Police arrest ex-Bolsonaro aide, four others, in alleged plot to kill Brazil’s Lula in coup

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO — Brazilian police on Tuesday arrested five people, including a member of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s government, suspected of involvement in an alleged plan to kill then president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his vice-president in 2022 days before they took office, police said.

The arrests were the first time in the investigation that federal police have mentioned a plot to kill Lula and Geraldo Alckmin, his choice as vice-president, and stage a coup to stop him returning to power.

Most of those investigated are military personnel with Special Forces training, the police said in a statement.

Two sources close to the case told Reuters that one of those arrested was retired Brigadier General Mario Fernandes, who previously worked as former rightist president Bolsonaro’s executive secretary.

He was in possession of the plan to kill Lula, one of the sources said.

“A detailed operational plan called ‘Green and Yellow Dagger’ was identified, which would be executed on December 15, 2022, aimed at the murder of the elected candidates for president and vice-president,” the police said in a statement.

Federal police officers carried out five arrest warrants on Tuesday, the police said without providing any names, as well as three search and seizure warrants and other 15 precautionary measures.

These included banning suspects from contacting the others and forbidding them from leaving the country.

“Investigations indicate that the criminal organization used a high level of technical-military knowledge to plan, coordinate and execute illicit actions in the months of November and December 2022,” the police statement said.

Lula won the presidential election in October 2022, defeating rightist incumbent Bolsonaro, and took office in January 2023.

A federal police investigation will conclude that Bolsonaro conspired to engineer the attempted coup after he lost the election, a source with direct knowledge of the investigations told Reuters in October. The probe is expected to be finished this month.

Bolsonaro has made no public comment on the coup plot allegations. Reuters was trying to reach representatives of the former president and General Fernandes for comment.

The Brazilian army monitored the federal operation against the coup plotters, which was carried out in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Goias, Amazonas and the Federal District.

The police said that the suspects under investigation had planned for an “Institutional Crisis Management Office” to be installed in order to manage problems arising from the coup.

They also planned to seize and kill a Supreme Court justice if they succeeded, police said, without naming the judge.

According to the sources, the justice is Alexandre de Moraes, responsible for inquiries investigating Bolsonaro over the Jan. 8, 2023, riot against Brazilian institutions.

About 2,000 people were arrested over the unrest in the capital Brasilia, although most were later released. Others have been convicted by the Supreme Court on charges of an attempted coup, among other crimes.