The Brazilian Federal Police carried out a major operation this Thursday that provides clues about the former president Jair Bolsonaroand several of his closest allies, including former ministers and senior military officials, for attempting a coup to keep the far-right leader in power.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the former president to hand over his passport within 24 hoursand prohibited contact with other investigators, as part of this police operation, which conducted trials in a dozen states.
The federal police said in a statement that they wanted to clarify whether the investigators belonged to a “criminal organization” that acted “in the attempted coup” in order to “keep the then President of the Republic in power” and to prevent suspicion of the government by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in power since January 1, 2023.
The agents closed this Thursday 33 search warrants and 4 preventive detention warrants, They also imposed 48 precautionary measures against the suspects.
According to the Brazilian press, former ministers and army generals were searched Walter Braga Netto, Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, who were members of Bolsonaro’s cabinet (2019-2022), and former naval commander Almir Garnier Santos.
Also searched were former Justice Minister Anderson Torres, who was already under investigation for the January 8, 2023 coup attack carried out by Bolsonaro supporters, and Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the Liberal Party (PL), a leading party of the former Brazilian president.
Three soldiers and a Bolsonaro adviser arrested
According to O Globo, the four detainees are: Filipe Martins, who was a close advisor to Bolsonaro during his time in office; Army Colonels Marcelo Câmara and Bernardo Romão Corrêa Netto; and Army Special Forces Major Rafael Martins.
The investigation suggests that the group under investigation “divided into action groups to spread suspicions of electoral fraud in the 2022 elections,” in which Lula defeated the re-elected Bolsonaro, “even before the elections took place.” According to the police, they wanted to use this strategy to “legitimize a military intervention.”
Respondents allegedly constructed a narrative to sow doubt about the election results through false information about the electronic ballot boxes that the country has used in its electoral processes since 1996 and which have never caused any problems.
According to the police, there was a second core of the action, which “consisted in carrying out actions to subsidize the abolition of the democratic constitutional state through a coup with the support of military personnel with the knowledge and tactics.” Special forces in a politically sensitive environment.”
These events culminated in the riots on January 8, 2023, when thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters invaded and destroyed the seats of the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court in a desperate attempt to overthrow the Lula government for a week had taken power before.
Bolsonaro is already under investigation in this episode for inciting his followers to seize power by force, and this Thursday he came directly into the crosshairs of the authorities for allegedly being part of the coup attempt. EFE