According to a meeting that took place on 24th November, 2022, Admiral Almir Garnier from Brazil’s Navy was the only person who gave 100% support to the initiative. Bolsonaro was counting on total support of the military coup d'état (rebellion), but he was wrong.
Shortly after the elective vote, a meeting took place. And according to the accusation of his former aide, Mauro Cid who was present during the meeting, former neo-fascist President Jair Bolsonaro plotted against the Brazilian Constitution. Fortunately, then and there, the military leadership of his government learned about his coup plan. Cid said, the then commander of the Army, General Freire Gomes, threatened in declaration to have his hierarchical superior arrested for such a plot.
"If you go ahead with this, I will be forced to arrest you," Gomes warned.
The meeting, according to the disposition, took place on November 24, 2022, at the Alvorada Palace. The then commander of the Navy, Admiral Almir Garnier, would have been the only one to express full support for the initiative.
Brigadier Carlos Batista, commander of the Air Force, for his part, limited himself to silence in the face of Bolsonaro's scheme. According to the whistleblower, Commander Freire Gomes knew that the coup could not work.
Freire Gomes knew that the commanders of the South (Fernando Soares), the Southeast (Thomaz Paiva), the East (André Novaes) and the Northeast (Richard Nunes) would not support such fraudulence. In addition, the Americans, both civilian and military had already demonstrated their lack of support and made it clear that they would not tolerate such action, Cid told the Federal Police.
The scandal erupted in the media after the release of emails from the team of aides orders received from the Presidency, which revealed the meeting between Bolsonaro, commanders of the Armed Forces and the then Minister of Defense, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira. This happened just days after the second round of the presidential elections, when the defeat to the Labor party of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was already consolidated.
For Bolsonaro supporters this clarifies his obsession in running the country non-democratically. In other words, in a dictatorial fashion to accompany his wishes and desires, something unacceptable in this day and age. Russia’s Stalin, Germany’s Hitler, Italy’s Mussolini, Spain’s Franco. Chile’s Pinochet, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, or Libya’s Gaddafi are tyrants from the past, not something civilized nations are prepared to tolerate anymore.
The fact he even considered such a coup should be enough for any remaining allies to back off, withdraw their devotion, and seek an alternative candidate that doesn’t have such conflicting ways.
Let’s rise above this episode in Brazilian democracy and the blame game, and find a leader who is able to communicate policies and values that serve the country without the violence, both peacefully and effectively.
Have a great day!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Whistleblower (n) = a person who informs on a person or organization engaged in an illicit activity.
Fraudulence (n) = deceit, deceitfulness, dishonesty, illegitimacy, deception, unfair play
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