Brazil’s Bolsonaro charged in plot to poison successor in alleged coup attempt

Brazil’s prosecutor-general said Tuesday that former leader Jair Bolsonaro knew and agreed to a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as part of an attempted coup that would have allowed him to remain in power.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet formally charged Bolsonaro and 33 others with participating in a plan to keep Bolsonaro in power following his 2022 election defeat. The alleged plot also included a plan to poison Lula and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

“The members of the criminal organization structured at the presidential palace a plan to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of ‘Green and Yellow Dagger,’ ” Gonet wrote in a 272-page indictment. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”   

In November, Brazil’s Federal Police filed an 884-page report with Gonet detailing the scheme. They allege a systematic effort to sow distrust in the electoral system, drafting a decree to provide legal cover for the plot, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan and inciting a riot in the capital.   

The Supreme Court will analyze the charges and, if accepted, Bolsonaro will stand trial.

Bolsonaro previously denied allegations

The former leader has denied wrongdoing.

“I have no concerns about the accusations, zero,” Bolsonaro told journalists earlier Tuesday during a visit to the Senate in Brasilia.

“Have you seen the coup decree, by any chance? You haven’t. Neither have I,” he said. 

A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.   

As well as being charged with participating in a coup d’etat, the 34 defendants are accused of participating in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage qualified by violence and serious threat against the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage, according to a statement from the Prosecutor General’s press office.

Gonet said the criminal organization he charged “had as leaders the [then] president himself and his running mate, Gen. Braga Netto.”

“Both accepted, stimulated, and performed acts that are described in our criminal legislation as attacking the existence and the Independence of (the branches) of power and of the democratic rule,” Gonet wrote in his report.