Resistance in sending images to Lula sealed the fate of GSI – 04/19/2023 – Politics

The decision on the departure of the GSI (Institutional Security Office) minister, General Gonçalves Dias, was taken by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) after an emergency meeting at the Planalto Palace, attended by Vice President Geraldo Alckmin ( PSB) and ministers closest to the president.

Lula’s allies say that he was very irritated, as he had repeatedly asked the general, without success, for access to the images from the Planalto security camera system. He heard that it would not be possible and, according to an interlocutor of the PT, even one of the cameras would be broken. He ended up surprised this Wednesday (19) with the disclosure of that same content, which would have been denied him.

Distrust also weighed on the version presented by the general, that he appears indicating the exit for the invaders in the images because he was leading the coup plotters to be arrested on the second floor of the palace.

A Sheet the general refuted the version that he would have denied access to the images of January 8th. He stated that the GSI even put together a presentation with the most sensitive footage to forward to Lula and that all hours of footage were forwarded to the bodies involved in the investigation, such as the STF (Federal Supreme Court), Federal Police, Brazilian Army and the Military Police. of the Federal District.

He also stated that the filming was confidential as provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

A week after the January 8 attacks, the government released edited videos, in particular with excerpts that showed that the militants were allies of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). However, he refused a request from the Sheetvia the Access to Information Act, to release the entirety of the recordings.

Gonçalves Dias handed in his resignation to President Lula this Wednesday afternoon, pressured and worn out by the dissemination of images from the internal security circuit of the Planalto —which called into question the performance of the GSI and himself in confronting the invaders.

Hours earlier, CNN Brasil released images showing the vandals receiving water from a GSI agent and calmly interacting with the military during the invasion of the headquarters of the Presidency of the Republic.

In the videos, General Gonçalves Dias himself walks around the third floor of the palace, in the anteroom of the President of the Republic’s office, while the acts took place on the floor below.

The dissemination of the images increased the pressure on Gonçalves Dias, who even met with some ministers to explain his actions on the day of the attacks.

Lula later delayed his participation in an education ceremony in Planalto for more than an hour, as he summoned some of his closest ministers for an emergency meeting. Alckmin, ministers Flávio Dino (Justice), Rui Costa (Casa Civil), Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations) and the general director of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, took part.

At that meeting, the understanding emerged that GDias —as the general is known— should resign. None of those present took a stand or argued against the departure of the minister from the GSI.

The evaluation of the participating ministers was that the images were strong and impactful and made it clear that GDias had lost control of the situation during the coup attack on January 8.

Government members, however, discard any kind of connection between the general and the invaders. They just came to the conclusion, through the images, that his performance was below expectations for the security of the presidential palace.

Participants also questioned the version given by Gonçalves Dias to appear in the images indicating the departure for Bolsonarist militants. The general pointed out that he was taking the invaders back to the second floor of the palace, to have them arrested there.

A member of the government says that these coup plotters were not given a voice of arrest who were taken to the second floor immediately afterwards, which contradicts the general’s version.

A Sheet Gonçalves Dias reinforces that “the protesters who were on the fourth and third floors were taken to the second in order to contain them for the arrival of the PM [Polícia Militar]”.

It was also pointed out that Bolsonarist parliamentarians already had access to the images that were later released by CNN Brasil and that they intended to use them to embarrass him during a hearing in the Chamber scheduled for this Wednesday. GDias, however, canceled his participation after the disclosure, citing health problems.

The reading is that the general would be faced with a new participation in the future and that this would continue to wear down the government.

The central point that sealed the departure of GDias, however, according to government interlocutors, was the lack of access to President Lula from the images of the Planalto Palace on the day of the invasion. The representative wanted, in particular, to see the recordings of cameras positioned in front of his office.

One of these aides to the president told the Sheet that Lula even received a report from the head of the GSI that there was a broken camera, making it impossible to access the full images of 1/8.

Lula even stated publicly, during breakfast with journalists, on January 12, that he insisted on seeing these images, as he was “convinced” that the palace doors would have been opened to the invaders.