The Federal Supreme Court (STF) will punish former president Jair Bolsonaro and other military personnel who set up the coup plot on January 8, 2023. This is an outcome that was given as a matter of course by the barracks. Behind the scenes, however, members of the Army High Command show concern about the judgment of officers who, despite knowing about the plan to prevent President Lula from taking office, did nothing.
There is a divergence in the STF regarding this point. Dean of the Court, the minister Gilmar Mendes, for example, classified the testimonies of former military commanders released so far as “extremely serious”. It wasn’t just that: he said that anyone who participated in meetings or had access to information about institutional rupture will be subject to legal proceedings this semester.
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At the other end, the minister André Mendonça and other magistrates have shown signs that they are against the thesis according to which any soldier who found out about Bolsonaro’s coup intentions and crossed his arms falls under the crime of malfeasance and, therefore, must be arrested.
“Any coup d’état action would require the intervention of military forces,” said Mendonça, who was Minister of Justice and head of the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) in the Bolsonaro government.
The statements to the Federal Police that revealed the labyrinths of the January 8 attempt further damaged the image of the Armed Forces, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the March 31, 1964 coup. That was why the Army commander, General Tomás Paiva, went out into the field to defend the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that prohibits active military personnel from running for elected positions.
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“A soldier who wants to be a politician must change profession,” said Paiva. “We don’t have to be involved in politics. Whether he is right-wing or left-wing doesn’t matter”, added the president of the Superior Military Court (STM), Joseli Parente.
After the Supreme Court’s judgment, the STM will look into the situation of the officers, some of them high-ranking, and disciplinary measures will be taken. General Walter Braga Netto, candidate for Bolsonaro’s vice-president in 2022, is one of those in the STM’s sights.
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Messages obtained by the Federal Police indicate that Braga Netto called the then Army commander, Marco Antônio Freire Gomes, a “shit” for refusing to join the coup.
Furthermore, he encouraged attacks on social media against Lieutenant-Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior, who at the time headed the Air Force and was considered by him as a “traitor to the Fatherland”. He gave the same “guidance” so that there would be a virtual bombardment in the direction of General Tomás Paiva, seen as “PT since he was a child”.
Baptista Júnior was responsible for revealing that Freire Gomes said, in a meeting called on December 14, 2022 by the then Minister of Defense, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, that he would be forced to arrest Bolsonaro if he tried to turn the tables .
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But, for Bolsonaro’s allies, such as senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI), former minister of the Civil House, this version was created so that the two soldiers could free themselves from the crime of malfeasance. “They were negligent,” said Ciro. In July 2021, the senator witnessed an alliance between the officers and Braga Netto, who on that date was the Minister of Defense, to pressure the Chamber to approve the printed vote.
Freire Gomes was furious with Moraes
Just over a year later, in August 2022, Freire Gomes also participated in a closed-door meeting, at Baptista Júnior’s house, with the Navy commander, Almir Garnier, among other guests. At the time, the general complained a lot about STF minister Alexandre de Moraes, who had taken office a few days ago as president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
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The conversation started at 8pm and ended well after midnight. Freire Gomes was enraged by the fact that Moraes met with the 27 commanders of the Military Police to discuss election security, without even consulting him. It said that, according to the Constitution, the Army is in charge of the PMs and auxiliary forces.
Time closed and there were those who preached that the Attorney General’s Office should request Moraes’ arrest. As we now know, when Bolsonaro presented the proposal for military intervention, Garnier warned that his troops were available.
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It is true that many revelations are yet to come, but there is no doubt about one fact: since 2020 Bolsonaro wanted to enact a Law and Order Guarantee (GLO) operation in the country. In the Covid-19 pandemic, his intention was to put the Army on the streets to open stores. It would be a “good emergency”, he said, when talking about a possible state of siege.
Military personnel who were against it, such as the then Minister of Defense Fernando Azevedo e Silva, fell at the end of March 2021. This Tuesday, the 19th, the Federal Police indicted Bolsonaro, former aide-de-camp Mauro Cid and 15 other people for falsifying vaccination cards against Covid-19 and suspects that the fraud may be linked to the former president’s attempt to remain in power.
There is still a lot to be investigated to prevent the future from repeating the past. But, as can be seen, the planning of the coup did not happen overnight.
