The owners of the bomb

In front of the Lula Institute, in the Ipiranga neighborhood, São Paulo, is the emergency room of the São Camilo hospital. The place, as is known, is a constant entry point for the wounded and sick. It was exactly in this place, at the end of the night on Thursday (30), that two enormous screws flew like bullets after the explosion of a "homemade bomb" 200 meters away, on the sidewalk of the former president's institute headquarters. These were some of the thousands scattered like bullets on Rua Pouso Alegre.

The device, thrown from a car that crossed the street and was caught on the building's surveillance cameras, violently exploded into a series of metal fragments. The bomb even tore a hole in the steel garage door, where the organization created by the former president to promote cooperation policies between Brazil and countries in Africa and Latin America operates.

The attack was treated by national media outlets as just another incident, one of those "that happen to anyone, any day." The press clearly attempted to portray the episode as an act of "vandalism." Some commentators, in a cowardly and irresponsible act, even went so far as to blame the Workers' Party itself, suggesting a kind of setup. A deceitful and baseless attitude, almost always in a fascist game.

The explosion is a belated warning about the social paradigm they are trying to create in the country based on the intolerant discourse of the far right, often propagated by the mainstream media as truth. With what intention would a bomb be thrown at the door of a building whose symbol is Lula himself? On whose orders?

In the early morning of August 27, 1980, as a terminal crisis of the Dictatorship, a bomb destroyed the Rio de Janeiro offices of the newspaper Tribuna da Luta Operária, published by the Communist Party of Brazil, which was still operating semi-clandestinely at the time. Due to the amnesty granted a year earlier, the possibility of the legal existence of political parties like ours and others on the left was opening up, and the Regime was acting to counter the so-called "political opening."

There had been other attacks during that period, one at the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) hours earlier, which ended up killing the secretary of the president of the Federal Council of the Brazilian Bar Association, Lyda Monteiro da Silva. Upon opening a letter addressed to him, the explosion took her life.

In addition to the attack on the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), bombs were also sent to the Rio de Janeiro City Council and the headquarters of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI). On March 26, 1981, a bomb also exploded at the headquarters of the newspaper Tribuna da Impressa, in Lapa, in an act attributed to radical supporters of the military dictatorship.

One cannot forget the bomb at Riocentro, in the same year, which was to be planted by the military in one of the buildings where a Labor Day celebration was taking place and which ended up killing two soldiers. Another explosive was also used at the area's mini power station, but it did not cause the expected blackout.

Attacking progressive forces in Brazil has been the hallmark of the coup plotters, religious fundamentalists, and the opportunistic opposition, which this time, in its quest for power, is openly flirting with the democratic rule of law. Instead of debating ideas, they bring violence to the forefront, fueled by media outlets with no commitment to the right to dissent. How many more bombs will explode as this senseless rage advances, leading democracy to its downfall?

The Lula Institute, along with the competent authorities in São Paulo, such as the Secretary of Security and its civil police, is investigating the case. Images from neighborhood surveillance cameras will provide clues to locate the vehicle and bring the criminals to justice and punishment. But it's easy to guess where this kind of idea comes from. Just read the newspapers or turn on the television. There's no shortage of hatred. Everyone thinks they own the bomb.