The Brazilian police launch an operation against Bolsonaro and the soldiers of his circle for coup plotting

The Brazilian Federal Police have knocked on the door at the house where Jair Bolsonaro spends his summers for the second time in two weeks. If at the end of January they asked about his son Carlos, this Thursday the agents arrived looking for the former president himself (2019-2022) due to his alleged relationship with the failed coup attempt a year ago. The far-right, three soldiers who were ministers with him and several advisors from his inner circle are the targets of a police operation that includes some 30 searches and four arrest warrants against advisors. The agents have appeared at the Bolsonaro home in Angra dos Reis, 170 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro, with an order that forces the patriarch to hand over his passport and prohibits him from leaving the country and coming into contact with the rest of those investigated. , according to Or Globe. Her spokesperson has reported that she will abide by the decision and deliver the document.

The judicial siege around Bolsonaro Sr. has been tightening since, upon leaving power, he lost his immunity, but never before had the former president been directly approached by the investigators of the most serious case against him, the attempt to abolish the State of right. It also represents a qualitative leap that among those sought there are three generals in the reserve: Walter Braga Netto, who was Minister of Defense and candidate for vice president in the last election, his successor in the ministry Paulo Nogueira Batista, and Augusto Heleno, who led a critical ministry such as Institutional Security. Among those identified by the police, the former head of the Navy Almir Garnier and Waldemar Costa Neto, president of the Liberal Party, in which Bolsonaro Sr. is a member, also stand out.

The ongoing operation is part of the investigations into the attempted coup d'état perpetrated by thousands of Bolsonaro supporters on January 8, 2023, a week after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assumed power after winning the elections.

The police accuse those investigated, according to an official note, of “belonging to a criminal organization that tried to carry out a coup d'état” that would keep Bolsonaro in power and thereby obtain political advantages. Investigators point out that they organized into cells to spread alleged fraud in the 2022 elections in order to legitimize a military intervention. For two months, thousands of people camped outside military barracks across the country demanding a coup against Lula. Only after the riot were they dismantled.

President Lula referred to the news of the day in the first hours of the police operation. “I think that [el intento de golpe] It wouldn't have happened without him. [Bolsonaro]”, he said according to Efe during an interview with a radio station. The leftist recalled that, after the defeat, his far-right rival “stayed at home crying and went to the United States. He must have participated in the construction of that attempted coup. Let's see what the investigations say.”

The court cases against Bolsonaro Sr. stem from a variety of issues, from coup plotting to trying to keep some jewelry that the Saudi royal family gave him when he was president of Brazil. Or the most recent, disturbing a humpback whale during a jet ski ride. Since the Supreme Court announced, shortly after the failed riot, that it was investigating Bolsonaro for inciting the assault on the headquarters of the three powers, the case against him has brought few relevant developments, but several pawns around him have fallen. And the fence has narrowed step by step.

First, the police arrested and imprisoned a police commissioner who was Minister of Justice. The next person arrested was his private secretary, a soldier who constantly accompanied him and brought him his mobile phone. Then, on January 29, the agents arrived at the Bolsonaros' summer home in search of Carlos Bolsonaro, a councilor in Rio de Janeiro, who is being investigated for illegal espionage against thousands of his father's adversaries. Now, it is the leader of the Brazilian right and some of the retired generals and advisors who accompanied him in the Government who are in the crosshairs of the police and judges.

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