General blames former boss for January 8 intelligence blackout

Retired Army General José Russo Assumpção Penteado, who served as Brazil’s deputy head of intelligence until early this year, told local lawmakers in Brasília on Monday that his former boss Gonçalves Dias “withheld” key information that would have prevented the invasion of the presidential palace by hordes of pro-Bolsonaro rioters on January 8.

“All the actions carried out by the Institutional Security Office (GSI) on January 8, 2023, are directly related to the withholding by [former] minister Gonçalves Dias of the alerts produced by Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), which were not made available in a timely manner so that all means of the Shield Plan could be activated,” Gen. Penteado said.

The Shield Plan refers to a security operation to protect the presidential palace and other presidential buildings. According to Gen. Penteado, if Gen. Dias had forwarded the intelligence he received, the Shield Plan “would have prevented the invasion.”

Gen. Penteado also told local lawmakers that he had “no information” that demonstrators camped for two months near the Army’s headquarters were planning a coup. However, a report by the Justice Ministry found that the protest camp was “central” to the unrest. 

Retired General Gonçalves Dias said last week that the January 8 riots were “unimaginable,” despite all public evidence to the contrary. He also tried to place the blame on the security department of the local Brasília government, which reportedly said on January 6 that everything was “under control” and that special preparations would be unnecessary.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fired Gen. Dias in April after CNN Brasil aired surveillance footage of him inside the presidential palace during the attack, showing an apparently friendly demeanor toward the rioters. Gen. Penteado had served as deputy GSI minister since September 2021, during the Jair Bolsonaro administration, and was fired on January 23 this year.

Separately, the congressional select joint committee on the January 8 riots has subpoenaed Gen. Penteado’s phone and instant messaging records, but has not yet voted on motions to summon him for questioning.

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