Ex-Brazil Air Force Chief: I Said No to Bolsonaro's Coup — SkimNews
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- Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior, then head of Brazil's air force, refused to receive a draft decree to invalidate Lula's October 2022 election and keep Bolsonaro in power, telling the defence minister "The air force will not take part in this" before walking out of the meeting.
- A federal trial convicted Bolsonaro, navy commander Adm Almir Garnier Santos, and defence minister Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira over the coup attempt — with the plot failing mainly because Baptista Júnior and army chief Gen Marco Antônio Freire Gomes refused to take part.
- Baptista Júnior's book "I Said No! – An Anti-Coup Bulwark" is due out on 15 September, roughly two weeks before Brazil's first-round presidential election that matches Lula against far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro.
- Baptista Júnior, who voted for Bolsonaro in both 2018 and 2022, describes his former boss as having "significant limitations in political, institutional and administrative experience" and "almost total imperviousness to outside opinions," citing his refusal to accept scientific evidence on Covid-19 vaccination.
- Saying no cost the retired pilot "many friendships"; army general and convicted running mate Walter Souza Braga Netto ordered other officers to attack him on social media and "make his life and his family's hell," according to Baptista Júnior.
- University of Brasília security researcher Juliano da Silva Cortinhas warned "the risk of a new coup is even greater today," citing US President Donald Trump's efforts to influence Latin American elections in support of far-right candidates and persistent coup-supporting groups inside Brazil's armed forces.
Why it matters: A serving military chief who personally blocked Bolsonaro's coup is publishing his account weeks before an election featuring a Bolsonaro — and one expert quoted in the piece says the risk of a new coup attempt has actually grown, citing Trump's intervention in Latin American politics and coup sympathizers still inside Brazil's armed forces.
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