Brazilian police arrested a supporter of incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro who tried to use explosives to create “chaos” a week before the inauguration of President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, local media reported on Sunday.
The man, identified as George Washington de Oliveira Sousa, was arrested on Saturday. He had planted an explosive device in a tanker truck near Brasilia airport. Lula’s inauguration ceremony is scheduled to take place on January 1 in the Brazilian capital.
His aim, according to his statements to the police, published by the local press, was to “start chaos” and “prompt the intervention of the armed forces” in order to “prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil”.
It was the truck driver who alerted the police on Saturday morning after finding the explosive device.
Despite attempts to activate it, the device did not detonate, Robson Candido, a senior Brasilia police officer, said at a news conference, quoted by the website.
“The serious events that took place in Brasilia yesterday prove that the camps of the so-called ‘patriots’ have become breeding grounds for terrorists,” tweeted Flavio Dino, appointed justice minister in the next Lula government.
The arrestee clarified that the plan was drawn up with fellow Bolsonarians who demonstrated outside the army headquarters in Brasilia for days after the outgoing president’s defeat was announced.
The idea was to place at least two explosive devices in strategic places to achieve the “declaration of a state of siege in the country” and from there “to provoke the intervention of the armed forces,” Oliveira Sousa told police, according to the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper .
Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro blocked roads and demonstrated outside barracks across the country after Lula’s narrow victory in the October 30 election won by 50.9% of the vote to 49.1% of the vote.
Months later there are still pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations in front of some army barracks. Police found a large number of weapons in the apartment where Oliveira Sousa, an employee of a Para gas station (North), lived.
Oliveira Sousa said he was “inspired by President Bolsonaro’s words” to purchase the weapons, valued at an estimated 160,000 reais (about $31,100), Folha de S. Paulo reports.
Mr Bolsonaro has claimed in public statements that “an armed people will never be enslaved”.
According to his confession, the prisoner planned to distribute the weapons to people camping outside the barracks.
Lula, 77, President of Brazil between 2003 and 2010, will assume power for the third time during a majestic ceremony being organized in the capital.