“Inspired” by the words of Jair Bolsonaro, the suspect hoped to “provoke the intervention of the armed forces” and prevent the inauguration of Lula, scheduled for January 1. Hidden in a tanker truck, the bomb has not exploded.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
In Brazil, a supporter of the outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro attempted on Saturday December 24 to use explosives to create the “chaos”, a week before the investiture of the elected president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He was arrested by the police, the local press reported on Sunday.
Man, identified as George Washington by Oliveira Sousa, was arrested on Saturday. He had placed an explosive device in a tanker truck near Brasilia airport. Lula’s inauguration ceremony must take place in the Brazilian capital on 1 er January. His goal, according to his statements to the police published by the local press, was to “trigger chaos” and “the intervention of the armed forces” in order to “prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil”.
It was the truck driver who alerted the police after finding the explosive device on Saturday morning. Although there was an attempt to activate it, the machine did not explode, said Robson Candido, a senior police official in Brasilia, at a press conference, cited by the site D ‘Information G1. “The serious events occurred yesterday in Brasilia prove that the camps of the so -called” patriots “have become incubators of terrorists,” tweeted Flavio Dino, appointed Minister of Justice within the next Government of Lula.
“Inspired by the words of President Bolsonaro”
The arrested person said the plan had been designed with other bowls who demonstrated for days after the announcement of the outgoing president’s defeat in front of the army headquarters in Brasilia. The idea was to place at least two explosive devices in strategic places, with the aim of reaching the “statement of the state of siege in the country” and, from there, to “cause the intervention of the forces armies, “Oliveira Sousa told the police, according to the newspaper Folha of S. Paulo.
Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters blocked roads and demonstrated in front of barracks in the country, after Lula’s tight victory in October 30 ballot with 50.9 % of 49.1 % votes. Months later, there are still pro-bolsonaro demonstrations before certain army barracks. In the apartment where Oliveira Sousa resided, an employee of a paragraph of para (in the north of the country), the police found a large amount of weapons.
Oliveira Sousa said he was “inspired by the words of President Bolsonaro” to acquire weapons, with an estimated value of 160,000 reais (around 29,150 euros), details Folha from S. Paulo. Mr. Bolsonaro said in public statements that “an armed people will never be enslaved”. According to his confessions, the detainee planned to distribute weapons to the people camping in front of the barracks.
Lula, 77, president of Brazil between 2003 and 2010, will take power for the third time, during an imposing ceremony organized in the capital.