investigated by
prepare a coup d'état towards the end of his Presidency to remain in power, former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) called on his followers
to defend him in the streets
in an event that will take place on
Sunday, February 25
on Paulista Avenue , main artery of São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil.
"I want to defend myself against all the accusations that have been made against me in recent months," said Bolsonaro, who noted that
the event will be "peaceful."
This is the first response he gives to the investigation by the Supreme Federal Court against a conspiracy that emerged in 2022 during his administration to try to carry out a coup d'état and ignore the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the general elections of that year.
"On the last Sunday of February, the 25th, at 3 p.m., I will be on Paulista (Avenue) in a peaceful act in defense of our democratic State of Law," said the former president (2019-2022) in a video message released on their social networks.
Jair Bolsonaro in a complicated moment.
Photo: EVARISTO SA / AFP
On Thursday, Supreme Judge Alexandre de Moraes confiscated the passport of former President Bolsonaro in the context of a mega case in which two soldiers and the former
international affairs advisor to the Presidency, the Trumpist Filipe Martins,
are detained .
The magistrate also ordered
34 raids
on the homes of former heads of the Armed Forces and former ministers of the Bolsonaro administration.
The far-right former president,
disqualified until 2030
by order of Justice for having falsely questioned
the Brazilian voting system
before foreign authorities, asked that the march not be "against anyone" but requested that his followers
wear green and yellow
, the national colors.
Raids on the Liberal Party.
Photo: Sergio Lima / AFP
In the video, he said that the world should know the opinion of his political sector, and closed his message with the phrase
"God, country, family and freedom."
Among his relatives, his son Carlos
, a councilor of Rio de Janeiro, is being investigated
for commanding an illegal core of dissemination of
'fake news
' from the presidency between 2019 and 2022.
Last Thursday,
the president of the Bolsonarist Liberal Party,
Valdemar Costa Neto, was arrested - and released two days later - in whose home a search was made and a pistol was found
without authorization to carry it
and
gold nuggets supposedly smuggled from illegal mining.
The case is linked to the attempted coup d'état of January 8, 2023 that Bolsonaro's followers perpetrated against Lula.
Bolsonarists take over Parliament in January 2023. Photo: Sergio Lima / AFP
As disclosed by the Supreme Federal Court, Bolsonaro led cabinet meetings - the recording of which is public - ordering his ministers to line up to spread 'fake news' about the electoral system.
In the process file it appears that Bolsonaro
supported the drafting of a draft
that prepared a self-coup d'état before leaving power on December 31, 2022, which included
arresting Judge Moraes and intervening in the electoral justice system,
annulling Lula's victory. .
Lula defeated Bolsonaro
by 50.9% against 49.1% in the runoff
, a result that the entire political spectrum endorsed except the former president.
In the video in which he calls for the February 25 demonstration, Bolsonaro appears dressed in a national soccer team shirt.
With agency information