They were quoted on January 8 to represent the government’s supporters in the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) and told the column they already have at least three names to call for testimony.
These are: General Augusto Heleno, who was Chief Minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI) in Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) government, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former assistant to the President, and former Attorney General Anderson Torres.
With progovernment supporters having a secure majority in the composition of the CPMI, it is virtually certain that the three will be required to appear on the commission.
At most, you can invoke the right to remain silent. But the expectation is that their statements could hurt Bolsonaro’s popularity and even bring unexpected revelations as they come under pressure from parliamentarians.
Mauro Cid has been in jail since federal police obtained solid evidence he defrauded Bolsonaro’s vaccination card and family members. But the military is being called to the CPMI on suspicion of involvement in the January 8 coup acts.
Messages exchanged between Cid and Ailton de Barros expelled from the army and made a militiaman were discovered in which a coup plot was discovered with a script very similar to the draft coup found in the closet of former Minister Anderson Torres is being proposed.
Mauro Cid also acted directly in pressure on federal finances to illegally obtain from the expresident jewels gifted to the Brazilian government by the government of Saudi Arabia.
All of this leads President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) allies to believe that Mauro Cid’s testimony could hit the Bolsonaristas like a bombshell.
Also classified as high risk for Bolsonaro is the testimony of former Minister Anderson Torres, in whose closet the socalled “coup draft” containing a script on the decree of the state of defense against the election result and the arrest of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, Federal Court (STF ).
Torres is also credited with being one of those responsible for the dismantling of the security system at the Esplanada do Ministérios on January 8, when he was the federal district security secretary and decided to take time off to travel to Florida in the United States, where he his ex was already there.President Bolsonaro.
He was visited in prison this weekend by Bolsonarian senators concerned at the news that he was mentally fragile. There is speculation that he could end up completing a plea deal. There are fears he may end up getting his foot in the door after being crushed by MPs in the CPMI.
As for General Augusto Heleno, Bolsonaristas fear that being provoked by parliamentarians during his testimony will irritate him excessively, thereby damaging the image of the Bolsonaro government as well.
For now, the former president’s allies want to retaliate by summoning Augusto Heleno’s successor in command of the GSI, General Gonçalves Dias.
The release of a video showing the general walking around the Planalto Palace during the January 8 invasion made the CPMI all but inevitable.
Bolsonaristas argue that the government was lenient in protecting public buildings in order to harass President Lula.
They also intend to call Justice Minister Flávio Dino, whom they also accuse of witnessing the riots in Praça dos Três Poderes without responding.