2023-04-25 07:01:00
The administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has just entered a severe crisis after several videos recorded his now former head of Institutional Security, Marco Edson Gonçalves Dias, walking calmly – and as if not caring – through the corridors of the Brasilia palace that ultra-right groups took over at the beginning of January and that the international community rejected for being an attempted coup.
Indeed, the Army General is also seen in the images that CNN Brazil released of the Planalto Palace –during the Bolsonarista invasion of January 8– circulating through the corridors of the building and, at a specific moment, interacting with protesters, apparently “showing them the way out.”
This behavior, which for the conspiracy sectors would open the door to the thesis of an alleged setup from the Lula administration –something improbable according to the judicial and independent investigations that have been carried out– ended up forcing the government uniformed man to leave. In fact, it became the first ministerial loss of the leftist’s third term.
“I placed my position at the disposal of the President of the Republic so that the entire investigation can be carried out,” warned Gonçalves Dias in an interview with GloboNews during which he defended his actions.
“I entered the Planalto Palace after it was invaded and I was removing people from the third and fourth floors, so that they could arrest them (…) In the room next to the President’s office I removed three people and ordered them to come down” Gonçalves Dias justified in the interview.
The videos also show at least two officials from the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI) greeting the invaders with a handshake and giving bottles of water, according to what CNN reported.
But Gonçalves Dias, who had taken office on January 1, claimed that his image was taken out of context.
“They put my image together with that of that soldier distributing water, but it is a specific cut in the production of those videos. (…) It is absurd, ”he assured.
The GSI, made up mostly of military personnel, advises the Head of State on national security and defense issues, and is responsible for the personal security of the president, vice president, and their families.
On Sunday, January 8, thousands of radicalized followers of the far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, dissatisfied with Lula’s victory, invaded and vandalized the headquarters of the three powers, causing millions in damages and a crisis in the first week of government.
At that time, in Planalto there were “many teams left over from the previous administration, including the GSI, which were separated in the following days,” Lula’s Presidency reported in a recent statement.
“All the military involved in January 8 are being identified and investigated,” the government added.
Bolsonaro, who was in the United States on the day of the coup, was included in the investigation that seeks to determine who the instigators and masterminds were. The ex-president –in any case– denies any participation in the attacks, for which there were more than 1,800 detainees and a hundred people charged before the courts.
For now, it is unknown what role the now expelled general had and if he really encouraged the coup.
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