'Traces of Trumpism' in Brazil capital assault: Spain
MADRID, Spain — The weekend assault on Brazil's corridors of power by supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro bore "traces of Trumpism," Spain said Monday, warning such extremists posed democracy's biggest threat.
On Sunday, hundreds stormed Brazil's Congress, its presidential palace and the Supreme Court in a dramatic protest a week after the inauguration of veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as president.
The images were reminiscent of the January 6, 2021 invasion of the US Capitol building by supporters of former president Donald Trump, a Bolsonaro ally.
"There are traces of Trumpism in what happened (on Sunday) with stirred up far-right activists entering Congress," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Cadena Ser radio.
Albares said the Bolsonaro supporters had followed a pattern of action that was "practically identical" to that of the Trump supporters who stormed the US capitol two years ago.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday said the images "remind us that the biggest threat to global democracy, peace and prosperity... is the resurgence of extremist movements ready to destroy everything."
On Sunday night, he had expressed support for Lula and for "the institutions that were freely and democratically elected by the Brazilian people" while condemning the "assault on Brazil's Congress".
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