Brazil’s president says former leader Jair Bolsonaro ‘actively’ participated in the attack on government buildings.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva claims his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro was actively involved in planning for his supporters to storm government offices on January 8, while a senator revealed the former far-right president attended an anti-election conspiracy meeting.
“Today I am well aware and I will say it loud and clear: that citizen [former president Bolsonaro] prepared a coup,” said Lula in an interview with redeTV! on Thursday.
Refusing to accept Bolsonaro’s election loss, thousands of his supporters stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court buildings in Brasilia a week after Lula’s inauguration.
The former president was not in the capital at the time and did not attend Lula’s inauguration. Bolsonaro has been in the US state of Florida since the end of December.
“I am sure that Bolsonaro actively participated in it and is still trying to participate,” added Lula when asked about the role of his predecessor in the attack.
Lula’s accusations against Bolsonaro came on the same day that Senator Marcos do Val accused the former president of attending a meeting on how to prevent a handover of power.
The plan, according to do Val, was to force Supreme Electoral Court President Alexandre de Moraes to say something incriminating while secretly recording him.
De Moraes is a favorite target of Bolsonaro’s supporters, who claim he interfered in the election to help Lula.
Do Val, a former Bolsonaro ally, initially told Veja magazine that Bolsonaro had presented him with the plan, but later changed his version of the story, saying the former president remained “mute” during the meeting.
“‘I annul the elections, Lula did not take the oath, I remain in the presidency and arrest Alexandre de Moraes for his comments,’ he quoted Val Bolsonaro’s statement.
His allegations dominated local news Thursday, and the senator was called to give a statement to federal police.
Bolsonaro has not commented on the matter on any of his social media channels.
The former president, who applied for a six-month visa to stay in the United States, is being investigated as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the January 8 attack.