Bomb plot suspect worked for Bolsonaro administration

Wellington Macedo de Souza is accused of partaking in a bomb plot.

A court in Brasília on Tuesday accepted charges against three men accused of plotting to detonate a bomb near Brasília airport. One of them, Wellington Macedo de Souza, worked at the Human Rights Ministry during the Jair Bolsonaro administration — the office itself confirmed to The Brazilian Report.

In the early hours of Christmas Eve, Mr. Souza and two other men drove nearby the airport and placed an explosive device in a parked fuel truck. Local police say the men attempted to set the bomb off remotely but failed. The bombing was planned in support of Mr. Bolsonaro, whose administration ended at the turn of the year.

Police arrested George Washington Sousa, a member of the trio, hours after the bomb was discovered. He admitted they wanted to create “chaos” and lay the conditions for the former president — who would continue in office for another week — to call for a state of emergency and prevent the transition of power.

In his deposition, Mr. Sousa said the plan was concocted while he was in a pro-Bolsonaro putschist protest camp near Army headquarters in Brasília. For over two months, the campsite congregated radicals falsely claiming that the presidential election was rigged to favor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The three men will answer for the crime of intent to cause an explosion, which warrants a sentence of up to six years in jail. Mr. Macedo de Souza, the former Human Rights Ministry official, and a third suspect remain on the run.

Wellington Souza served for eight months in 2019 in the children and teenager’s rights secretariat. At the time, far-right preacher Damares Alves was Brazil’s human rights minister. During her tenure, Ms. Alves was scolded for some of her positions, including basing a campaign to curb teen pregnancy on abstinence.

In October, she won a Senate seat and will take office on February 1.

Mr. Souza, a blogger, had been previously detained in 2021 by a Supreme Court order after he told viewers to participate in pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations in September of that year, which had explicit putschist calls — including asking for the shutdown of the country’s top court.

He was later placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, which helped police identify him. He has since illegally removed the tracker.