Coup draft was discussed in Defense and involved tension – 03/15/2024 – Power

Former commanders Marco Antônio Freire Gomes (Army) and Carlos Baptista Júnior (Air Force) told the Federal Police that the Defense Minister of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, called on military leaders to present a proposal for a coup of State against Lula’s (PT) victory in the elections.

The meeting was tense and, according to reports made to the PF, the Air Force commander left the Defense Minister’s office before the meeting ended.

A Sheet obtained access to the full statements of former commanders to the Federal Police. They stated that the meeting took place on December 14, 2022.

According to Baptista Júnior’s report, minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira stated at the beginning of the meeting that he would have a draft that he “would like to present to the commanders for information and review”.

Baptista Júnior said that, immediately after seeing the document, he asked Paulo Sérgio: “‘Does this document provide for the new president-elect not taking office?’

“The deponent [Baptista Júnior] understood that there would be an order that would prevent the new elected government from taking office; that, in view of this, the deponent told the Minister of Defense that he would not even admit receiving this document; that the Air Force would not admit such a hypothesis (coup d’état)”, says an excerpt from the transcript of the testimony.

Also opposed to coup proposals, Freire Gomes stated that the draft presented by Paulo Sérgio was “more comprehensive” than the one presented days earlier by former president Bolsonaro.

The text also decreed a state of defense and created the Electoral Regularity Commission — measures provided for in the text found in the home of former Justice Minister Anderson Torres.

According to Baptista Júnior’s testimony, after the Minister of Defense was questioned about the coup intentions described in the draft, Paulo Sérgio remained silent and did not even ask what the other military leaders’ perception of the proposal would be.

“The deponent then left the room; that the draft was on the table of Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira; that Admiral Garnier [então comandante da Marinha] did not express any reaction contrary to the content of the draft, while the deponent was in the room”, continues the end of the statement.

Admiral Almir Garnier and generals Paulo Sérgio and Braga Netto have not commented on the investigations. In depositions scheduled in February, the three remained silent.

The revelations of former military leaders put Bolsonaro’s last Defense Minister in the spotlight. Paulo Sérgio Nogueira assumed command of the department in April 2022 in succession to General Wálter Braga Netto, chosen by Bolsonaro to be his vice-presidential ticket.

Paulo Sérgio arrived at Defense when the Bolsonaro government was already carrying out a crusade against the electoral system. It was under his responsibility that a team of military personnel was created to monitor the electoral process and criticism of alleged vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines was intensified.

Even without the Armed Forces team having identified any fraud or suspicion in the electoral process, the former minister released a statement saying that the work of the military could neither confirm nor deny the fairness of the election.

After the meeting at the Ministry of Defense, Baptista Júnior told the PF that he became the target of attacks on social media, being labeled a “traitor to the country” and a “watermelon” — alleging that he was a communist in disguise.

Baptista Júnior’s version of the attacks suffered is corroborated by the Federal Police report that supported Operation Tempus Veritatis.

According to the PF, Braga Netto sent messages to expelled Army captain Ailton Barros in attacks on Freire Gomes and Baptista Júnior from December 14, 2022 — the day of the Ministry of Defense meeting.

“My Friend, unfortunately I have to say that the fault for what is happening and will happen lies with Gen Freire Gomes. Omission and indecision are not the responsibility of a combatant”, wrote the general.

“Offer him his head. Shit,” he added. He then sent a photo in front of the house of the then Army commander, which is located in a region close to the camp set up by Bolsonarists in the Urban Military Sector, in Brasília.

The following day, Braga Netto returned to the conversation with Ailton Barros on WhatsApp to attack the Air Force chief.

“Sit down on Batista Junior. People are suffering, arbitrary actions are being made and he is locked in perks. Negotiating favors. Traitor of the country. Move on. It makes his and his family’s lives hell,” he wrote at 6:55 pm on December 15, 2022.

“Praise Garnier and fuck BJ”, added the general, like an order. Ailton responded with a sticker that said “put the lash down”.

Next, Braga Netto sent an image that compared Brigadier Baptista Júnior to the character Seu Batista, from Escolinha do Professor Raimundo. The text said: “shut up, Batista. Honor your uniform, Baptista”.

After Braga Netto’s statements were revealed in the PF report, Baptista Júnior wrote on social media that, due to his age, he no longer fooled himself even with the people he considered friends.

“‘Ambition defeats the character of the weak. In fact… it reveals’. Having already passed 60 years of age, I no longer have the right to delude myself with human beings, not even those I considered friends and were defeated by their ambitions” , wrote the former Air Force commander.

Braga Netto told interlocutors that he actually sent the insulting messages to military leaders. He also said that he regrets the tone used in the texts and claimed that he was moved by the moment of tension that surrounded Bolsonaro at the end of 2022.