Brazil police urge Bolsonaro indictment for 2022 ‘coup’ plot

Police claim Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others planned the ‘violent overthrow of the democratic state’ after four army officers were arrested over a plot to murder then President-elect Lula da Silva.

Brazilian police have called for the indictment of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro over a 2022 “coup” plot to prevent current leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva taking office.

A police statement said an investigation it carried out concluded that Bolsonaro and 36 others planned the “violent overthrow of the democratic state.” It urged their indictment in a final report sent to Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Four senior army officers were arrested on Tuesday over an alleged plot to assassinate then President-elect Lula da Silva in the coup.

The four “were arrested in Rio, where they were participating in the security operation for the G20 leaders’ meeting,” a federal police source told AFP, adding that a police officer was also taken into custody.

The army, in a statement, denied that the arrested officers were part of the G20 security deployment and a statement by Brazil’s federal police made no link to the ongoing summit.

One of the suspects, General Mario Fernandes, was a senior adviser at the time to the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula had just defeated for president.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Picture; AFP.

Fernandes was arrested along with three lieutenant-colonels with “advanced military operational” know-how over the plot code-named “Green and Yellow Dagger.” The name was an apparent reference to colours on the Brazilian flag. They were arrested in an operation to “dismantle a criminal organisation responsible for planning a coup d’etat to prevent the government legitimately elected in 2022 elections taking office,” the police said.

According to the police report seen by AFP, the suspects were considering poisoning Lula.

Lula’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin was also targeted by the plot as was powerful Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a target of rightwing hate who recently shut down X for 40 days in a fight with its owner Elon Musk over disinformation.

US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are among leaders in Rio for the annual get-together of the heads of the world’s biggest economies.

Security is tight for the event, with troops in armoured vehicles lining the streets of the usually laid-back seaside city.

Tuesday’s arrests come under a week after a failed bomb attack on the Supreme Court by a suspected far-right extremist, who killed himself in the process.

The alleged plot against Lula was to have been carried out on December 15, 2022 – just weeks before the veteran leftist returned to office at the start of 2023, police said.

The suspected coup-plotters intended afterwards to set up a “crisis cabinet” with themselves in it, the police added.

They face charges of violently trying to overthrow the government, coup-plotting and being part of a criminal organisation, the statement added.

Lula returned to power in January 2023 after a decade’s absence after defeating single-term president Bolsonaro in October 2022 elections.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia on January 8, 2023 in an uprising reminiscent of the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.

Several investigations have been opened into the Brasilia riots. The man who carried out a failed bomb attack on the Supreme Court last week, killing himself in the process, is also suspected of involvement in the 2023 unrest.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, is being investigated on suspicion of inciting the 2023 violence.

AFP