A year after the attempted power grab, many Brazilians still struggle to accept that such a bold move could happen in their country. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva points to his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, as the architect of a failed coup. Bolsonaro, now retired from the military, argues the entire episode is a leftist fabrication. Yet the images from that day carry significant weight in challenging that narrative. Throughout 2022 the justice system acted decisively, with about 1,390 people accused of participating in the conspiracy and around thirty individuals sentenced to as much as 17 years in prison. Sixty-six suspects remain in preventive detention. Bolsonaro faces investigations as a potential instigator and intellectual author of the rebellion, alongside former Attorney General Anderson Torres. This event marked a direct assault on Brazil’s security apparatus during the far-right push against the Planalto Palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court. He has a history of coup rhetoric and is accused of creating conditions that would allow radical Bolsonarism to advance.
The acts of vandalism on Sunday represented a shift from talk to action. After Bolsonaro’s defeat in the October 2022 elections, calls grew among ultra-supporters to seize symbolic sites of democratic legitimacy, gathering in front of military barracks.
A few hours before the eighth January commemoration, chilling details surfaced. Alexandre de Moraes, one of the eleven justices of Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court, told Rio de Janeiro’s O Globo newspaper that plans existed to execute him in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes. De Moraes has long been a focal point of anger for the far right and for Bolsonaro, who directed investigations into misinformation during his administration. The plan reportedly included Army Special Forces arresting him on Sunday and moving him to Goiania, another phase proposing an arrest on the road, a potential killing, and, in a final stage, hanging him. The aim was to end democracy, trigger a military coup, and erase political rights. De Moraes noted that a probe was opened into whether members of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency followed a similar path.
Lula’s certainty
The Workers’ Party leader did not delay in addressing the political and legal ramifications. He asserted that someone was directly responsible for planning the entire episode and criticized Bolsonaro for hiding and abandoning Brazil. Bolsonaro, who left for the United States shortly before leaving office, was accused of not accepting the electoral victory and of trying to undermine electoral justice and the institutions themselves. Lula stated that Bolsonaro planned the action, showed cowardice, and left followers to carry out what was done.
The full scope of the coup remains to be clarified. Veja magazine published an audio recording in which federal district security officials dismissed the seriousness of the actions and called them a waste of police effort. Investigators continue to seek funding sources, the organizers of the camps, and those who financed the operation, aiming for justice that would deter any future attempts to challenge the democratic process. A minister emphasized the need to complete the investigations without haste, but with resolve to bring all responsible to account.
The defense minister urged accelerated inquiries into coup actions, arguing that the aim was to lift the cloud of mistrust surrounding the armed forces. He denied that the military wanted a coup but admitted that some insiders did. He stressed a commitment to punish the guilty while protecting the innocent, and Lula has been working to restore ties with the military leadership over the past year.
January 8 should be remembered by its name: an attempted coup, urged a columnist for O Globo. Political analyst Miriam Leitão highlighted the attendance of armed forces leaders at parliament as a meaningful signal. The stance suggested that the military leadership was seeking a measured, institutional response rather than a bold political move. There was room in Brazil’s political landscape for both the right and the left, but no space for conspiracies against democracy, according to Leitão.
Tarcísio Freitas, a former minister and current governor of São Paulo, aligned with skeptical party voices by declining to attend the parliamentary gathering. He suggested political calculations were at play and would not necessarily bolster Lula’s public image. Bolsonarist factions continued to push for designating the day’s events as “Patriots’ Day” on social media, while authorities prepared for only minor incidents.
Bolsonaro condemned the destruction of public buildings carried out by thousands of his most ardent supporters, blaming the government for what happened. He claimed the incident was a leftist trap and lamented the slow pace of the investigation. In his view, the attack on Brazil’s centers of power did not reflect the actions of mainstream conservatives, insisting that his followers would never endorse such violence.