(Brasilia) The Brazilian government has fired 13 security personnel, continuing the purge ordered by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after the January 8 insurrection attempt in Brasilia.
The information was published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, a day after the announcement of the dismissal of 40 soldiers assigned to the presidential residence of Alvorada, located in the capital, where the seats of the presidency, Congress and the Court Supreme were ransacked by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The soldiers dismissed on Wednesday were part of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI), a government body responsible for assisting the president in his national security and defense policy.
The announcements come a week after the 77-year-old leader expressed his distrust of some law enforcement officers charged with his security.
Lula announced last Thursday a “thorough” examination of the staff assigned to the presidency, saying he was convinced in particular that the rioters who had entered the presidential palace of Planalto had received help from within.
“How could I have someone at my office door who could shoot me?” “, he asked himself, believing that” the palace was filled with Bolsonarists “.
Several thousand supporters of the far-right former president, who refuse his electoral defeat against Lula at the end of October, sowed chaos on January 8 in the capital, invading and ransacking the centers of power.
Jair Bolsonaro, who left Brazil for the United States two days before Lula’s inauguration, denies any involvement in the uprising. However, he is under investigation.
Some 1,400 suspected rioters remained in custody on Wednesday as investigations continue to try to find the organizers. So far, 39 people have been officially charged.
Attorney General Augusto Aras said in an interview with a local television station that another 200 people would be charged over the next two weeks.
Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, who was in charge of security in Brasilia but was abroad at the time, was arrested on suspicion of collusion when he returned home.
On Wednesday, he appeared before investigators for a first deposition, but chose to remain silent according to the G1 news portal. He also denies any involvement in the attempted insurrection.