public remarks 2 days later, thanking his supporters and encouraging their protests, as long as they remained peaceful, but failing to officially concede to Lula;
Whereas Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party asked the electoral court to reject ballots from voting machines deployed before 2020, claiming these models were compromised, notwithstanding that these voting machines represent 61 percent of all voting machines and rejecting these ballots would likely have flipped the election result;
Whereas Brazil’s electoral court rejected the challenge against the Presidential election result, stating that the complaint was made “in bad faith” and fined Bolsonaro’s party 22.9m reais or $4,300,000;
Whereas the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court that oversees elections have faced an unprecedented campaign of distrust and public threats to judges largely due to years of Bolsonaro making false claims about the election system including before, during, and after the 2022 electoral process;
Whereas, according to independent experts, Brazil’s election officials, and foreign governments, including the United States, there has been no evidence of fraud in the electronic voting machines since Brazil began using them in 1996, despite Bolsonaro’s claims otherwise;
Whereas, in the days leading up to Brazil’s Presidential elections, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube directed many online users seeking basic election-related information toward groups pushing claims that question the integrity of the vote or openly agitating for a military coup;
Whereas there are multiple layers of security to prevent fraud errors, including the testing of hundreds of machines on election day to ensure votes are recorded correctly, having each polling station publicly post vote counts to ensure they match up with the national tally, having outside experts inspect some of the source code of the machines’ software, and ensuring machines are not connected to the internet, significantly reducing the chances of a hack;
Whereas, despite this lack of evidence of election fraud, supporters of former President Bolsonaro blocked roads across the country, scuffled with police, and continued demonstrating outside of military barracks, urging a military intervention in order to prevent Lula from taking office;
Whereas Bolsonaro arrived in Florida in late December, skipping the January 1, 2023, swearing-in of Lula, who became the first elected Brazilian President not to receive the Presidential sash from his predecessor since democracy was restored in 1985;
Whereas, on January 8, 2023, hundreds of supporters of former President Bolsonaro stormed the National Congress of Brazil, the Palácio do Planalto (presidential palace), and the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, and many claimed they wanted the Brazilian military to restore Bolsonaro to power and oust newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva;
Whereas hundreds of protesters began to riot by using heavy metal objects to force their way into the buildings, smashing windows, setting fires, ransacking offices, destroying furniture and computers, scaling the building, and waving flags and banners in support of Bolsonaro;
Whereas Brazilian authorities are reporting that at least 70 individuals were injured, including police officers and members of the media, and more than 650 people have been charged so far in connection to the riots;
Whereas ongoing investigations have indicated that actions by some members of the military and police to encourage, support, and protect those violently defacing democratic institutions highlight possible cooperation between military and police officials and the rioters;
Whereas such treatment stands in stark contrast to reports by United Nations human rights experts demonstrating a sharp increase in violence by police of low-income, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities in Brazil over the last 4 years;
Whereas President Lula, congressional leaders, and the Supreme Court President issued a statement saying that “defenders of democracy” in Brazil “reject the acts of terrorism, vandalism, crime, and the attempted coup” and “are united to take institutional action, according to Brazilian law”;
Whereas Brazilian Supreme Court Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, is conducting investigations into the riots and continues to analyze the security failings that allowed Bolsonaro supporters to ransack government buildings; and
Whereas President Joe Biden spoke to President Lula by phone on January 9, 2023, and “conveyed the unwavering support of the Untied States for Brazil’s democracy and for the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent President election” and also “condemned the violence and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer of power”: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
condemns the violent and unlawful attack on Brazil’s government institutions, including the National Congress of Brazil, the Palácio do Planalto (presidential palace), and the Supreme Court in Brasilia;
(2)
opposes any attempt to overturn the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in the 2022 election results and undemocratically remove newly inaugurated President Lula;
(3)
stands with the people of Brazil as they recover from this horrific incident and seek justice and accountability for the attack;
(4)
calls for the United States Government to cooperate with requests for assistance received from Brazilian authorities investigating the attack; and
(5)
supports constructive dialogues between the United States and Brazil to promote democracy, respect for rule of law, human rights, civic participation, and racial and ethnic equality in access to justice.