Allies feared airport invasion and Lula was besieged on 1/8 – 10/31/2023 – Power

Allies of Lula (PT) feared that coup plotters would invade Brasília airport and that the president would be besieged at the air base if he tried to return to the capital during the events on January 8th.

While the Palácio do Planalto was occupied by protesters, Lula even stated that he would leave Araraquara (SP), where he was to announce measures against the rain. Aides convinced the PT member to remain in the city of São Paulo, with the assessment that there were no guarantees for the president’s safety in Brasília.

“It was a risk for Lula to try to return, a real risk for him not to be able to leave the airport, a risk for him to be besieged at the air base, a risk for the coup plotters to try to invade the airport”, states Mayor Edinho Silva (PT) in the book “Uma Cidade in the Fight for Life”, which will be released on November 13th.

At that time, according to the report, members of the government reported suspicions of “passivity and collaboration” between the security forces of the Federal District and the Armed Forces.

Lula was in the Araraquara mayor’s office in contact by telephone with ministers Flávio Dino (Justice), José Múcio (Defense) and Gonçalves Dias (Institutional Security Office). Waldez Góes (National Integration), Jader Filho (Cities), Luiz Marinho (Work) and other assistants were in the room.

According to the mayor’s report, Lula had expressed his intention to return to command a situation room created by ministers in the capital. The president stood up and said: “I have to go back to Brasília.”

The assistants would then have argued that “he could not go to Brasília without the situation being under total control”.

“Arriving in the capital in that scenario that had materialized, no one would be able to say how the conditions would be created for the president to manage the crisis”, adds the mayor.

The report confirms a thesis raised that Sunday that the president postponed his return to Brasília due to a lack of security and a fear of lack of control in the forces responsible for protecting the president. Lula only returned at night, when the buildings of the three Powers had been vacated.

During the afternoon there was fear that a possible invasion of the airport and a siege of the president would represent what the mayor called “the completion of the coup”.

“How can we allow the president to return to Brasília? Of course not. If that were to happen, the most likely scene would be that of the presidential plane having to take off in a hurry with thousands of coup plotters trying to invade the capital’s airport. This scene, if it existed, would be of defeating democracy and carrying out the coup”, he wrote.

At that time, Lula’s aides were in contact with agents who were inside the Planalto Palace.

The mayor reports on the phone call made to a member of the president’s personal security team. This man reportedly said that he had improvised a barricade to prevent the coup plotters from advancing towards the presidential office.

The book also narrates discussions on measures to contain the attacks, including the decree of a GLO (Guarantee of Law and Order) operation. According to the mayor, First Lady Janja da Silva was emphatically opposed to the use of this tool.

“GLO means handing over power to the commanders of the Armed Forces,” the first lady said, according to the report. Lula would have consulted Minister Jorge Messias (Attorney General of the Union) and then vetoed the operation.

Edinho Silva wrote the book to narrate Araraquara’s experience during the Covid pandemic. The municipality adopted strict measures against the disease. The mayor decided to include the behind-the-scenes of Lula’s visit to the city on January 8th in the report.