Brazil: Soldiers Arrested Over Alleged 2022 Plot to Assassinate President Lula

Brazilian law enforcement has apprehended five individuals suspected of conspiring to kill Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shortly before he assumed the presidency. Local media reports indicate that four of those taken into custody on Tuesday are military personnel, and one is a police officer. These five were reportedly involved in a scheme to assassinate President-elect Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, on December 15, 2022, just over two weeks prior to the presidential inauguration. Lula was elected in October 2022, narrowly defeating the then-incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who never publicly accepted his defeat. Approximately one week after Lula’s swearing-in, Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed and vandalized the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace. Police subsequently cleared the buildings of the rioters and detained thousands. Investigations into the events of January 8, 2023, as well as previous alleged attempts to prevent Lula from being sworn in, have been ongoing since that time. However, this marks the first occasion that police have disclosed an alleged attempt to assassinate Lula. Speaking after the news of the arrests emerged, Social Communications Minister Paulo Pimenta stated that the alleged plot to assassinate Lula and Alckmin had nearly been carried out. “It was just details which stopped it [from being carried out],” the minister said. The Brazilian news site G1 noted that a particular concern was that four of the arrested individuals were active members of the military, and the fifth was a serving member of the police force. The AFP news agency quoted a federal police source who stated that the four soldiers “were arrested in Rio, where they were participating in the security operation for the G20 leaders’ meeting” currently under way in the Brazilian city. According to G1, the four soldiers, who had received special forces training, are accused of being part of a criminal organization plotting against Lula. Brazil’s federal police announced in a statement that its investigations “indicate that the criminal organisation used a high level of technical-military knowledge to plan, coordinate and execute illicit actions in the months of November and December 2022”. The statement further indicated that the plotters had not only planned to assassinate the president-elect and the vice-president-elect but also intended to arrest and execute a member of the Supreme Court once their coup succeeded. Police reported that the plotters had given the operation the nickname “green and yellow dagger,” in reference to the colors of the Brazilian flag. According to the federal police, the plotters had discussed the best way to “neutralise” Lula and Geraldo Alckmin and had allegedly decided on poisoning the president-elect. The arrests were conducted in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time and were authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.