"There was no coup because Bolsonaro is a coward," Lula blasts

247 - At the opening of the first ministerial meeting of 2024, President Lula (PT) spoke about the revelations made by the Federal Police investigations into a supposed coup attempt orchestrated by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and his allies after the defeat in the 2022 elections. "The previous government, as you know, never worried about governing this country, never cared about the economy, about social inclusion policies. It was concerned with encouraging hatred among people, lies - and it continues in the same way. And today we have more clarity about the meaning of January 8 [2023], because we already know what happened in December. Today we have clarity, from testimonies of people who were part of his government or who were in command of the Armed Forces, of people who were invited by the president to make a coup. So if three months ago, when we talked about a coup, it seemed just insinuation, today we are sure that this country ran a serious risk of having a coup due to the 2022 elections."

Lula also said that the coup did not happen due to lack of adherence from members of the Armed Forces and because Bolsonaro "was a coward." "And there was no coup not only because some people who were in command of the Armed Forces did not want to do it, did not accept the president's idea, but also because the president is a coward. He did not have the courage to execute what he planned. He stayed here in the Palace crying for almost a month and preferred to flee to the United States rather than do what he had promised, hoping that from abroad the coup could happen. They financed people at the doors of the barracks trying to stimulate the continuation of the coup. As it did not work out, they are now saying that we are harming democracy, that they were innocent, that they just had discussions but that nothing concrete happened. But we know that there was an attempt at a coup in this country. Whoever had doubts now can be sure that we were close to returning to the dark times in this country when people thought that only a coup with the participation of some military could take power in this country. The people were wiser, more courageous."