Brazilian Federal Police revealed a detailed coup plan found with an aide of a important member of the Bolsonaro´s administration General Braga Netto. The manuscript, found on Colonel Flávio Botelho Peregrino's desk, ends with the phrase, "Lula doesn't ascend the presidential inauguration ramp", meaning that the then ellected president would be prevented to taking over the nation´s top job.
The "Operation 142" plan aimed to prevent Lula from taking office by annulling the 2022 elections and mobilizing military and legal resources. "This fact shows the concern of those investigated with the possibility of a physical draft related to Article 142 of the Constitution," states an excerpt from the report, whose confidentiality was lifted by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday (26).
The handwritten document outlines steps to subvert the democratic process, including a national TV address and mobilizing opinion leaders. The report highlights the clear intent to undermine the democratic state using a distorted interpretation of the Constitution.
The Federal Police reported that Braga Netto and his entourage "had a clear coup intention, to subvert the Democratic Rule of Law, using an anomalous interpretation of Article 142 of the Federal Constitution, to try to legitimize the coup d'état," according to an excerpt from the report.
If the coup were to occur, a cabinet led by extremist generals would be created under the Republic's presidency. The report shows that the plan "detailed the human and military resources needed to carry out the actions, using advanced military operational techniques, as well as the subsequent establishment of an 'Institutional Crisis Management Office,' to be integrated by the investigated parties themselves to manage institutional conflicts arising from the actions."
General Walter Braga Netto, Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff in the government of Jair Bolsonaro, directed attacks on military personnel as part of the coup plan to keep the former president in power. In addition to Bolsonaro, the Federal Police indicted 36 high ranked military men.
Understanding the case
The police report recovers strategies of digital militias since the first year of the Bolsonaro government in 2019. In the conclusion of the 884-page document, the four delegates responsible for the case draw up a timeline recovering the actions of the so-called digital militias in the Bolsonaro government, going through the episodes that occurred after the 2022 election, to affirm that the coup discourse remains latent in part of Brazilian society.
According to the document, the facts under investigation constitute the crimes of violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d'état, and criminal organization. Following the defeat of then-president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 election, his supporters launched a series of attacks across Brazil. It started with a bomb attack at Brasília airport on Christmas 2022, then the invasion and vandalism of federal government buildings in Brasília on January 8, 2023, as well as attacks on a power station. The last one, on November 13, has culminated in a right-wing terrorist trying to attack the Supreme Court.
The coup failed due to lack of support from the military leadership. The police included in the final report part of the testimony of former Air Force commander, in which he states that the position of the then Army commander not embarking on the coup was decisive for the initiative not to succeed. The Army is the largest of the three Armed Forces
