MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian army officers arrested for planning to kill Lula

Sleuths found evidence regarding the plan by the military to poison Lula and eliminate Alckmin and De Moraes

Five Brazilian Army officers were arrested this week in connection with their involvement in Operation Green and Yellow Dagger, an alleged plan to kill then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022. The strategy also included taking down Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes.

Brazil's Federal Police (PF) proceeded to the detentions in order to “dismantle a criminal organization responsible for planning a coup d’etat to prevent the government legitimately elected in the 2022 elections from taking office,” according to a statement. In addition, three search warrants and other investigative measures have been carried out. Sleuths are yet to point out how and why the plot was not successful.

Communications Minister Paulo Pimenta told reporters he believed it did not go through “due to details” while JJustice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski insisted the suspects “came very close” to achieving their goal.

Among the detainees was General Mario Fernandes, then a senior aide to the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who claimed after losing the October 2022 elections that he had been robbed of his victory through the “malfunction” of electronic voting machines.

Investigators found messages and documents indicating that the plotters were monitoring and following De Moraes to take him down. Regarding Lula, the idea was to poison him. Another suspect reportedly supplied the plotters with intel about Lula's security.

The PF also seized a document detailing a probe into the alleged election fraud and the calling for new ones through a Congress-endorsed presidential decree. The suspects also contemplated setting up a “crisis cabinet.”