Bolsonaro's secretary accuses him of consulting the military leadership about a coup after losing the elections

The former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro greets his supporters, this Thursday in a hospital in São Paulo, after receiving medical discharge. Sebastiao Moreira (EFE)

Brazilian Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, who for four years was Jair Bolsonaro's private secretary, has told the police that, after the electoral defeat, the still president met with the military leadership to consult them about a possible coup d'état, according to the digital media UOL. The information also maintains that the then president received from an adviser a draft coup decree that outlined the way to call new elections and imprison political opponents. These confessions, which for now the police have not confirmed or denied Bolsonaro, would be part of the collaboration agreement with justice recently reached by the military.

The UOL information maintains that Cid told the police that he witnessed both the meeting with the adviser who delivered the coup decree and the meeting with the military leaders. It also adds that the commander of the Navy was the only one among the members of the leadership of the Armed Forces present who openly expressed his support for the maneuvers to prevent the legitimate winner of the elections, the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from governing.

Former President Bolsonaro is barred from running in the next eight years, a ruling he has appealed. The hearing to analyze the appeal begins this Friday. In parallel, it is investigated in a long string of cases. In the investigation opened by the coup attempt of January 8, he is indicated as the alleged instigator of the attack against the headquarters of the three powers carried out by thousands of his followers. The first trials, held last week, resulted in sentences of between 17 and 14 years in prison.

The former private secretary is the weakest flank of former President Bolsonaro. He lived with him on a daily basis throughout the mandate, he was the man in charge of accompanying him at all hours and bringing him his mobile phone.

Cid agreed to sign a delacão premiada — a controversial instrument of collaboration with justice — after spending four months in jail accused of falsifying his family's and President Bolsonaro's vaccination cards. The day after the judge accepted the collaboration agreement, Cid was released. Forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and other restrictions, he has settled in a military residence in Brasilia and continues to receive his salary of 5,000 euros per month.

The soldier was among the handful of collaborators who accompanied the former president during his three-month stay in Florida after the end of his term. Cid is also accused of complicity in the dealings of his former boss to, first, keep some very expensive jewels given by the royal family of Saudi Arabia on an official visit and then sell them.

According to the account of Bolsonaro's private secretary, he received a draft decree to perpetrate a rupture of the constitutional order in a meeting with his main adviser on international issues, Felipe Martins, who attended with a constitutional lawyer and a priest.

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