Bolsonaro’s former VP calls for military revolt after police operation

Senator and retired Army General Hamilton Mourão took to the Senate stand on Thursday to ask the Armed Forces to revolt against an operation carried out by the Federal Police and approved by the Supreme Court, accusing former President Jair Bolsonaro and many of his acolytes of coordinating to stage a coup at the end of 2022.

“The Armed Forces and their commanders must not fail to act in the face of the arbitrary conduct of illegal judicial proceedings that target their members outside the military justice system,” Mr. Mourão said. Mr. Mourão served as Mr. Bolsonaro’s vice president throughout his term.

On Thursday morning, the Federal Police carried out 33 search-and-seizure warrants against several people suspected of forming a criminal organization to subvert democracy and keep Jair Bolsonaro in power despite the results of the 2022 presidential election. The targets include retired and active high-ranking military officers — such as a four-star general who was willing to “put troops on the streets” if Mr. Bolsonaro gave him the order.

The documents unsealed by the Supreme Court show that Mr. Bolsonaro and key members of his defunct administration — including former cabinet members, active and retired high-ranking military officers, and the chair of Mr. Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party — engaged in coordinated efforts to set the stage for an old-fashioned coup that, if successful, would have led to the jailing of perceived political enemies and the control of politics by military force.

The far-right camp in Congress, including Senators Eduardo Girão and Marcos Pontes, denounced the operation as a political hit job.

“Not even Hitler dared to go this far,” Mr. Mourão said, referring to the Blomberg-Fritsch affair, when Adolf Hitler used two scandals involving his generals in 1938 to expand his power over the German military.

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