Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has dismissed 40 military personnel assigned to the presidential residence, after promising a "thorough" review of personnel following the January 8 insurgency attempt in Brasilia.
The measure, published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday, concerns soldiers assigned to the Alvorada Palace, the official residence of the Head of State, located about four kilometers from the seats of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court ransacked by bolsonarists a week after Lula's inauguration.
The latter had announced last Thursday a "thorough" examination of the staff assigned to the presidency, saying he was convinced that the rioters who had entered the presidential palace of Planalto had received help from the inside.
Several thousand supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who reject his electoral defeat to Lula at the end of October, wreaked havoc in the capital on January 8, invading the three centers of power.
A palace filled with “bolsonarists”
Infrastructure, priceless works of art and furniture forming part of the national heritage were destroyed by the rioters, who left behind graffiti calling for a military coup.
"I am convinced that the gate of the Planalto palace was opened so that people could enter, because no door was broken," the left-wing leader had said.
“It means that someone facilitated their entry here,” insisted Lula.
"How could I have someone at my office door who could shoot me?"
“Lula wondered, believing that” the palace was full of Bolsonarists “.
Brazilian authorities on Monday tightened security around centers of power in Brasilia.
The number of military police stationed near the Planalto presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court was increased from 248 to 500. More than 2,000 people were arrested after the attempted insurrection, which the government called a "terrorist act".
Nearly 1,200 were imprisoned and the prosecution initiated formal charges against 39 of them for armed criminal association, damage to property, violence against the democratic state and incitement to a coup.