“There was widespread failure”, says PF director on January 8

Six months after the acts of January 8, the director general of the Federal Police (PF), delegate Andrei Rodrigues, said, in an interview with newspaper O Globo, that there was a “widespread failure” and that the Federal District Military Police (PM) should have contained the “criminals”. The statement, however, contradicts a document from the Brazilian Army sent to the CPMI of the acts of January 8, in the National Congress. The document points to the failure of the Institutional Security Office (GSI), responsible for the security of the Presidency of the Republic at the Planalto Palace, which did not activate the troops in advance as determined by the established protocol.

In the interview, the director of the PF was asked about the alerts for the need to strengthen security at the Planalto Palace. In response, he said he had the “fortune to document this on the eve of the episode” in a report sent to the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino. “Minister Flávio Dino and I adopted all the measures that were within our reach. On the 7th of January, I was at the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District and I openly said that the people who were in the camp were criminals and could not leave, because they would destroy Congress, the Planalto Palace and the Supreme Court. [Supremo Tribunal Federal]”, said the delegate.

Delegate attributes security system failure to the Military Police

The director of the PF, delegate Andrei also said that the failure in the security system was obvious and attributed it to the Military Police. “The criminals left the camp escorted by the Military Police. And those plastic barriers, two PMs with a little pepper spray… In other words, that there for me showed that there was deliberate interest in chaos being created and what happened happen”, he said.

During the interview, delegate Andrei, however, did not mention that few GSI agents and employees were seen circulating around the Planalto Palace during the acts. After the identification of former GSI minister Marco Edson Gonçalves Dias in the security footage of the building, it was also possible to see that the few agents made no attempt to repress or arrest the demonstrators.

Andrei further admitted that everyone knew what was going to happen. “Who should contain this group of criminals is the PM. There was no technical reason why it wouldn’t work on the 8th, because we all knew what was going to happen. What was seen was a generalized failure, but mainly due to the absence of a consistent operation by an institution that is one of the best police forces in Brazil. PM has expertise and professionals of the highest level. But, that day, due to negligence or with the intention that chaos actually happened, it stopped operating as it should”, scored the delegate.