By Flaviano Cardoso
The image of the soldering iron trying to break former president Jair Bolsonaro’s electronic bracelet is not just an isolated gesture, a small anecdote in Brazilian political news. On the contrary, it is the perfect symbol of a historical mentality, of a political tradition which spans centuries and which, once again, has attempted to place itself above the laws, above the Republic and above the people.
What this scene reveals is not just the behavior of an individual. It lays bare a conception of power deeply rooted in the Brazilian far right: the idea that respect for judicial decisions is optional for those who consider themselves an anointed one, a savior, an incarnation of the country or a representative of a “higher will” that is above the Constitution.
This mentality, in turn, has clear roots: the logic of Latin American caudillos, the authoritarian nostalgia of exceptional regimes and the imagery of North American westerns, where the self-proclaimed sheriff alone defines what is good or bad, dispensing with institutions and defying all civilizational limits.
The attempt to violate electronic surveillance – a means intended to guarantee compliance with precautionary measures – was the final act of tragic coherence: for years, Bolsonaro and his entourage built a rhetoric of open hostility towards democratic institutions, intimidated magistrates, summoned supporters against the Federal Court and systematically prepared the psychological and material environment for a coup d’état.
They didn’t succeed. But they tried – and the whole country saw it.
In this context, the decision of the judiciary to order his preventive detention is not only legally correct: it is necessary to preserve democracy itself, which can no longer tolerate flirtations with institutional insubordination. No democracy survives when it leaves unanswered acts that threaten its integrity.
And there is an important moral point: there is no democracy without accepting defeat. Bolsonaro never accepted. He never recognized the electoral result. Never recognized limits.
The soldering iron confirms what history itself has already indicated: if the Brazilian far right had its way, the Constitution would be treated as a troublesome barrier – capable of being melted, twisted or violated.
The gesture has weight because it is not alone. This adds to a set of illicit practices and schemes which, once revealed, constitute a serious mosaic of institutional corrosion: the murky dealings with Banco Master; illicit enrichment investigations; the attempt to manipulate processes, military sectors and security agents; and the normalization of political violence which has reached unprecedented levels.
Add to this the model of police governance in Rio de Janeiro under Cláudio Castro, marked by massacres, illegal operations and summary executions. It’s all part of the same mental matrix: the idea that the state exists to punish adversaries, protect allies, and never limit the leader.
This is why Bolsonaro’s preventive detention is of historic importance. This is not about persecution. It’s not about revenge. On the contrary, it is a clear institutional message: anyone who attempts to demolish the foundations of democratic coexistence will be contained – even if they occupy the highest position in the Republic. We are living in a decisive moment. And, in those moments, words become an act of resistance.
To write about this episode is therefore to participate in the reconstruction of a mature democratic consciousness. This is part of the fight against the normalization of abuses, political violence and exceptional policies. Brazilian democracy has already suffered enough from these ghosts. The country must learn that there is no “savior of the country,” that there is no authoritarian leader who replaces institutions, that there is no strongman who justifies the suspension of civil liberties.
If there is anything to learn, it is simple: the democratic rule of law is non-negotiable. And each judicial decision that reaffirms this, particularly in emblematic cases, helps to heal the wounds opened by years of putschist speeches and institutional threats. After all, the electronic bracelet is not just an element of surveillance: it is a legal limit, and limits are the very essence of democracy. Attempting to violate it symbolizes the refusal of the pact of civilization itself.
Bolsonaro’s preventive arrest should therefore not be considered as an exceptional gesture, but as a step towards democratic normality. In fact, it is exceptional that we have allowed public figures to so openly challenge the judiciary, Congress, the press, public officials, and civil society for so long. Brazil matures when it realizes that the law applies to everyone, including those who in the past thought they were above it. And it is perhaps precisely this recognition – this equality before the Constitution – that represents the greatest victory of Brazilian democracy in this historic moment.
Flaviano Cardoso is a humanist lawyer, JL Politics and Business, worker at Caixa Econômica Federal, independent researcher and global activist. Article transcribed from Monde Diplomatique Brazil