Brazil: Bolsonaro may have attempted a coup | According to his former assistant Mauro Cid’s award-winning statement

Mauro Cid, a former aide to Jair Bolsonaro, then Brazil’s president, explained to federal police that he showed the chiefs of the armed forces the coup plan. Current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s October 2022 election victory is not recognized.

The lieutenant colonel made these statements within the framework of his reward denunciation agreement. It was a cooperation deal with Justice Department officials that allowed him to go free after being arrested on May 3 for falsifying the Covid-19 vaccination record of Bolsonaro and his family to enter the United States. If the information provided by him is incorrect or not verified, he will be returned to jail.. CD is also immersed in it Saudi jewelry scandalIn which he would have made erratic maneuvers to ensure those gifts were sold or ended up in the former far-right president’s personal collection.

Manipulation

According to local press, which accessed part of the award-winning denunciation, Sid said the coup strategy given to the armed forces by the then head of state in 2022 was carried out by Philippe Martins, the special adviser on international affairs. He served as political counselor at the US Embassy in Brazil in 2014 as a point of reference for Brazilian libertarians and was responsible for personally introducing Bolsonaro to US President Donald Trump’s then-advisor Steve Bannon. extreme right. Martins, an adviser to Bolsonaro, was also investigated for links to white separatist groups in the United States.

Bolsonaro would have consulted with a constitutional lawyer brought by Martins at the Alvorada Palace – the presidential residence – before presenting a document to the heads of the armed forces. A “coup’s draft”, it found in Article 142 of the Constitution the reason for the army to detain judges of the Electoral Court and the Supreme Court..

The plan was for Lula to defeat Bolsonaro in a run-off election on October 30, 50.9% to 49.1%. According to Sid, the former president The strategy got the green light from one of the army chiefs: The then Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Almir Garnier. An avowed Bolsonaro supporter — something illegal for a military career — he refused to hand over his post to a successor appointed by Lula.

Consequences

Reactions in the Brazilian political arena to Cid’s statements were immediate. Bolsonaro denied in a statement that he had violated the constitution, said that during his government he never tolerated any movement or program that was not backed by law. A press release from one of his defense lawyers, Fábio Wajngarten, pointed out that the former president “never adopted any approach that would confront the limits and guarantees established by the Constitution”. Without quoting Cid, he also hinted that “relevant judicial action will be taken against any defamatory disclosure” and clarified that he is yet to approach the former aide-de-camp’s award-winning confession for comment. Although it was leaked to the press, it is protected by judicial secrecy.

Despite his denials, Bolsonaro is being investigated for, among other reasons, various attacks on the constitution that he has defended on different occasions, attacking institutions and questioning the credibility of Brazil’s electoral system. Also, the High Election Court sentenced him last June Eight years of political disqualification For spreading lies about the electoral system.

Brazilian representative Gleisi Hoffman, the leader of President Lula da Silva’s party, the Workers’ Party (PT), described the alleged plot by the former personal assistant to the former extreme right-wing president as serious. “Bolsonaro had the coup document in hand, he wanted to call for new elections and arrest opponents. He took the coup to the top leadership of the armed forces,” Hoffman wrote on social media. And he added: “Now, Bolzano? What are you going to say? Mauro Cid and you were like nails and flesh!”.

The current Defense Minister, Jose MuseoHe declared to the media that the armed forces, which he credited with maintaining democracy in Brazil, were not interested in a coup. “The only thing I’m sure of is that the armed forces don’t want a coup,” Múcio said.. He also announced that he would contact the Federal Police and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to provide him with more information about the former aide-de-camp’s statements reported in the local press.