MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro denies any knowledge of plans to kill Lula and Alckmin

“Discussing with me a plan to kill someone, that never happened,” Bolsonaro underlined

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro insisted Friday that “discussing a plan to kill someone never happened,” despite what has been widely published in local media. Several military officers from his days in the Planalto Palace have been arrested for allegedly planning to take down Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Geraldo Alckmin after winning the runoff, in addition to Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes. In an interview via videoconference with Veja, Bolsonaro also downplayed his relationship with those apprehended.

According to the Federal Police (PF), the plot was hatched inside the Planalto Palace by General Mario Fernandes, who in 2022 was the executive secretary of the General Secretariat of the Presidency and is an old acquaintance of Bolsonaro's.

They met again during the retired Army captain's first year in office when he visited the Special Operations Command, then headed by Fernandes, who later went into retirement and joined Bolsonaro's administration.

Bolsonaro insisted that during his term everyone had free access to his office and that it was common for him to pass by other aides' offices. He also said he never knew of a plan to assassinate anyone. “There were more or less 3,000 people in that building. If a guy balls up some business, what does that have to do with me? Discussing with me a plan to kill someone, that never happened,” Bolsonaro underlined.

“I would never go along with any plan to carry out a coup. When they spoke to me, it was always to use a state of siege, something constitutional, which would depend on the approval of Congress,” he added.

Bolsonaro was on Thursday indicted along with 36 other people for the crimes of attempted coup, attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law, and criminal organization.

When arrested, Fernandes mentioned in an exchange of messages that the former president had accepted “our advice.” The general was also at the Alvorada Palace, where Bolsonaro remained isolated after his defeat by Lula, a day after printing the coup plan on a Planalto printer. He also visited Bolsonaro at least twice between November and December 2022.

“The Federal Police concluded Thursday the investigation into the existence of a criminal organization that acted in a coordinated manner in 2022 in an attempt to keep the then president in power,” a PF statement read. “The final report has been sent to the Supreme Court with the request that 37 people be prosecuted for the crimes of violent overthrow of the democratic state, coup d'état and criminal organization,” they added.

Brazil's attorney general must decide whether the accusations are sufficiently founded to justify criminal charges which carry up to 12 years in prison. Bolsonaro vowed to fight the accusation.

“The fight begins at the Attorney General's Office,” Bolsonaro stated on his X account. Judge Alexandre De Moraes “leads the entire investigation, adjusts statements, makes arrests without indictment, searches for evidence, and has a very creative advisory team. He does everything the law does not say,” Bolsonaro underlined.