Bolsonaro laid out plan for Brazil coup after defeat by Lula, ex-commanders say
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro presented top military officials with a plan to carry out a coup d’état after his defeat in the October 2022 election, two former commanders have told the police, according to newly released judicial documents.
In testimonies made public on Friday, former army commander Marco Antônio Freire Gomes and former air force commander Carlos Baptista Júnior said Bolsonaro held several meetings in December 2022 in which he presented a document that would have served as the basis to overturn the results of the election, which he lost to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The two military officials say they sought to dissuade him. Their testimony, released by the supreme court, mark the first time that Bolsonaro has been directly named as actively pursuing efforts to remain in power.
Their statements further complicate Bolsonaro’s legal situation as they put the far-right populist at the centre of the alleged conspiracy to keep him in power.
Freire Gomes and Baptista Júnior were questioned by police in recent weeks as part of an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to discredit Brazil’s electoral system and stage a military coup with the objective of keeping Bolsonaro in power.
Bolsonaro never signed a draft decree that would have established a state of siege, but eight days after Lula’s inauguration thousands of his supporters stormed the capital Brasília in an attempt to unseat the new government.
More details soon …