Planned coup d’état in Brazil: Arrest of a general close to Jair Bolsonaro

A former defense minister of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, suspected of having “directed” an alleged coup d’état plan and of trying to obstruct the investigation, was arrested on Saturday in Brazil .

Minister in 2021-2022, General Walter Braga Netto was Jair Bolsonaro’s running mate in the presidential election of October 2022, lost to the current left-wing head of state, Lula.

The arrest was ordered by Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), due to the general’s “very serious participation” in the coup project, “in a real role of direction, organization and financing , in addition to relevant evidence indicating that he repeatedly acted to obstruct the investigation. General Walter “Braga Netto has been arrested,” a police source confirmed to AFP.

“Active participation”

At the end of November, the Federal Police (PF) recommended indicting Jair Bolsonaro, 69, and several of his relatives, for their alleged involvement in this planned coup d’état aimed at preventing the inauguration of Lula, including General Braga Netto.

According to the elements of the investigation, Walter Braga Netto had “active participation” in the attempt to put pressure on commanders of the Brazilian armed forces to “join the coup d’état project”.

The general is also allegedly involved in obtaining and providing funds for surveillance operations, and for “planning kidnappings and, possibly, homicides of persons holding public authority.”

“Prove that there was no obstruction of the investigation”

He would also have acted to obtain information protected by judicial secrecy on the progress of the investigation and would have pressured so that “the participation of those under investigation was not fully disclosed”.

His defense assured that it would be able to “prove that there was no obstruction of the investigation”.

The general had already been the subject of a police operation in February as part of the investigation into “the criminal organization which acted in the attempted coup d’état”, but had not then been imprisoned.

“Crimes of violent abolition of the rule of law”

The police believe that Jair Bolsonaro and 36 of his relatives should be prosecuted for “the crimes of violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d’état and criminal organization.”

She gathered evidence for two years and wrote an 884-page report, now in the hands of public prosecutor Paulo Gonet, who must decide whether to pursue the requests for indictments.

According to investigators, Jair Bolsonaro was “fully aware” of the “clandestine acts aimed at abolishing the rule of law” and had “actively participated” in them. He was also “fully aware” of an operation aimed at assassinating Lula.

“Green and yellow dagger”

In addition to the left-wing leader, the assassinations of others were also planned, including Geraldo Alckmin, then vice-president-elect, and Judge de Moraes.

Called “Green and Yellow Dagger,” the plan to kill Lula would have been discussed in the very house of General Braga Netto. And the plan was printed at the Planalto, the presidential palace, according to investigators.

Among the evidence gathered by the PF is also a manuscript seized from the headquarters of Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL), in the belongings of an advisor to Walter Braga Netto.

Codenamed “Operation 142,” the document mentions options like “interruption of the transition process,” “cancellation of elections” and “extension of mandates.”

An investigation into Jair Bolsonaro

Lula won by a narrow margin in the second round of the presidential election, at the end of October 2022, and began his third term on January 1, 2023. He had already been president from 2003 to 2010.

The coup did not take place, but on January 8, 2023, a few days after Lula’s inauguration, thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro invaded and vandalized the buildings in Brasilia housing the presidency, the STF and the Parliament.

Jair Bolsonaro, who left for the United States a few days earlier, is the subject of another investigation to determine whether he was at the origin of these riots.

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