Planned attack foiled in Brazil. On Saturday, a supporter of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro was arrested while trying to use explosives to create “chaos”. This arrest, revealed Sunday in the local press, comes a week before the inauguration of new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The man, identified as George Washington de Oliveira Sousa, had planted an explosive device in a tanker truck near Brasilia airport. Lula’s inauguration ceremony is due to take place in the Brazilian capital on January 1.
“Prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil”
His aim, according to his statements to the police published by the local press, was to “trigger chaos” and “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 after finding the explosive device on Saturday morning. Although there was an attempt to activate it, the device did not explode, Robson Candido, a senior Brasilia police official, said at a press conference, quoted by the site. Brazilian information G1.
“The serious events that occurred yesterday in Brasilia prove that the camps of the so-called ‘patriots’ have become incubators for terrorists”, tweeted Flavio Dino, appointed Minister of Justice in the next Lula government.
The arrested person clarified that the plan was designed with other Bolsonarians who demonstrated for days after the announcement of the defeat of the outgoing president in front of the army headquarters in Brasilia.