The government's reaction to the UN is typical of dictatorships.

When I learned that the UN Human Rights Committee had requested that the Brazilian government provide all guarantees for Lula to exercise his political rights, even while imprisoned, I immediately imagined what the reaction of a totalitarian government would be to such a decision. A dictator, like Turkey's Erdogan, for example, would say: don't meddle where you weren't invited. And it didn't take long for the Minister of Justice, Torquato Jardim, to respond with exactly the same words: this is undue interference.

The committee took the initiative given that Brazil was disrespecting Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which then-President Sarney signed in 1985. By dismissing the committee's statement – ​​"it has no legal value" – the minister said, and he could only speak on behalf of the government, that Brazil couldn't care less about the Covenant. It couldn't care less about Human Rights. Brazil entered the Covenant when the dictatorship ended. Will it be considered a democracy by other democratic countries after leaving it through the back door?

There will be no reprisals from the UN. No troops will be sent to invade Brazil. However, from today onwards, the country joins the club of petty republics that do not respect the political rights of their citizens, a fundamental characteristic of authoritarian regimes. A fifth-rate petty republic.