Head of the Orders Assistance of (), the lieutenant colonel stated in the first statement of his award-winning collaboration that the “most radical” wing of the group that defended a coup d’état in Brazil at the end of 2022 included the then first lady, , and the federal deputy (PL-SP).
Cid’s full statement, dated August 28, 2023, was . In November of that year, as inciters of the coup.
“These people constantly talked to the ex-president, instigating him to carry out a coup d’état, they stated that the ex-president had the support of the people and the CACs [Colecionadores, Atiradores Desportivos e Caçadores] to carry out the coup”, says the transcript of Cid’s testimony, which is now made public.
The , concluded on November 21, 2024 —that is, one year and three months after Cid’s initial testimony—, does not include Michelle or Eduardo among .
The name of the former first lady is not even mentioned in the document. Eduardo is mentioned only sideways, in the context that his name appeared as a contact on the cell phone of one of the people being investigated.
At the time these points from Cid’s statement were leaked, Eduardo and Michelle denied involvement in pro-coup actions to UOL.
The statements are “absurd and without any support in truth”, said Michelle’s defense at the time, adding that Bolsonaro or his family members “were never connected to movements that projected the country’s institutional rupture”. Eduardo said that Cid’s accusation was nothing more than a “daydream” and “fantasy”.
The PF report is under analysis by the Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for filing a complaint with the STF against the 40 suspects or filing the indictments.
Michelle and Eduardo are currently in place of Jair Bolsonaro, who is ineligible until 2030.
In his statement given in August 2023, Cid said that there were three distinct groups around Bolsonaro at the end of 2022, a time when the country was experiencing Bolsonaro camps in front of Army barracks calling for a coup d’état.
According to the lieutenant colonel, the first worked to convince him to admit defeat and become “the great leader of the opposition”. Among them would be senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), the chief minister of the Civil House, Ciro Nogueira, and the commander of the Air Force, Baptista Júnior, among others.
The second group, according to Cid, did not agree with the direction the country was taking, but also opposed disruptive measures. Among others, the Army commander, Freire Gomes, would be part of it.
The third group, in favor of coup measures, was formed by two wings in Cid’s words. A “less radical” one, which sought to find evidence of fraud at the polls to justify a change of tables. Another, more radical, “in favor of an armed wing”.
This more bellicose group advocated signing exceptional decrees, according to him.
In the statement, Cid says that these people “would like to somehow encourage a coup d’état”, wanted Bolsonaro to sign an exception decree and “believed that when the president gave the order he would have support from the people and the CACs”.
“As for the most radical part”, continues the account of Cid’s statement made by the PF, “it was not an organized group, they were people who met with the president, sporadically, with the intention of demanding a more forceful action from the then president”.
In this section, Cid mentions by name Felipe Martins, former advisor for International Affairs to Bolsonaro, Onyx Lorenzoni, who held four ministries during the Bolsonaro administration, Gilson Machado, former Minister of Tourism, General Mario Fernandes, executive secretary of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, and senators Jorge Seif (PL-SC) and Magno Malta (PL-ES), in addition to Eduardo and Michelle.
Of this group, only Felipe Martins and Mario Fernandes ended up being indicted by the PF in the final report on the coup plot.
The president of the PL, , is cited by Cid on this occasion as a member of the “less radical” wing that sought the coup, which would look for signs of electoral fraud that would justify the turning of the tables.
Valdemar is among those indicted by the PF.
According to the investigation, he is suspected of having questioned the electoral result in which Bolsonaro was defeated by Lula, even though he was aware that the arguments he used to suggest fraud in electronic voting machines were false.
