MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro aide's phone found to contain coup plans

It has not been proven that Bolsonaro ever saw these texts, his lawyers have argued

The mobile telephone of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's aide-de-camp Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid was found to contain a series of WhatsApp messages with other military officers openly advocating a coup d'état after last year's elections, it was reported.

Citing information from Cid's cell phone, Brazilian police claimed that the military officer had “gathered documents with the objective of obtaining ‘legal and judicial’ support for the execution of a coup d’etat.” The report further alleges that Cid investigated methods of potentially stopping the transfer of power from Bolsonaro to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. It also states that he looked into “the possibility of using the armed forces” to achieve the objective.

Brazil’s army said in a statement that “any individual conduct judged to be irregular will be dealt with in court.”

According to the newspaper O Globo, Lieutenant Colonel Gian Dermário da Silva, head of the 7th Jungle Infantry Battalion of the Brazilian Army, said the conversations were discussions of “possibilities” and “only conjectures at a time when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters rallied in front of barracks nationwide calling for a military uprising after Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's victory.

”To ensure the necessary restoration of the democratic rule of law“ and ”based on express provisions of the Constitution, a state of siege is declared,“ read a text found on the former aide-de-camp's phone.

Colonel Márcio Nunes de Resende Júnior, chief of the Jungle Logistic Battalion I, was reported to have written that if Bolsonaro activates Article 142 of the Constitution ”there will be no one to stop the troops.“

Cid's cell phone also included a text titled ”The Armed Forces as a moderating power“ and other documents outlining a plot to put the country under military command and intervention. Cid has been under arrest in the probe for alleged fraud with Covid-19 vaccine certificates.

In this scenario, Bolsonaro's defense lawyers insisted Friday that the former president ”never“ participated in any coup attempts. They also argue that the aide-de-camp, ”by the function exercised, received all the demands“ that ”should reach the president of the Republic“ and that his phone was like ”a simple correspondence box that recorded the most diverse regrets.”

Starting this coming Thursday, Bolsonaro is to stand trial before the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) for alleged abuse of political and economic power during the electoral campaign. If found guilty, he might be disenfranchised for eight years.