Lessons from a coup attempt

Dismantled in a few hours, the coup-mongering mobilization against the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at the beginning of the week, ended as a parade of soldiers incapable of explaining what they were doing in the streets. It was for the best, obviously.

In a country with a persistent tradition of military coups, which have left regrettable marks on our history, including the March 31, 64 coup that created a two-decade dictatorship, the decisive point comes later.

It consists of knowing the fate of officers and soldiers who, defying the guarantees enshrined in the Constitution, decided to mobilize to subvert the democratic regime and threaten a government elected by popular vote in order to impose changes against the will of the majority.

There are two known possibilities. They must be located and tried for a crime stipulated in the 1988 Constitution. The other possibility is that they end up free and at large – with their sleeves rolled up for new conspiratorial activities.

There can be no doubt about it. Article 142 of the Constitution states that "the Armed Forces are national, permanent and regular institutions, organized on the basis of hierarchy and discipline, and whose mission is to defend the Fatherland and guarantee the constitutional powers."

At the close of a historical period marked by two decades of military dictatorship, the Charter also reaffirms the primacy of civilian power. It establishes that "the National Congress has the power to oversee the actions of the Executive and the Judiciary."

Given its very nature, the coup attempt of the week cannot be understood as a picnic for grown men dazzled by uniforms and weapons.

Strictly speaking, it can be characterized as a daylight rehearsal for potentially larger and more ambitious actions, a relatively common trait in a country where a democratic regime has had to coexist with conspirators in permanent activity, sometimes in civilian clothes, sometimes in uniform.

In a South America that in recent years has shown itself to be populated by an anachronistic return of authoritarian regimes and democracies at risk, the reaction of the Brazilian government should be seen as a necessary one -- and a good example to be followed by our neighbors, where democratic guarantees are beginning to be crushed by a combination of truculence and brutality that the region knows very well.

Any questions?