The purge continues in Brazil. Nearly ten days after the attempted insurrection in Brasilia by supporters of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, returned 40 soldiers assigned to his official residence.
The measure, published Tuesday, January 17 in the Official Journal, concerns soldiers working at the Alvorada Palace, located about 4 kilometers from the seats of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court ransacked by Bolsonarists.
Lula had announced last Thursday a review “thorough” personnel assigned to the presidency, saying they were convinced that the rioters who had entered the presidential palace of Planalto had received help from within.
Several thousand supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, who refuse his electoral defeat against Lula at the end of October, sowed chaos in the capital on January 8, invading the three centers of power. Infrastructure, priceless works of art and furniture forming part of the national heritage were destroyed by the rioters, who left behind graffiti calling for a military coup.
Meeting with the armed forces
“I am convinced that the door of the Planalto palace was opened so that people could enter, because no door was broken”had declared the leader of left. “It means that someone facilitated their entry here”insisted Lula.
“How could I have someone at my office door who could shoot me?” »Lula had wondered, estimating that “the palace was filled with bolsonarists”.
The 77-year-old leader will try to meet the commanders of the armed forces by Friday, the Casa Civil ministry announced on Tuesday, halfway between a chief of staff and a prime minister.
It would be the first time they meet after government suspicions of a “collision” assumed between armed forces and rioters. According to the Casa Civil, the exchanges will however focus on the “modernization” armed forces.
Brazilian authorities on Monday tightened security around centers of power in Brasilia. The number of military police stationed near the Planalto presidential palace, the Congress and the Supreme Court has been increased from 248 to 500.
More than 2,000 people were arrested after the attempted insurrection, which the government called a“terrorist act”.
Nearly 1,200 were imprisoned and the prosecution initiated formal proceedings against 39 of them for armed criminal association, damage to property, violence against the democratic state and incitement to a coup.
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