Military confirms pressure on Bolsonaro for coup d’état

Former Army commander Marco Antonio Freire Gomes said, in a statement to the Federal Police (PF), that former president Jair Bolsonaro personally presented to him, in a meeting in the library of the Palácio da Alvorada, on December 7, 2022, a draft decree to consummate a coup d’état.

The content of the document was read at the time by Filipe Martins, then special advisor for International Affairs to the Presidency, said Freire Gomes. Also present were former Air Force Commander Almir Garnier and former Minister of Defense Paulo Sergio Nogueira de Oliveira.

According to a transcript of General Freire Gomes’ testimony, he says “that he remembers participating in meetings at Palácio da Alvorada, after the second round of elections, in which the then President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, presented hypotheses of using legal institutes as GLO [Garantia da Lei e da Ordem]state of defense and state of siege in relation to the electoral process”.

Freire Gomes states that, in a subsequent meeting, he made it clear to President Jair Bolsonaro that “the Army would not participate in the implementation of these legal institutes aimed at reversing the electoral process”.

The secrecy surrounding the testimony of the former Army commander was lifted this Friday (15) by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) of the investigation investigating the alleged attempted coup d’état promoted by Bolsonaro and his assistants. direct, including high-ranking military personnel from his government.

Freire Gomes’ testimony coincides with that reported by former Air Force commander Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior, who also spoke about Bolsonaro’s meeting with the three commanders of the Armed Forces after the second round of the 2022 elections.

The former heads of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and the Army said, separately, that they had spoken out against any type of coup, and that the only one to have made “troops available” to Bolsonaro was the then commander of the Navy, Almir Garnier.

Garnier appeared to testify at the Federal Police on February 22, but remained silent at the time.

Confronted with the draft of the coup that was seized at the home of former Minister of Justice and Public Security Anderson Torres, Freire Gomes confirmed that it was the same document presented in the meetings with Bolsonaro.

Freire Gomes said Torres participated in meetings with Bolsonaro to explain “the legal support for the measures that could be adopted”. Soon afterwards, the general said that he “always stated that the Army would not act in such situations”.

“Who even clarified to the then President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro that there would be nothing more to do in relation to the results of the elections and that any action, in accordance with the proposals, could result in the criminal liability of the then President”, said Freire Gomes to the PF .

Response to accusations

When contacted by a column, in response to the publication of the former Army commander’s testimony, the former president broke his silence and stated that “it is not a crime” to talk about what is provided for in the Federal Constitution. And he maintained that none of the measures were taken forward.

“Regarding the State of Defense and the State of Siege, a council with several members needs to be convened. For it to be implemented, it would be necessary to convene the council, including the president of the Chamber and the Senate. And there was no council convened. This is not Hugo Chávez, Maduro. Given the recitals, Parliament has the final say. The Guarantee of Law and Order cannot be done out of nowhere. It has to be founded”, declared Bolsonaro.

“It is not a crime to talk about what is provided for in the Federal Constitution. You can discuss and debate everything that is in the Federal Constitution. What they say in the plea bargain, in statements, is the problem of whoever said it. It’s a stupid narrative [dizer que houve crime]”, he said

Threat of arrest

In parallel to the testimonies, former Air Force commander Baptista Jr. told investigators that Freire Gomes even threatened to arrest Bolsonaro if the former president went ahead with plans for a coup d’état.

“After the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, raised the possibility of attacking the democratic regime, through some institutes provided for in the Constitution (GLO or state of defense or state of siege), the then commander of the Army, General Freire Gomes , stated that if he attempted such an act he would have to arrest the President of the Republic”, said the former commander of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).

Also according to Baptista Jr, Freire Gomes discouraged Bolsonaro from using strange legal theories to carry out a coup, such as the decree of a state of siege, a state of defense, or the Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO).

According to a PF report, Baptista Jr. said that, in a meeting with Bolsonaro, he himself made it clear that he was opposed to any coup plan and that there was no longer any possibility of the then president remaining in office.

“In another meeting of Force commanders with the then President of the Republic, the deponent made it clear to Jair Bolsonaro that there would be no chance of the then President remaining in power after the end of his term. He made it clear to then-president Jair Bolsonaro that he would not accept any attempt at institutional disruption to keep him in power”, says the PF report on the testimony.

Carlos-Almeida Baptista Júnior added that he participated in five or six meetings with Bolsonaro and the other commanders of the Armed Forces, after the 2022 presidential election. The lieutenant brigadier said he had warned the president that there was no fraud in the electronic voting machines, a thesis defended by the Bolsonaro supporters to justify staying in power.

Former advisor denies authorship of draft

Filipe Martins, former International Affairs advisor to former president Jair Bolsonaro, denied, in a statement to the Federal Police (PF), having left the country a month before the coup acts of January 8, 2023. The statement is in one of the statements that had their confidentiality removed by order of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

According to PF investigations, Martins is identified as one of those responsible for preparing the draft coup d’état that would have been produced at the end of the Bolsonaro government. He has been detained since February 8th in connection with the investigations.

In his testimony given in February, despite not answering part of the questions on the grounds of not having access to the investigation, the former advisor denied that he was responsible for preparing the coup draft and said that he was in Brazil at the end of 2022.

He stated that he took a trip from Brasília to Curitiba on December 31, 2022. The PF suspected that Martins had left the country on the presidential plane with Bolsonaro bound for Orlando, in the United States, in the last days of the former president’s term. .

The suspicion is also investigated by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the investigations.

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