DILMA ROUSSEFF

With Brazil’s presidential election one year away, tens of thousands of demonstrators have marched in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and dozens of other cities around the country to protest President Jair Bolsonaro and call for his impeachment over his government’s handling of the pandemic.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Brazil's embattled right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro heeded his call and turned out at Independence Day rallies as he stepped up his attacks on the Supreme Court and threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.

(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)SAO PAULO – Key members of Brazil's government on Wednesday celebrated the anniversary of the country's 1964 military coup, which launched a 21-year dictatorship that saw hundreds of people killed and thousands tortured. AdA crowd of about 200 people nostalgic for the dictatorship, some wearing military attire, gathered in Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana neighborhood to celebrate the coup. “Some people talk about military dictatorship, but we don’t see it that way. His decision to commemorate the coup had put an end to a 2011 request by then-President Dilma Rousseff that the armed forces suspend such events. Bolsonaro did not speak publicly Wednesday about the coup anniversary or military shake-up.

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2020 file photo, Brazilian former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrives for a meeting with the Italian Cgil union, in Rome. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)SAO PAULO – A top judge has thrown out both corruption convictions of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, opening the way for a possible battle against conservative incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in next year’s elections. Bolsonaro quickly responded to the court ruling, calling the administration of da Silva's Workers' Party “catastrophic. AdAs news of the ruling broke, chants of “Lula livre!” — “Lula free!” — and recordings of jingles from his presidential campaigns echoed from windows in some cities. “Fachin knows that his decision basically means Lula will not be punished, but he wants to save whatever is left of Car Wash,” Badaró said.