Army says GSI did not deploy troops in advance for attacks on Plateau on 1/8

A document from the Brazilian Army forwarded to the CPMI of the acts of January 8, at the National Congress, states that the Institutional Security Office (GSI), responsible for the security of the Presidency of the Republic at the Planalto Palace, did not activate the troops in advance as determined by the established protocol.

The letter authored by General Francisco Montenegro Junior was sent to parliamentarians last Monday (26) after a request from Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR). A People’s Gazette had access to the document in which the commander states that there was a GSI failure that “prevented the prior deployment of the adoption of a preventive safety device” (see in full).

“The Commander of the BGP (Presidential Guard Battalion) is not directly responsible for the security of the headquarters of the federal Executive Branch and other public areas. He is responsible for the employment of his troops, under the operational control of the GSI”, says the letter.

Montenegro reported that there were two units of the Commando Militar do Planalto (CMP) on standby on January 7th and 8th, but that it was only at 11:54 am on Sunday (8th) that there was a verbal request for the immediate dispatch of a riot squad with 30 military.

“Specifically on January 8, 2023, the orders for troop deployment were verbal, directly to the commanders of the activated military organizations”, says the commander.

The document explains, in the Army’s claim, that a total of 350 soldiers were employed throughout Sunday to contain the protest, with 198 arriving at the Palace around 12:30 pm, about half an hour after being requested. “Actions: containment of protesters, vacating the parking lot and outside area of ​​the Planalto Palace”, he says.

However, despite the allegation that there was a group of military personnel in the Planalto even before the invasion, demonstrators managed to enter the building at 2:50 pm without any type of containment through the ground floor and the access ramp to the Great Hall.

The letter also states that at 4:50 pm, at the height of the depredation in public buildings, another 85 soldiers from the Administration and Support Base of the Planalto Military Command were also moved to the location to vacate the upper floors of the Palace.

At 5:15 pm, another 40 soldiers from the 1st Guards Cavalry Regiment acted to contain the demonstrators and vacate the Palace. All orders were, according to General Montenegro Júnior, transmitted to the commanders of these military organizations.