Evangelist Ismael Lopez, 34, admits he thought of “making a joke” when he went to a vigil called by Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) to spite his father. Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was arrested in pretrial detention that day by order of Supreme Federal Court (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
“It wasn’t planned,” he says. Bound. “I was going to go to the vigil anyway. There was even talk in some groups that I would go and so on. But as a joke, he recorded a little video here and there and then left.”
Until, according to Lopez, “the possibility of giving a speech arises, after I ask Flavio himself.” Then he takes the microphone and says, surrounded by Bolsonarians, that the former president must be condemned.
“We have been praying for justice in this country. We have been praying that those who dig graves will fall into it. They will not die, because that is not what we want. We want them to be tried and convicted for what they did,” he says, surprising those who expected another tirade in favor of the former president.
Then he turns to Bolsonaro’s eldest son and says: “Like your father, who dug 700,000 graves during the pandemic, you must be tried through due process. You have the right to defence, but you are convicted and held accountable for the crimes you committed.”
Lopez then stated that all allies who make up “this evil crowd” should also be punished. There he was interrupted by the mob, and then attacked with kicks, punches and shoves.
Lopez is part of the Evangelicals for the Rule of Law Front, which this weekend issued an “explanatory memorandum” saying that the act “involving our brother in Christ” had an “individual and personal character,” and that the group member would receive “the necessary support” in the face of the attacks he suffered.
This front is aligned with the progressive minority in the evangelical churches and is usually present at government events if not PT with this sector. Lopez himself met this year with Márcio Macedo, then Minister of the Presidential Secretariat.
Lopez says that he is “always in this conflict related to religion and politics,” and he mobilizes “against the extreme right, and against the overthrow of rights.”
An evangelical by birth, he was born into a family that attended the Church of God. He later migrated to the Baptist church and was introduced to integral mission theology, with a reading considered progressive of evangelical values.
He reveals his left-wing views on social media, with references to Karl Marx, for example. “Loving others can only be achieved with class hatred,” he said in a message highlighted on his Instagram account. In the report he declares himself a communist of the Marxist-Leninist line, fighting for “better conditions for the working class of society.”
Lopez recalls that “on the fateful day”, Saturday (22) in which Bolsonaro was arrested, he was the priest who was scheduled to speak at the vigil organized by Flavio. He saw an opening and came forward to speak. Then a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes came to mind: “Whoever digs a pit falls into it.”
He says: “I pondered the content of the text and brought it to our reality.” “Anyway, I was interrupted, and the violence started. Then there’s this whole scene that ended up going viral on videos all over Brazil.”
The recordings show him walking away from the event, being chased and attacked by some Bolsonaristas, while others demand his release and that it was a “trap” set by Lopez. He is then rescued by a military police officer.