Brazilian police accuse Bolsonaro and several retired generals of conspiracy

Brazilian federal police knocked on the door of the house where Jair Bolsonaro spends his summers for the second time in two weeks. If at the end of January they asked questions about his son Carlos, this Thursday the agents arrived looking for the former president himself (2019-2022) for his alleged relationship with the failed coup attempt there a year after his electoral defeat. The far right, three retired generals who were ministers with him and several advisors from his entourage are the target of a police operation which includes around thirty searches and four arrest warrants against advisors. The agents showed up at Bolsonaro’s home in Angra dos Reis, 170 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro, with an order that forces the patriarch to surrender his passport and prohibits him from leaving the country and coming into contact with the rest of the questioned person. . His spokesperson said he would respect the decision and hand over the document.

The judicial siege around Bolsonaro Sr. has tightened since he lost his immunity upon leaving power, but never before has the former president been directly approached by investigators in the most serious case of his against, the attempt to abolish the rule of law. . It also represents a qualitative leap that among the candidates sought are three reserve generals: Walter Braga Netto, who was Minister of Defense and vice-presidential candidate in the last elections, his successor in the ministry Paulo Nogueira Batista, and Augusto Heleno, who led a critical ministry such as Institutional Security. Among the people identified by the police, the former head of the Navy Almir Garnier and Waldemar Costa Neto, president of the Liberal Party, of which Bolsonaro Sr. is a member, also stand out.

The current operation, named Tempus Veritatis (time of truth, in Latin) was ordered by the Supreme Court and is part of the investigations into the attempted coup d’état carried out by thousands of Bolsonaro supporters on January 8, 2023, a week after Luiz Inácio Lula gave power to Silva after winning the elections.

The police accuse the people investigated, according to an official note which does not mention them by name, of “membership in a criminal organization which attempted to carry out a coup d’état” which would keep Bolsonaro in power and thus obtain political advantages. Investigators emphasize that they organized themselves into cells to disseminate alleged fraud during the 2022 elections in order to legitimize military intervention. For two months, thousands of people camped outside military barracks across the country to demand a coup against Lula. It was only after the riots that they were dismantled. One of those arrested is Filipe Martins, a soldier who was an international advisor to the far-right president.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading investigations into the coup attempt, signs the charge. He claims that in November 2022, one month after the elections, Bolsonaro received from his special advisor for international affairs a draft decree aimed at annulling the electoral result and ordering the arrest of Judge Moraes himself and one of his colleagues at the court. and the president of the Senate, according to the police investigation, based on wiretapping and the confessions of Bolsonaro’s private secretary, reports Reuters. The interim president at the time requested some changes to the text, which were made, but maintained his demand for new elections and the arrest of Moraes, whom Bolsonarism considers its bête noire. According to the police report, “Bolsonaro then called a meeting with the commanders of the armed forces to present the decree to them and pressure them to join the coup.”

President Lula discussed the news of the day from the first hours of the police operation. “I think (the coup attempt) would not have happened without him (Bolsonaro),” he said in an interview with a radio station, reported by Efe. The leftist recalled that after the defeat, his far-right rival “stayed at home crying and left for the United States. He must have participated in the construction of this attempted coup d’état. Let’s see what the surveys say. »

The lawsuits against Bolsonaro Sr. stem from a variety of issues, from plotting a coup to trying to keep some jewelry the Saudi royal family gave him when he was president of Brazil. Or the latest, disturbing a humpback whale during a jet ski ride. Since the Supreme Court announced, shortly after the failed riot, that it was investigating Bolsonaro for inciting the assault on the seat of the three powers, this case against him has brought few new relevant developments, but several pawns around him have fallen. In any case, the former president was disqualified from elections until 2028. At the same time, the barrier was gradually narrowed.

First, the police arrested and imprisoned a police commissioner who was the Minister of Justice. The next person arrested was his private secretary, a soldier who constantly accompanied him and brought him his cell phone. Then, on January 29, agents arrived at the Bolsonaro summer residence in search of Carlos Bolsonaro, a Rio de Janeiro city councilor who is under investigation for illegally spying on thousands of opponents. from his father. From now on, it is the leader of the Brazilian right and some of the retired generals and advisers who accompanied him to the government who are in the crosshairs of the police and judges. Although disqualified, Bolsonaro is not throwing in the towel, he is preparing for the municipal elections next October. The elections will provide a glimpse of the current balance of power between Bolsonarism and Lula’s Workers’ Party.

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