The assault on the institutional headquarters of Brasilia on January 8, 2023 it was a coup attempt and Jair Bolsonaro he was more than aware of it, indeed he would have participated in the plot which also included the dismissal and the arrest of Alexandre de Moraes, minister of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil, a body guaranteeing democracy and the Constitution. The Federal Police are reaching these conclusions, after a year of investigations, which in fact on Thursday 8 February issued an order for the former Brazilian president to hand over his passport, which is equivalent to a ban on expatriation until the investigation called Tempus Veritatis, in which other members of his government are involved, will not be completed. Bolsonaro had already ended up several times in the sights of the Supreme Court, which has already condemned him for disseminating fake news on the electoral system and on alleged fraud in the last elections, those of November 2022 which saw a photo finish victory of his opponent Lula.
Brazil, what the former president Bolsonaro risks
For that affair the former president was declared ineligible until 2030, but this time he risks even more: according to many, the police action is the appetizer of a very probable trial against Bolsonaro for having plotted not only against Moraes but also against other institutions, such as the then president of the Senate Rodrigo Pacheco and another member of the Supreme Court, Gilmar Mendes.
The charge is of coup d'etat and therefore Bolsonaro, if guilty as appears increasingly likely, would risk 4 to 12 years in prison in the event of a final conviction, according to the Brazilian penal code. Also because the sovereignist leader, at the time of the organization of the conspiracy, was still formally president in office. From the evidence obtained so far in the investigations, coordinated by Judge Moraes and conducted thanks to telephone calls intercepted between army leaders, it seems that Bolsonaro was personally drafting the decree that would have given powers to General Estevam Theophilo Gaspar de Oliveira: the two agreed met in person on December 9, 2022, one month before the attack on the headquarters of the Government and Congress.
Brazil, intercepted messages
“The president is abandoning the idea of accepting defeat – reads a message intercepted in November 2022 – and is preparing a “virada de jogo” (a reversal of the game), supported by the military, industrialists and members of the government”. An anti-democratic plan that was foiled on that crazy afternoon of Sunday 8 January 2023, after hours of clashes and tensions, with over 2.000 protesters arrested, 1.400 of whom were reported and tried for an attempted coup and 30 of whom were already convicted. The signal that Bolsonaro could in turn be convicted and arrested also comes from the fact that the Federal Police operation yesterday, Thursday 8 February, has already landed several former ministers and soldiers in prison.
Brazil, the investigations: who is involved
Among these there is also Marcelo Camara, former advisor to Bolsonaro, already under investigation for the scam regarding the former president's false vaccination certificate, who notoriously held No-Vax positions during Covid and lied several times about having been regularly vaccinated. The Tempus Veritatis operation is therefore progressively unmasking a real criminal system, aimed at removing the newly elected president Lula and keeping Bolsonaro in office, who instead had immediately denied his direct involvement in the assault on the institutions, although not taking any distances fully.
Brazil in full electoral campaign
Meanwhile, Brazil is in the midst of an election campaign End of year administrative meetings, which will also bring Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to the polls, two metropolitan areas with a total of around 35 million inhabitants: an important test for Lula but also to test the reaction of the Bolsonarist electorate, which always seems active despite the judicial events of the leader. Lula, busy at an event in Minas Gerais, avoided commenting on the developments of the investigation, while Guilherme Boulos, center-left candidate for the municipality of São Paulo and favorite to win against the current mayor Ricardo Nunes, supported by Bolsonaro: “Knock knock,” wrote the Lulista candidate on social media, posting the photo of Nunes and Bolsonaro.
