Lula calls Bolsonaro a “coward” and says he is sure there was an attempted coup

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) attacked former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) at the beginning of the first ministerial meeting of this year on Monday morning (18), at Palácio do Planalto. He brought together the government’s top echelon to demand results from the ministries to reverse the drop in approval in the most recent opinion polls, which indicate an increase in the government’s rejection.

During the time he allowed the press to be present at the meeting, Lula said that all the ministers took up portfolios with outdated employees and programs, and that “Brazil was abandoned”, in which the previous government “was not concerned about the country” .

According to Lula, Bolsonaro was concerned “only with stimulating hatred between people, lies, and he continues to do it the same way”. He says that today he is clear that January 8, 2023 was an attempted coup that began in 2022, during the month of December, with “part of his government” and from within the Armed Forces.

“If three months ago when we were talking about a coup it seemed like just an insinuation, today we are certain that this country was at serious risk of having a coup due to the 2022 elections,” said Lula.

Lula stated that “there was no coup” because people in the Armed Forces command did not want and did not accept Bolsonaro’s idea, “but also because the president is a coward.” “He didn’t have the courage to carry out what he planned, he stayed inside the Palace [da Alvorada] crying for almost a month and preferred to flee to the United States […] in the expectation that the coup could happen outside the country”, he said.

“Because they financed people at the barracks doors to try to encourage the coup to follow. As it didn’t work, they are now saying that we are hurting democracy, that they were innocent, that they just held discussions, but that they didn’t there was nothing concrete. But, we know that there was an attempted coup in this country”, added Lula.

Lula’s statement comes three days after Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), removed the confidentiality of the statements given as part of the investigations into the alleged attempted coup d’état.

“Those who had doubts can now be sure that we, almost, did not return to the dark times in this country when people thought that only with a coup, with the participation of some military personnel, they could gain power in this country”, added Lula.

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Esplanade has not been the same since the beginning of Lula 3

In addition to talking about the alleged attempted coup d’état based on the statements released by Moraes last week, Lula acknowledged that he needed to make a “political adjustment” in the composition of the Esplanada dos Ministérios since he took office, on January 1, 2023.

Since then, several portfolios have had their holders changed to accommodate nominees from Centrão parties, mainly the PP and the Republicans, which partially switched to the government base in the middle of last year.

“I was going to bring the initial photo of the government that has all the ministries and is only missing three ministers: General Gonçalves [Dias, ex-ministro
do Gabinete de Segurança Institucional, GSI], because he asked to leave due to the events of January 8th; companion Daniela [Carneiro,
ex-ministra do Turismo] who switched parties and was therefore forced to leave
[do União Brasil, que requisitou a pasta]; and companion Ana Moser [ministra
do Esporte] that, due to a political adjustment, we had to change it”, explained Lula, also remembering the departure of Flávio Dino from the Ministry of Justice “who was promoted” to the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

Also not present at the meeting was Minister Mauro Vieira, of International Relations, who is traveling to the West Bank to “bring a message from Brazilians”, said Lula.