Coup-mongering agents arrested are top army officers
Commenting on the operation launched Tuesday (Nov. 19) by the Federal Police, President Lula’s head of communications Paulo Pimenta said the plan to assassinate the president, vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes were just “a trifle away from materializing.”
“We’re talking about a concrete, objective action that brings new, serious evidence of participation by people from the power core of [former President Jair] Bolsonaro’s government in the coup they tried to carry out in Brazil to prevent the inauguration of the elected president and vice-president,” he said to the press amid the G20 activities in Rio de Janeiro.
“We’re talking about generals, active-duty colonels, members of the Federal Police. These are material evidence that there really was a plan to directly target the president, the vice-president, and Justice Alexandre de Moraes on December 15,” he went on to say.
The Federal Police confirmed that five people were taken into custody on Tuesday. The arrest warrants were signed by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur at the Supreme Court for the cases against those involved in the attempted coup on January 8, 2023.
Among those imprisoned are Lieutenant Colonel Hélio Ferreira de Lima, who mentions having taken part in the Army’s special operations course on social media; retired General Mário Fernandes, who held positions in the president’s Secretariat-General; Major Rafael Martins de Oliveira; Federal Police Officer Wladimir Matos Soares; and Army Officer Rodrigo Bezerra Azevedo, who also mentions having taken part in the Army’s special operations course on social media.
Amnesty
In Pimenta’s opinion, the investigation by the Federal Police “effectively shatters” the claim that the people who took part in the Jan. 8 riots did so “in a democratic way, through demonstrations.”
He associates the current findings, the attempted explosion of the truck near Brasília airport, and the encampments outside the army headquarters to the thwarted coup attempt. “All of this culminated in January 8,” he said.
*Lucas Pordeus León contributed to this article.
