Before his arrest, Cid worked with a general who supported an alleged coup

In February 2023, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid was sent by the Army command to Coter (Land Operations Command), in Brasília. The body was headed by General Estevam Theophilo Gaspar de Oliveira, who was recently targeted by the PF (Federal Police) in Operation Tempus Veritatis. He is suspected of offering his troops to the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in support of a coup d'état.

When he was assigned to Coter, Cid had left the Orders Assistance of the Presidency of the Republic about 3 months ago. He had already faced a clash with the Army command over his appointment to the BAC (Command Action Battalion), in Goiânia.

Going to Coter was Cid's 2nd option. He was barred from the BAC after being accused of operating an alleged Caixa 2 scheme in Planalto. The case led to the dismissal of former Army commander Júlio César Arruda, who defended his appointment to the barracks, despite resistance from the president. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

According to the Power360, Cid maintained good relations with General Theophilo. In fact, after being barred from BAC, Theophilo himself convinced him to return to Coter. They had a relationship since the time at Aman (Agulhas Negras Military Academy). The father of the former aide-de-camp, Lourena Cid, is also close to the Gaspar de Oliveira family, well known in the Army.

On May 3, Mauro Cid was arrested for falsifying data on vaccination cards. In the decision, Minister Alexandre de Moraes removed the soldier from Army duties. Detained in the barracks, the lieutenant colonel received several visits from General Theophilo and other friends of Coter.

O Power360 contacted Cid's lawyer, Cezar Bittencourt, and requested a statement about the proximity of the former assistant and the general Theophilo, but received no response until the publication of this report. The space remains open for manifestation.

OPERATION

On Thursday (8.Feb), Bolsonaro and allies were the target of the PF's Tempus Veritatis operation, which investigates the attempted coup d'état to delegitimize the 2022 elections and keep Bolsonaro in the Presidency of the Republic.

In total, 33 people were subject to search and seizure, 4 to preventive detention and another 48 to alternative measures, which include prohibiting contact between those being investigated, handing over passports and suspending the exercise of public functions. The president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, was arrested during the operation for illegal possession of a weapon. He remained detained for 3 days until being released on Saturday night (Feb 10).

The operation was authorized by the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), Alexandre de Moraes. In the decision, he cites the attempt to keep Bolsonaro in power with a coup d'état. Here's the complete of the document (PDF – 8 MB). Moraes also lifted the confidentiality of a meeting held by Bolsonaro with members of his government in July 2022.

In it, the then president asked for endorsement of the attacks against the electoral system and suggested that TSE ministers had received money to rig the elections. Find out who was present at the meeting and watch the full video here.

At the end of January, Carlos Bolsonaro was also the target of an operation in Angra dos Reis for allegedly commanding a parallel structure of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) through the so-called “hate office” to illegally monitor authorities and journalists.