When a mob of Bolsonaro fanatics invaded the Plaza of the Three Powers in Brasilia on January 8 of this year, the idea of ??a “coup d’état” was encouraged by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself, who had assumed power just eight days before. To many it sounded hasty, even exaggerated, but over the months revelations have accumulated that point to an obvious conclusion: there was a plan for the Armed Forces to prevent the president voted in the October elections from taking power.
“A coup was hatched to keep Jair Bolsonaro in power. The plot script was found on the mobile phone of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid”, a former assistant to the president, Veja magazine revealed this week, which recapitulates what happened in those strange weeks of December 2022 and January 2023.
“In December of last year, no one knew for sure what President Jair Bolsonaro was doing, isolated in the Palacio de la Alvorada. People close to him said that he was depressed and unhappy. There was only one plausible explanation for the victory that was taking place. for granted and did not arrive: fraud. Defeated at the polls, he did not give any more interviews, he disappeared from social networks”.
What was Bolsonaro up to? According to Veja, a plan “to annul the elections, dismiss the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) who had allegedly interfered in the result and put the country under military intervention until new elections are held.”
Cid, who knows a good part of Bolsonaro’s secrets, is today in prison by order of Judge Alexandre de Moraes, a powerful member of the STF. The document found on the military’s cell phone is titled “Armed Forces as a moderating power,” something that fits perfectly with what thousands of Brazilians chanted in those weeks in front of dozens of military barracks throughout the country: “Armed Forces, save the nation!”.
Lula, the leading figure of the Brazilian left, won the elections at the end of October by a very narrow difference of 50.9 to 49.1 percent, thus preventing the re-election of Bolsonaro, an exponent of the hard right in the first economy in America. Latina.
Bolsonaro had encouraged for months the idea that the electronic voting system allowed fraud, an issue for which he is being judicially investigated. Once Lula’s tight victory was finalized, the president fell silent and never admitted defeat. The United States and the major world powers and neighboring countries were quick to acknowledge Lula’s victory to stop any attempt by Bolsonaro to ignore the result. After a few days, Bolsonaro delegated the meetings for the transfer of power to one of his top advisers.
“According to the script outlined in the document, Bolsonaro would submit a report of alleged illegalities identified in the elections to the high command of the Armed Forces. They would then designate an interim president, who would have the power to suspend decisions considered unconstitutional and preventively remove ministers of the STF and the TSE (Superior Electoral Court)”, detailed Folha de Sao Paulo.
“It would also correspond to that interim president to investigate the conduct of the Supreme Court magistrates and set a date for holding new elections, which would be conducted by alternate TSE magistrates,” added the newspaper, which asked Cid’s defense about the issue. . The answer? “Out of respect for the Supreme Court, all defensive statements will be made only in the case file.”
The revelations surrounding Cid are not the only indication of coup dreams in the Bolsonaro government. In January, the Federal Police found at the home of Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro’s former Justice Minister, a draft decree to establish a “Defense State” that gave broad powers to the Executive Branch to control the electoral process and reduce the electoral process to a minimum. role of the TSE.
Torres was the Minister of State Security of Brasilia when the invasion of the Three Powers Square took place on January 8, for whose security he was directly responsible. He was first removed from office and then detained upon returning from Orlando, the city chosen by Bolsonaro for a months-long self-exile that began two days before the day he was to hand over power to Lula.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project