Brazil’s Former President Charged for Alleged Coup
Brazilian Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet formally charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to stay in office after he was defeated in a 2022 election.
The alleged plot included a plan for a small group of elite military agents to poison Bolsonaro’s opponent, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Associated Press reported.
The indictment alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in the plan, which was dubbed the “Green and Yellow Dagger”—colors associated with Bolsonaro’s political movement.
“The members of the criminal organization structured a plan at the presidential palace to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order…” Gonet wrote in the 272-page indictment. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”
Along with engaging in an alleged coup d’état, the defendants are accused of participating in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage qualified by violence and serious threat against the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage. The scheme allegedly included plots to annul the 2022 vote, disband courts, and empower the military, The New York Times reported.
Bolsonaro’s defense team refuted the accusations, noting in a statement that Bolsonaro “has never agreed to any movement aimed at deconstructing the democratic rule of law or the institutions that underpin it.” Bolsonaro has personally denied the claims, calling the investigation political persecution.
This is another element in a string of civil unrest incidents tied to political outcomes in Brazil.
In early 2023, thousands of pro-Bolsonaro supporters who refused to accept his election defeat stormed Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace. They climbed on roofs, smashed windows, invaded state buildings, and trashed offices, the AP reported. Pro-Bolsonaro supporters had been protesting, vandalizing vehicles, and causing property damage for months after Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat.
“Most observers concur that a second term for Bolsonaro would have propelled Brazil further into autocracy,” especially given his administration’s disinterest in collaborating with dissenting voices and its exacerbation of existing divisions for political purposes, according to the 2024 BTI Transformation Index.
“Consequently, there was immense relief when former President Lula and a broad coalition successfully thwarted Bolsonaro’s re-election in the 2022 run-off elections,” the Index continued. “However, Bolsonarismo remains deeply rooted in Brazilian society and politics, securing numerous mandates in parliamentary and gubernatorial elections and enjoying widespread approval. At the same time, an overwhelming majority of Brazilians condemned the violent storming of government, parliamentary, and judicial buildings in the capital, Brasilia, by radicalized supporters of the former president in January 2023. The days following these violent clashes saw a peak in fundamental support for democracy as a form of government.”
The nation’s Supreme Court will analyze the charges and decide if Bolsonaro will stand trial. If convicted, he could face 12 to 40 years in prison. Brazil’s electoral court already ruled that Bolsonaro is ineligible to run in the 2026 presidential election because he falsely claimed Brazil’s voting system was vulnerable to fraud.
