The Federal Police (PF) identified at least two occasions in which the retired general Mario Fernandesresponsible for drafting the , was in the same environment as former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) during the period when, according to investigations, a coup d’état was planned in the country.
Fernandes and four other people were arrested by the PF on Tuesday (19) during Operation Countercoup. A former advisor to Bolsonaro, the retired general was executive secretary of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic — number two in the department. .
The first occasion cited by investigators took place on December 6, 2022. That Tuesday, the military officer printed the document at Palácio do Planalto, with details of the authorities’ execution plan.
“As evidenced in the present investigation, exactly in the aforementioned period in which MARIO FERNANDES printout of the operational planning, it was found that the telephone devices of those investigated RAFAEL MARTINS DE OLIVEIRA (JOE) e MAURO CESAR CID were connected to ERBS that cover the Palácio do Planalto. At the same time, the then President of the Republic, JAIR BOLSONAROwas also at Palácio do Planalto”, says the PF report.
Army Major Rafael Martins de Oliveira, trained in the Special Forces (FE) and a member of the Army, was also preventively arrested on Tuesday.
The second occasion on which Fernandes was with Bolsonaro occurred two days later, on December 8. This time, the retired general went to Palácio da Alvorada, the president’s official residence, where he stayed for 40 minutes.
“Access control data forwarded to the Federal Police confirms that MARIO FERNANDES been in Alvorada Palace on the day 08/12/2022reaching 17hs and leaving at 17h40min“, points out the PF document.
On the same date, Fernandes indicates that he spoke personally with Bolsonaro. According to the PF, he shows “great concern about the anti-democratic movements that were on the streets, especially with the possibility of losing control over the mass of people involved in the demonstrations”.
To the 22h56 on December 8, Fernandes forwards two messages to Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp. In the conversation, the retired general states that the then president would have approved a coup d’état by December 31st.
In response to Fernandes, Cid says that the eventual coup would have to take place before the 12th of that month, when Lula would be certified in a session at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
See below the transcript of the conversation released by the PF
Mario Fernandes: “Cid, good night. My friend, first of all I’m sorry for bothering you so much today. But damn, we can’t miss this opportunity. It’s two things.
The first, during the conversation I had with the president, he mentioned that the 12th, due to the vagabond’s diploma, would not be a restriction, that this can happen, that any action we take can happen until December 31st and everything.
But damn, right then I said, hey, president, but as soon as possible, we’ve already lost so many opportunities. And then, meditating here at home, I wanted, damn it, you would suddenly pass on to him two aspects that I raised in relation to this.
From next week onwards, I mentioned this to him, one of the two, either the street demonstration movements, they will either fade away, or they will intensify. Increase radicalism and we lose control, right? Anything can happen.
But they can fade too. I’ll even send you a video below of the situation in front of the PDC in Rio de Janeiro. Is it ok? And the other aspect is that, well, we already have command passes from the force commands, armed force. Already 20, 20 something.
And then they will hand over the command to those who are being nominated for the prisoner’s eventual government. And then everything gets more difficult, man, for any action. So these two aspects are important, right? Look at the video below.”
Mario Fernandes: “And Cid, the second point is this, I’m trying to act directly with the forces, but, hey, if you could ask the president or the president’s office to act.
Well, we have tried to guide both the agricultural staff and the truck drivers who are there in front of the HQ. And today it appears to us that there is a search and seizure warrant from the TSE, no, from the Supreme Court, in relation to the trucks that are there.
The guys can’t act, it’s a military area, but there have been arrests made there by the Federal Police. So that would be important, if the president could give input to the Ministry of Justice to hold the PF or for the Defense to alert the CMP, and, damn it, it won’t.
Wow, the trucks are inside a military area, the guys came there, damn, they’ve been stopping producing in Brazil for 30 days and now they’re going to have the trucks seized. Dude, this is absurd. So, with that in mind, talk to the president, man. A big hug, stay strong!”
Mauro Cid: “No, you can leave it, general. I’ll talk to the president. The thing is, he has that personality sometimes. He waits, waits, waits, waits to see how far he goes, to see the support he has.
But sometimes time is short, you can’t wait much longer to pass. The 12th would be… It would have to be before the 12th, but nothing will definitely happen. And about the trucks, let me talk to him, because the army can’t fly in the face again, right?
It’s a military area, no one will interfere. Especially because the demonstration is peaceful. Nobody is doing anything there.”
