MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Evidence about Bolsonaro's alleged coup plotting meetings mount

As things get more complicated on the judiciary front, Bolsonaro plans a street demonstration

Brazil's Federal Police (PF) said Wednesday that it had managed to corroborate Lt Col Mauro Cid's allegations about former President Jair Bolsonaro's alleged coup meetings during which would have discussed a plan with the military brass ahead of the Jan. 8, 2023, uprising in Brasilia. These encounters reportedly took place at the Alvorada Palace while Bolsonaro was still in office and at a house in Lago Sul, Brasília, which functioned as campaign headquarters for the 2022 elections.

The PF said it was able to obtain concrete evidence of Bolsonaro's meetings with Filipe Martins and other military personnel involved in the coup attempt. Investigators cross-checked cell phone location data and government agenda records with Mauro Cid's accounts in the plea bargain.

“The process of validating the information presented in the collaboration advanced in identifying elements that corroborated the existence of meetings between then-President Jair Bolsonaro and Filipe Martins, the commanders of the Armed Forces and the Minister of Defense to deal with the consummation of the coup,” said the PF.

The breach of Bolsonaro's bank secrecy showed a foreign exchange operation worth R$ 800,000 (US$ 161,492.24 at the current exchange rate) as part of the investigation into the illegal sale of jewelry and gifts from the Presidency of the Republic by Mauro Cid, at Bolsonaro's behest.

“It is evident that then-president Jair Bolsonaro, at the end of his term, transferred all his assets and financial resources, illicit and licit, to the United States, with the aim of ensuring his permanence abroad, possibly awaiting the outcome of the attempted coup d'état that was underway,” the PF noted.

In the meantime, Bolsonaro's legal team filed Wednesday for the return of the retired Army captain's passport which was surrendered earlier this week at the request of Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes. As he is, Bolsonaro may only travel without a passport to countries bordering Brazil using his identity card.

De Moraes' measure also included the arrest of two of Bolsonaro's allies, including Party Chairman Valdemar Costa Neto.

With seven cases against him and disenfranchised from all political activities until 2030, Bolsonaro called on his followers to stage a rally on Sunday, Feb. 25, on São Paulo's Paulista Avenue. “I want to defend myself against all the accusations that have been made against me in recent months,” said Bolsonaro, who noted that the rally will be “peaceful.”

“On the last Sunday of February, February 25, at 3 p.m., I will be on Paulista Avenue in a peaceful act in defense of our democratic rule of law,” said the former president (2019-2022) in a video message posted on his social networks while requesting his followers to wear green and yellow clothing.