Brazil's federal police have accused former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 of his allies of orchestrating a coup attempt to prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from assuming power after the 2022 presidential election. The investigation has unveiled detailed plans that included assassinating Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes through methods such as poisoning.
Among the accused are key figures from Bolsonaro's administration, such as former Defense Ministers Gen Walter Braga Netto and Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, Justice Minister Anderson Torres, and intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem. Others implicated include Valdemar Costa Neto, the president of Bolsonaro's Liberal Party, and foreign policy advisor Filipe Martins.
The accusations, presented to Brazil's Supreme Court, allege crimes including plotting a coup, forming a criminal organization, and violently seeking to dismantle Brazil's constitutional democracy.
A document by Brazil's Federal Police, reported by Argentine outlet Clarín, elaborates on the alleged poisoning attempt:
"For the execution of President Lula, the document describes, considering his health vulnerabilities and frequent hospital visits, the possibility of using poisoning or chemicals to cause an organic collapse"
The investigation highlights an operation referred to as "Green and Yellow Dagger," which allegedly aimed to murder Lula and Alckmin using poison and stage the death of De Moraes with explosives. Evidence suggests these plans involved military personnel with advanced training in special operations. Police have arrested several individuals linked to the conspiracy, some of whom were providing security during the recent G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
These allegations are part of a broader inquiry into events surrounding Bolsonaro's loss to Lula in the 2022 election. After his defeat, Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States while his supporters demanded military intervention. The tensions peaked in January 2023, when Bolsonaro loyalists stormed the presidential palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court in Brasília.
Bolsonaro took to X to refute the charges through a lengthy post which included fragments from an interview with Brazilian news site Metrópoles from a few days back. In it, he takes aim at supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes claiming he "the entire investigation, adjusts statements, arrests without reporting, fishes for evidence and has a very creative advisory team," adding that Moraes "does everything that the law does not say."
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