“There was no risk of a coup on January 8th”, says Miro Teixeira

The former federal deputy and former Minister of Communications of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) Miro Teixeira (PDT), 78 years old, disagrees with the left's assessment that the country was on the verge of a coup d'état on January 8, 2023. For him, the best definition of that day is “mess”.

“Let’s say that uproar turned into a coup. Absurdly, Lula would be removed from power, just as [Geraldo] Alckmin, [Arthur] Lira, [Rodrigo] Pacheco, his successors. See how I have reasons to say that democracy was not threatened: I would need a next step, which is to declare the Presidency vacant. Who would do this? There is no name”said Teixeira in an interview with Power360.

That “leader”says Miro, would not be the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The reason is simple: if there was an intention to carry out a coup and take over the Armed Forces, it would have been done while he was still in power and had the facilities of the post.

“It is not even known whether Bolsonaro would be suitable for a military leadership. And there [se fosse] would have done [o golpe] while he was president. It would be the maintenance of power. In January, no more. If there was a coup, it wouldn’t be to hand over power to him.”he said.

Even without the imminent risk of a coup, Miro says there were conspirators in the Armed Forces. And that the leader, or leaders, have not yet been exposed. The main reasons that lead him to reach this conclusion are:

• camps in front of barracks across the country;
• complacency of the military in protecting the campers.

“Camps in front of barracks are not natural or democratic. They leave free expression and enter the field of conspiracy. A communist tries to do the same with hammer and sickle flags… This should have been undone by the military commanders. What remains is the great enigma. Who is the political or military commander of the acts?”he questioned.

For Miro, President Lula got it right not declaring a GLO operation (Guarantee of Law and Order). If he did, there would, at his request, be troops in the street. And, in the former minister's opinion, the ideal moment would be created for these conspirators to appear and declare a possible coup.

“At that time [a decisão de não declarar a GLO] The attack against democracy, which had not occurred until now and has not occurred since, may have been stopped. If I had edited the GLO, I would have put troops on the streets and a commander could have appeared who would suggest non-democratic measures”he said.

According to the former minister, it was a serious intelligence and security failure that Lula was not informed about the extremist acts. He says that the PT member, even without information, acted instinctively and based on his experience as a union member.

“It is serious that Lula was surprised by the acts. A president cannot be surprised by something that was announced 2 days ago on social media. Lula, without information, hits the table and says that if they want GLO, he has to contest the election and win”he states, citing a recent speech by the president.