By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

The Bolsonaro Plot Travesty

A subject which we extensively covered before, now, Brazilian authorities have indicted the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, alongside 36 other individuals as part of the investigation into an alleged coup plot to keep power following the election of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Back in August 2021, we reported that thousands of Indigenous people marched in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia on Wednesday ahead of a major land rights ruling. Titled Amazon's new gold rush.

Then, seven days after the inauguration of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, thousands of far-right rioters invaded the country’s federal representative institutions.

Now Bolsonaro is among the 37 individuals indicted by Brazil’s federal police as part of the investigation into the fallout of the 2022 presidential elections when the instigation of thousands of pro-Bolsonaro rioters invaded the country’s federal representative institutions.

This comes after police alleged that Bolsonaro had “full knowledge” of a plan to prevent Lula and his government from taking office after his election victory.

Brazilian federal police recommended charges against former president Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly leading a plot to subvert the will of voters, assassinate political rivals, and stay in power by military edict following his 2022 electoral defeat, according to a senior police official with direct knowledge of a sealed investigatory report finalized by police Thursday.

Brazilian authorities have indicted the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, alongside 36 other individuals as part of the investigation into an alleged coup plot to keep power following the election of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro was among the 37 individuals indicted by Brazil’s federal police as part of the investigation into the fallout of the 2022 presidential elections, in which the far-right leader’s bid for reelection was defeated.

This comes after police alleged, that Bolsonaro had “full knowledge” of a plan to prevent Lula and his government from taking office after his election victory.

After nearly two years of investigation, which uncovered an alleged plot to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, police have asked prosecutors to bring criminal charges against Bolsonaro and 36 of his political allies, including high-ranking military officials.

In a public announcement, police said they discovered a compartmentalized effort inside the Bolsonaro government to block Lula’s inauguration. One team, police said, was charged with making unfounded allegations to undermine public confidence in the electoral system. Another was responsible for galvanizing support among the military to carry out the coup. A third was tasked with implementing what police described as “coercive measures.”

Federal police alleged Bolsonaro’s most senior team colluded in the plot, including cabinet members, his vice-presidential candidate, the director of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, the defense minister, and the head of the Brazilian army. The plot, including cabinet members, his vice-presidential candidate, the director of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, the defense minister, and the head of the Brazilian army.

The senior police official, who spoke with The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive investigation, said the probe showed Bolsonaro was the leader of the collusion plot.

“Bolsonaro knew everything; he led the process,” the government official said. “This is the conviction of the federal police.”

The explosive allegations, the first to directly link Bolsonaro to a coup attempt, sent political shock waves across Latin America’s largest democracy, which in recent days has been forced to confront how close it came to witnessing a coup and returning to military dictatorship.

Federal police sent their investigation report, which is hundreds of pages long, to the Supreme Court in Brasilia. Brazil’s attorney general will now decide whether to confirm the indictments or scrap the investigation. If the indictments are confirmed, a trial is expected to take place next year.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is seen at the G20 Summit 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on November 18.

The indictment comes days after Brazilian police arrested five people, including a former adviser to Bolsonaro, in relation to the same investigation. The alleged coup plotters envisaged the assassination of Lula’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court said in its arrest order.

The alleged plot also involved military personnel with training in special forces, the Federal Police said Tuesday, and planned the eventual creation of an “Institutional Crisis Management Office” in Brazil’s government that the coup plotters would control.

According to the court order on Tuesday, the plot also considered several methods to carry out the political assassinations, including the use of poison or explosive devices.

Braga Netto, Bolsonaro's former minister of defence, is among those also formally accused.

The order, signed by Moraes on Sunday, authorized the preventative detention of the five suspects, including retired general Mário Fernandes – the second-highest ranking executive of the General Secretariat of the Presidency during Bolsonaro’s administration, per CNN Brasil.

On Thursday, President Lula said at an event at the presidential palace that “I have to be very thankful now, even more so because I am alive. The attempt to poison me and Alckmin did not work, we are here.”

According to the police warrant carried out on Tuesday, Bolsonaro allegedly met with officials from the army and navy as well as the minister of defense in December 2022 to present a document detailing the legal framework that would keep him in power.

Bolsonaro criticized Moraes in his X post on Tuesday, accusing the justice of “leading the entire investigation, adjusting statements, arresting people without charges, fishing for evidence, and having a very creative team of advisers.”

His son, Flavio Bolsonaro, who is a senator in the Brazilian Congress, suggested in a post on X on Tuesday that no crime had actually been committed.

“As disgusting as it may be to think about killing someone, it is not a crime. And for there to be an attempt, the execution must be interrupted by some situation beyond the control of the perpetrators. Which does not appear to have happened,” he wrote.

In October 2022, Lula narrowly beat Bolsonaro in the presidential election. Bolsonaro’s supporters rejected the results and rioted in the capital Brasilia, storming government buildings on January 8, 2023.

Earlier this week, Brazilian police arrested five members of the country’s security forces, alleging that they had initiated a plan to assassinate Lula after his electoral victory. One of the men arrested, Mario Fernandes, who was Bolsonaro’s deputy chief of staff, allegedly printed out the coup plan inside the presidential palace after meeting with Bolsonaro in December 2022.

The government official said police have evidence that shows messages between Bolsonaro aides in which they rejoice. “They were happy because Bolsonaro ‘accepted our advice.”

Police say the plan, labeled “Green and Yellow Dagger,” called for the installation of a “Crisis Management Cabinet” to manage the fallout following the assassinations of Lula, his vice president, and also Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

The police official said authorities were confident they had enough evidence to convict Bolsonaro. He said police have deposed senior military leaders who said Bolsonaro was aware of the entire plot.

“We have all of the sufficient elements we need for him to be convicted,” the official said.

Bolsonaro is not expected to face immediate arrest. The next step in the process would be for prosecutors to file charges. If they do, the police official said, “he should be tried and arrested by the end of 2025.”

The allegations were in some ways the realization of fears that many Brazilians have long harbored about the intentions of the military in a country where it ruled as a dictatorship for two decades and only slackened its grip on the country in 1985.

In his rise to power, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, often praised the military dictatorship, looking past or even complimenting its penchant for violence. “The mistake the dictatorship made was that it tortured without killing,” Bolsonaro once said.

During his time in office, he frequently threatened democratic “rupture,” particularly if the Supreme Court tried to restrain his power. His allies, including his son, sometimes said that a time might come in Brazil to restrict freedoms and close Congress, like had happened during the dictatorship.

The allegations were in some ways the realization of fears that many Brazilians have long harbored about the intentions of the military in a country where it ruled as a dictatorship for two decades and only slackened its grip on the country in 1985.

In his rise to power, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, often praised the military dictatorship, looking past or even complimenting its penchant for violence. “The mistake the dictatorship made was that it tortured without killing,” Bolsonaro once said.

During his time in office, he frequently threatened democratic “rupture,” particularly if the Supreme Court tried to restrain his power. His allies, including his son, sometimes said that a time might come in Brazil to restrict freedoms and close Congress, like had happened during the dictatorship.

But until this week, few here knew just how close Brazil had come to seeing the return of such autocratic rule.

Bernardo Mello Franco, a columnist at the newspaper O Globo, wrote Thursday evening that it would have been even more violent than the last power grab.

“In 1964, the military plotters took power by force and sent the president, João Goulart, into exile,” he wrote. “In 2022, the plan was to send Lula and Geraldo Alckmin to the cemetery.”

 

 

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