Dozens of audios reveal high-ranking Brazilian officers pressured Bolsonaro to stage a coup

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the arrest of five people for plotting the assassination of then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Lula in 2022.

Nov. 26, 2024, 7:10 AM EST / Source:

By The Associated Press

A trove of leaked audio recordings from late 2022 reveal high-ranking members of Brazil's army discussing efforts to pressure then-President Jair Bolsonaro to carry out a coup and remain in power.

The 53 audios, obtained by the Federal Police and accessed by The Associated Press on Monday, provide a rare chance to hear military members expressing in their own voices their desire to keep leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the police’s sprawling investigation, quoted some of those audios in his ruling last week ordering the arrest of five people for plotting the assassination of then-President-elect Lula in 2022 and then attempting to oust him from power on Jan. 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters destroyed government buildings in the capital Brasilia.

Audios from one former army officer — who was not among those de Moraes ordered arrested last week — are particularly supportive of a coup, and weren’t referenced in de Moraes’ order.

Col. Roberto Raimundo Criscuoli, a former subcommander of the army’s special forces, told retired Brig. Gen. Mario Fernandes, who was then second in command at the general secretary of the presidency, that the far-right leader had a clear choice after Lula won his third, non-consecutive term.

“It will be either a civil war now or civil war later. We have a justification now for civil war; people are on the streets, we have massive support,” Criscuoli said in one of the audios. “Let’s do this now. Speak to 01.”

01 is a common reference to Brazil’s president.

Neither the former president nor his ministers are heard speaking in the recordings. The audios are not directly related to the Nov. 21 formal accusation by Brazil’s police that Bolsonaro and 36 others attempted to stage a coup.

The Brazilian army did not respond to a request for comment about the Federal Police investigation.

Bolsonaro frequently cast doubt on the election results without providing any evidence and never conceded. He left for the United States days before Lula’s inauguration on Jan. 1, 2023 and stayed there for months, keeping a low profile.The top electoral court has ruled Bolsonaro ineligible to run for president until 2030 for abuse of power, and he is also the target of several investigations for a slew of potential crimes.

Other audios are less explicit in their wording about the urgent need for a coup. In a voice message to Gen. Fernandes, Col. Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu used an expression frequently repeated by Bolsonaro to argue the country’s constitution should be ignored.

“We are at war, they are winning. It is almost over and they haven’t fired a single shot. It is because of our incompetence,” he said.

In an audio from Dec. 8, Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, is heard telling Gen. Fernandes that time was running out to keep his boss in office.

“On the 12th…It would have to be before the 12th, right?” Cid said, referencing the day that the electoral court would certify Lula’s victory. “I will speak to the president. The thing is his personality sometimes. He waits, waits, waits, waits to see where it is going. To see who supports him. But sometimes time is short, right? We can’t wait much longer.”

De Moraes’ arrest order last week makes reference to Cid’s comment, but it did not include his full statement.

Cid was already under house arrest, after having signed a plea bargain deal with authorities last year.His testimony has helped authorities collect evidence in different cases targeting Bolsonaro and some of his key aides, including Walter Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s chief of staff and running mate for reelection.

In the audios, Gen. Fernandes, who was among those de Moraes ordered arrested last week,repeatedly claimed Brazil’s presidential election had been rigged for Lulaand insisted the military high command should be pressured to aid Bolsonaro’s cause before his leftist rival assumed power.

“Any solution, you know, will not happen without breaking eggs,” he said. “We have to go for it. We have popular support.”

Thousands of Bolsonaro followers camped outside army facilities to pressure military leaders to side with the then-president. Media reports at the time said there was not enough support in the high command for a coup. Bolsonaro supporters only returned home after the Jan. 8 riot, upon orders from the newly installed army commander.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-coup-leaked-audio-recordings-military-officers-rcna181782

Citizen Free Press

@CitizenFreePres

TUSCON MAYOR PROMISES TO DEFY FEDERAL LAW ON DEPORTATION

I honestly thought this was Katie Hobbs at first glance.

Do all the Libs looks like this in Arizona.

From

George

Last edited

12:17 AM · Nov 26, 2024

·42.5K Views

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1861278034424209630

This is fantastic, all the radicals are revealing themselves, they will be investigated by refusing to obey the mandates. Their arrogance will be their downfall.

1:38

25 Nov, 2024 21:26

Russia accuses Ukraine of massacring civilians in attempted ‘false flag’

Residents of Selidovo have testified about Kiev’s forces committing war crimes

The Russian Foreign Ministry has accusedUkrainian forces of executing civilians in a Donbass town as part of a “false flag” operation designed to wrongly frame Moscow for war crimes. Witnesses claim that mercenaries,including alleged Polish nationals, carried out the killings before retreating in the face of advancing Russian troops.

Selidovo, located about 15 kilometers south of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, was under Kiev’s control until it was fully secured by Russian forces on October 29.The town had an estimated population of 21,000 in 2022.

Rodion Miroshnik, a senior Ministry official tasked with gathering evidence of Ukrainian war crimes, stated on Monday that the killings were part of a deliberate effort by Kiev to accuse Russia of atrocities. “When the West started talking about peace negotiations, [Vladimir] Zelensky started preparing ‘Bucha 2’, but in Selidovo,”he told RIA Novosti.

Miroshnik further claimed thatresidents who fled the town testified to dozens of civilians being executed in the streets by Ukrainian soldiers and foreign mercenaries. “They said that the ‘Nazis’ [a term commonly used by Donbass residents to describe Kiev’s forces]staged a bloodbath two or three days before the city was taken by Russian troops,” he added. Witnesses provided names, addresses, and descriptions of the perpetrators, some of whom were said to speak Polish and wear Ukrainian uniforms.

One testimony came from Vladimir Romanenko, who described=how Ukrainian soldiers killed five of his family members and burned their bodies. “I went out into the street and heard shouting. A short man was shouting, ‘Everyone out of the house, face the wall!’ And he began to shoot,”Romanenko said. He explained that he managed to escapebut later identified the bodies of his wife, sister, son, grandson, and niece, all of whom had been shot.

An unnamed local woman recounted that the killings occurred aftercivilian representatives of the Ukrainian state left the town: “There was no one there. Everyone left. We were abandoned. They said there are no residents in Selidovo.They didn’t even bring us bread.”

Miroshnik suggested that Ukrainian forces and mercenariesattempted to blame Russia for the massacre but failed to complete the operation in time.

The accusations mirror a narrative that emerged in early April 2022, when Ukrainian media published images and videos of bodies in Bucha, claiming they were victims of Russian troops. Moscow has consistently denied these claims, asserting the scene was staged by Kiev.

https://www.rt.com/russia/608196-selidovo-atrocities-ukraine-miroshnik/

26 Nov, 2024 09:48

Ukraine receiving nukes would be ‘insane’ – US lawmaker

Marjorie Taylor Greene has hit out at Joe Biden for alleged discussions about Kiev obtaining a nuclear arsenal

Any move by outgoing US PresidentJoe Biden to help Ukraine obtain nuclear weapons would be “insane” and would amount to treason, Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed.

The House representative from Georgia was reacting to a post on Tuesday by entrepreneur Mario Nawfal, who weighed in on a New York Times article, bylined by four of its journalists,claiming that US and EU officials are “discussing deterrence as a security guarantee” for Ukraine, including giving Kiev nuclear weapons.

Nawfal described the purported talks as a “desperate” move “to tip the scales against Russia” before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January,which would mark an “unprecedented escalation” in the conflict.

Responding to the post, Greene wonderedwhether Biden administration is “trying to start a nuclear war and use it as the reason to stop the transfer of power to Trump.”

“This is insane and completely unconstitutional, possibly an act of treason,” she wrote on X.

The White House is resorting to more aggressive measures in aiding Kiev ahead of Trump’s return. The Republican has repeatedly vowed to end the Ukraine conflict swiftly, and is expected to try to push Moscow and Kiev toward peace talks.

With two months left in office, Biden last week reportedly gave in to one of Ukraine’s long-standing demands and authorized the use of American-supplied ATACMS missiles on targets deep within Russian territory.The missiles had already been used in strikes on Russia’s Crimea, Donetsk, and Lugansk regions, which Washington considers Ukrainian.

Last week, the New York Times reported that certain US officials have suggested that Biden might provide Kiev with nuclear weapons as a deterrent against Russia.“That would be an instant and enormous deterrent,” the paper argued, noting however that such a step would be “complicated and have serious implications.”

Russia recently updated its nuclear doctrine, allowing for a nuclear response to a conventional attack by a non-nuclear state that is supported by a nuclear power, such as a missile strike on Russian territory. Moscow also used a new medium-range hypersonic missile against Ukraine in response to Kiev’s use of foreign-made long-range weapons for strikes deep into Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the attacks have moved the Ukraine conflict to a global level. He has repeatedly warned that Moscow will consider an attack by Western long-range weapons on Russian soil as directly involving the countries that donated the arms.

https://www.rt.com/news/608210-mtg-biden-ukraine-nukes/