PF says Bolsonaro knew about “draft of coup”, but thwarted movement

The Federal Police investigation that based the operation launched this Thursday morning (8) against former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and allies as part of the investigation into the acts of January 8 alleges that he had access to the draft of a decree which would supposedly lead to a coup d’état in the country after the 2022 presidential election. The president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto was detained during the operation this Thursday (8) after the PF found an allegedly irregular weapon at an address linked to him.

According to the information in the confidential document and that the People’s Gazette had access, signed by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the supposed intervention decree provided for the arrest of several authorities, such as the magistrate himself and Gilmar Mendes, as well as the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD- MG). The document says that there would be an intelligence nucleus linked to Bolsonaro that would have monitored the movement of authorities, including Alexandre de Moraes himself, who would be arrested on December 18, 2022 at his residence in São Paulo.

Despite appearing as a possible victim of the plot, Moraes himself leads the investigations and signs the decision.

According to the decision that supported the PF operation, there was also the “possible recruitment of military personnel with training in special forces to act in the scenario of interest, that is, in the coup demonstrations” and the maintenance of protest camps in front of Brazilian barracks after the second round of the 2022 presidential election.

The document points out that the alleged attempts to discredit the electoral system and carry out a coup d’état in the event of Bolsonaro’s defeat began in 2019 and intensified from the beginning of the second half of 2022 and after the announcement of the results of the second round of the presidential election.

The PF points out that the group was divided into groups with two areas of activity, the first being in the “construction and propagation of the version of fraud in the 2022 elections, through the fallacious dissemination of vulnerabilities in the electronic voting system”.

The second axis acted in the practice of “acts to subsidize the abolition of the Democratic State of Law, through a coup d’état, with the support of military personnel with knowledge and tactics of special forces in a politically sensitive environment”.

The movement, however, was frustrated after circumstances beyond the control of the agents. “It was identified that several people being investigated began to leave the country, under the most varied justifications”, says the text of the Supreme Court document that supported the operation.

President of the PL is detained for alleged illegal possession of a weapon

During today’s operation, the president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, was detained for investigation by the Federal Police. This is because an allegedly irregular weapon was found at an address linked to him.

Valdemar and his lawyers were reportedly dealing with federal police officers about the matter inside his apartment in Brasília.

Moraes’ arguments would be based on Mauro Cid’s testimony

The Federal Police points out that the investigation that led to this operation was based on information gathered from the statements of the ex-president’s former aide-de-camp, Mauro Cid, within the plea bargain agreement. Among these dialogues, there are messages with high-ranking military personnel, such as General Estevam Theophilo Gaspar de Oliveira, who commanded the Special Operations Command and who would be responsible for the troops that would arrest members of the Legislative and Judiciary branches.

“The information collected revealed that Jair Bolsonaro received a draft decree presented by Filipe Martins and Amauri Feres Saad to execute a Coup d’Etat, detailing alleged interference by the Judiciary in the Executive Branch and in the end decreed the arrest of several authorities, including which were the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes and Gilmar Mendes, in addition to the President of the Senate Rodrigo Pacheco, and finally determined the holding of new elections”, said the PF in the inquiry.

Martins was the former president’s special international advisor, while Saad is the lawyer named as the alleged author of the draft decree. According to the investigation, Bolsonaro had requested changes to the text to maintain the arrest of only Moraes in the event of intervention, removing Gilmar Mendes and Rodrigo Pacheco.

The authority states that “the aforementioned document would have been the subject of meetings called by then President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, which involved both civilian members of the government and active military personnel. Regarding this point, the police authority highlights the occurrence of monitoring by several authorities, including the rapporteur of this investigation [Alexandre de Moraes]in order to ensure compliance with the arrest order, in the event of the coup measures being carried out”.

The document points out that General Theophilo met with Bolsonaro on December 9, 2022, at Palácio do Planalto, to present the plan to arrest Moraes by the Army Special Forces if the former president “signed the measure” – the supposed coup d’état decree.

“The police authority brings elements indicative of the real expectation that permeated the group regarding the permanence in power, also discussing the relationship between all five axes of action of the criminal organization which, although they have specific purposes, were used as support for true execution of a coup d’état in Brazil”, wrote Moraes.

The investigation points out, however, that the alleged coup attempt was thwarted by “circumstances beyond the control of the agents”, which led Bolsonaro to travel to the United States at the end of 2022, taking other people with him.

“After the consummation of the Coup d’Etat was frustrated due to circumstances beyond the control of the agents, it was identified that several people under investigation began to leave the country, under the most varied justifications (vacation or rest) as in the case of former president Jair Bolsonaro and former -Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres. Other people under investigation traveled to missions abroad, as is the case of Army Colonel Bernardo Romão Correia Neto, assigned on 12/30/2022 to a mission in Washington, DC until June 2015. Some people under investigation never returned to Brazil since then, as is the case of former advisor for international affairs Filipe Garcia Martins, who traveled aboard the in-person plane on 12/30/2022 to the city of Orlando/USA without carrying out the exit procedure with his passport in the territory nationally, and to date there is no record of return”, says the survey.

Military personnel were pressured to join the movement

Still according to the Federal Police investigation, the nucleus formed by military personnel such as former ministers Walter Braga Netto (Civil House) and Paulo Nogueira de Oliveira (Defense), admiral Almir Garnier dos Santos (former commander-general of the Navy ), Mario Fernandes, Estevam Theóphilo and Laércio Vergílio (retired Brigadier General) would have “used the high military rank they held to influence and encourage support for the other areas of activity”.

The pressure on the military was mainly due to the refusal of General Freire Gomes, then commander of the Army, to join the movement. “It’s making PR’s life difficult [Presidente da República] by standing against it”, says a dialogue.

“The criminal group even organized a specific meeting in an attempt to recruit military personnel with a Special Forces course who, according to the Federal Police, in line with the coup attempts, would support the necessary measures to try to prevent the government from taking office. elected and restrict the exercise of the Judiciary Power, and in which Cleverson Ney Magalhães (Infantry Colonel assigned to COTER), assistant to COTER Commander Estevam Teophilo Gaspar de Oliveira, had also participated, a unit whose membership would be fundamental as it would be the military unit that has , under his administration, the largest contingent of troops in the Army”, says the decision, emphasizing that this movement occurred while the protester camps grew “financed by businessmen”.

The PF investigation shows dialogues between some “supposedly coup-leading” military personnel who signaled the expectation that “radical measures” would have to be adopted to “reverse the outcome of the election”, “even emerging the tactic of investing against military personnel not aligned with the coup initiatives, also through the dissemination of false news, all with the aim of inciting members of the military to turn against commanders who take a stand against the criminal intent.”

The investigation also points out that the then minister Braga Netto had a “strong role, including in measures aimed at incitement against members of the Armed Forces who were not in line with the coup attempts”. Messages reproduced from his WhatsApp indicate strong pressure on Freire Gomes, such as the threat of protests in front of his house.

Another excerpt from the investigation points to the participation of former minister general Augusto Heleno (GSI) and former aides-de-camp Marcelo Câmara and Mauro Cid in a “parallel intelligence nucleus” that was responsible for “collecting data and information that could assist decision-making and Bolsonaro in the consummation of the coup d’état”.

This nucleus would have monitored STF ministers and other authorities using tools to “guarantee their capture and detention in the early hours of the beginning of that plan”.

A People’s Gazettethe Army informed that it is following the operation launched by the Federal Police “providing all the necessary information for the investigations carried out by that body”.