SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil’s federal police arrested five officers accused of plotting a coup that included plans to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections and kill then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, authorities said.
The five also planned to kill Lula’s running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The arrested included four special operations military personnel, one of whom is a retired brigadier general and a federal police officer.
The police said they also carried out three search warrants along with other measures, including seizing the suspects’ passports and preventing them from contacting others. It was not clear when charges would be officially raised against the five suspects.
“The objective was to prevent the inauguration of the legitimately elected government and undermine the free exercise of democracy and the authority of Brazil’s judiciary,” de Moraes, who authorised the arrests, said of the plot in his order.
“These actions, peaking between November and December 2022, were part of a broader plan to carry out a coup d’état,” he added.
Lula returned as Brazil’s president for a third, non-consecutive term after narrowly defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October 2022. Bolsonaro, who frequently cast doubt on the election results without providing evidence and never conceded, left for the United States days before Lula’s January 2023 inauguration.
In the aftermath of the elections, Bolsonaro supporters staged nationwide protests challenging the results, closing highways and camping outside military installations. That culminated in a January 8, 2023 uprising, when thousands of demonstrators stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasilia a week after Lula’s inauguration, seeking to oust him from power.
Retired Brigadier General Mário Fernandes, one of the officers arrested on Tuesday, played a key role in linking these pro-Bolsonaro protest camps to Bolsonaro’s Cabinet, according to details of the investigation that were included in the judge’s order and that were seen by The Associated Press.
Fernandes served as interim general secretary in Bolsonaro’s Cabinet from October 2020 until the end of his term. Police said they found evidence that he outlined a plan to kill de Moraes, Lula and Alckmin and visited the protest camps outside military installations, including at the army headquarters in Brasilia.
