Brazilian federal police said on Tuesday that they broke up a criminal organization that plotted to assassinate the president-elect and overthrow the government two years ago. Police said they arrested five suspects who planned to execute the incoming leader and a Supreme Court justice before the January 2023 inauguration.
According to the announcement, the operation was set to be carried out on December 15, 2022, and its planners aimed to target then-president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his vice president-elect Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The suspects, mostly military personnel with special forces training, face charges of planning a violent coup d’état against Brazil’s democratic institutions.
Moraes has ordered the preventative detention of five individuals: Army soldiers Hélio Ferreira Lima, Rafael Martins de Oliveira, Rodrigo Bezerra Azevedo, reserve general Mário Fernandes and Federal Police agent Wladimir Matos Soares. Moraes also imposed various precautionary measures, including search and seizure warrants, prohibition from contacting other suspects and leaving the country, the surrender of passports, and suspension from exercising public functions.
According to police, most of the suspects were military personnel with special forces training who leveraged advanced military expertise to plan operations in late 2022. The group intended to establish their own crisis management office to handle institutional conflicts resulting from their actions.
Lula secured the election in October 2022 after defeating Jair Bolsonaro. The results were rejected by widespread protests orchestrated by Bolsonaro supporters. In what has been described as the most serious attack on state institutions since re-democratization in 1985, the protests escalated, leading to the capital being stormed in a bid to oust Lula following his inauguration. In March, two former high-ranking military officials testified that Bolsonaro had summoned them to discuss a potential coup following his electoral loss.
Mário Fernandes, one of the officials arrested on Tuesday, served as interim general secretary in Bolsonaro’s Cabinet for multiple years. According to police, Fernandes instructed and financially supported the protesters, working through the details of various scenarios and methods that could be employed to assassinate Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
From the facts uncovered so far, those arrested could be charged with violent abolition of the Democratic State of Law, planning a coup d’etat, and criminal organization. Investigations remain underway.
