Janaína's support for Bolsonaro reveals the fascist roots of the coup.

The gravity of the moment we are living through can be summarized by the actions of one character, the lawyer Janaína Pascoal. Following a didactic trajectory that only surprises the most naive, the main architect of the impeachment request against Dilma Rousseff has just recorded a video in which she declares her support for Jair Bolsonaro, the presidential candidate who is the Brazilian version of fascism and leads all opinion polls when Lula is excluded from the surveys.

On April 20, 2016, when he took to the floor of the Chamber of Deputies to cast his vote for the removal of a president elected by more than 51,4 million Brazilians, Bolsonaro made a revealing statement—perhaps one of the most revealing of that terrible afternoon—about the process underway in the country:

"In memory of Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, the terror of Dilma Rousseff, for the army of Caxias, for the Armed Forces, for Brazil above all and for God above all, my vote is yes," he said.

At the time, the statement already caused scandal and embarrassment. "There was an apology for a figure who committed torture and also disrespect for the image of the president herself," reacted Felipe Santa Cruz, president of the OAB/RJ (Brazilian Bar Association of Rio de Janeiro), announcing his willingness to request Bolsonaro's removal from office at the Supreme Federal Court because "the apology for torture, fascism, and everything that is anti-democratic is intolerable."

Two years and two months later, the impeachment lawyer's support for Bolsonaro closes a chapter in the political process that ousted Dilma Rousseff, installed a group of unscrupulous and remorseless adventurers in the Planalto Palace, and today organizes the handover of the country's riches to the American empire.

Today everyone agrees that there was no, never was, and no one ever seriously believed in the existence of any legal evidence to justify the president's removal. The process did not respect the rules of democracy. It was never based on proof of any crime of responsibility. It was politics by other means—spurious means, outside the reach of the electorate. 

Janaína, who filed the complaint, created the legal pretext for a political process that broke down institutions and plunged the country into an abyss in which bankers, media oligopoly executives, and Supreme Court justices established their own government, exempt from accountability to Brazilians—and which intends to decide, behind the electorate's back, who can and cannot run for president.

"Fascism lurking in the final stretch," I wrote in this space (October 18, 2014), when there was one week left until the second round of the presidential election. There is no doubt that this was the process underway: "intolerance and hatred have grown in Brazil as an inevitable consequence of a movement aimed at criminalizing politics and politicians—in particular the Workers' Party." Some examples from that moment.

By offering jobs to medical professionals in impoverished areas of Brazil, the Mais Médicos program angered corporate entities across the country. They formed a group of 100,000 internet users, called "Medical Dignity," which advocated for the castration of "Northeasterners" and poorly qualified professionals, such as receptionists and nurses. Activists wearing PT (Workers' Party) shirts began to be beaten in the streets.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso stated: "The PT is rooted in the less informed, who happen to be the poorest. It's not because they are poor that they support the PT. It's because they are less informed."

Imagining that it would be the great beneficiary of the tragedy produced in a democracy won with great difficulty and undeniable sacrifices, the PSDB paid R$ 40,000 to Janaína Pascoal to fabricate a denunciation convenient to its purposes of installing itself in the Planalto Palace -- without a vote.

It went wrong, we all know. The toucans didn't realize it, but in their irresponsibility and opportunism, they reached the point of wielding the shovel that dug their own grave.

Although they haven't been "purified," Janaína's expression referring to the dungeons of Lava Jato, Aécio Neves, José Serra, and Aloysio Nunes Ferreira have become dinosaurs out of commission. Geraldo Alckmin remains stagnant, which fuels João Dória's anger once again. 

In this context, Janaína Pascoal found her place alongside Bolsonaro.

No one can pretend to be surprised, right?