Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday he was “confident” that his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, was the “mastermind” of the attack on Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace on January 8 and that his goal was to impose a “coup”. .

“Today I speak consciously, loud and clear: this citizen (including the former president) has prepared a coup,” Lula said in an interview with the Brazilian television channel RedeTV! yesterday.

Recall that on January 8, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters, furious at the victory of the center-left Lula over his far-right rival in the presidential elections in October 2022, forcibly entered, vandalized and destroyed the presidential palace, the residence of the Congress and the Supreme Court, buildings located at a short distance from each other .

A Brazilian judge has decided to involve the former head of state, who left the country for Florida in late December, in an investigation to find out who is behind the destruction of institutions.

“I am sure that Bolsonaro was actively involved in all this, he even wanted to participate,” Lula said when asked about the possible role of his predecessor in these events.

“They wanted to cause chaos on January 1st but realized they couldn’t because there were too many police and too many people on the streets,” Lula added.

His comments came on the same day as Senator Marcus du Val, who said he attended a meeting with the former president to discuss how to prevent Lula from taking office.

According to his lawyers, Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month visa extension to stay in the US. He repeatedly denied his involvement in the events of January 8.

Lula, 77, narrowly won the second round of the presidential election (50.9% vs. 49.1%). “We have defeated Bolsonaro, but we have yet to defeat Bolsonaro,” the incumbent said in an interview.

Source: AFP, APE-MPE.