At the beginning of the ministerial meeting on Monday morning (18), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) talked about the investigations into the coup attempt aimed at maintaining Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) in the presidency.
Lula said that if someone had doubts about the coup plan, the testimonies showed how concrete the risks Brazil faced were. Last week, Supreme Court Justice Justice Alexandre de Moraes lifted the confidentiality of all 27 statements given to the Federal Police (PF, in Portuguese) as part of the investigation into the attempted coup.
Some of the most elucidative statements were made by former Army commander General Freire Gomes and former Air Force commander Carlos Baptista Júnior. Both confirmed to the Federal Police Bolsonaro’s participation in the meeting that discussed a coup draft. The information directly implicates Bolsonaro in the coup attempt under investigation.
“Today, we are surer about the January 8 testimonies of people who were part of the government or were in command positions in the Armed Forces. If, three months ago, when we were talking about a coup it sounded like an insinuation, today, we are certain that this country faced a serious risk of a coup," Lula told the press before the ministerial meeting.
The coup “did not succeed because the Armed Forces refused it and also because the former president is a big coward. He didn't dare to do what he had planned. He ran to the US expecting that once he was abroad, the coup could happen because they financed the people at the headquarters doors. Since it didn't work, they're now saying they were innocent. But we know that a coup was attempted," he said.
“For those who doubted it, now they can be sure. This country almost returned to the dark times when people thought that with the participation of a few military men could they gain power in Brazil."
Lula also said the Brazilian people “was wiser” and gave the government the responsibility “not only of solving the education, agriculture, health and economy problems, but also the consolidation of the democratic process of this country. Democracy becomes a fundamental thing here [and] respect for the institutions that guarantee democracy.”
The president also outlined the situation he found in the country when elected for his third term, which began in January last year. “Some ministries with less than half the necessary employees, and most of them with no public policies, no interest in [promoting] social inclusion.”
The president said he received the country “in ruins”. “In the first year, we were recovering Brazil – and it wasn’t easy. Restoring something rotten is harder than starting something new. Everyone knows that we still have a long way to go, given everything we promised to do during the election campaign."
The speech comes a week after the release of the latest Datafolha poll, in which Lula's approval rating in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, dropped seven percentage points compared to the previous poll. In total, 38% of those interviewed in São Paulo consider Lula's istration to be good or excellent. In August last year, it was 45%. Now, 34% of the interviewees consider his istration to be bad or terrible, compared to 25% in 2023.
