Members of Jair Bolsonaro’s inner circle and Brazilian army officers discussed the use of the armed forces against the result of the October 2022 election that made Lula da Silva president, according to cellphone messages from Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s aide. , made public by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). In it, the conspirators use a thesis by Portuguese-Brazilian jurist Ives Gandra Martins to legitimize a coup. He denies involvement in the plot. [ver entrevista ao lado].
Born in 1935 in São Paulo, Ives Gandra da Silva Martins is the son of Portuguese José Martins, born in Braga, and brother of João Carlos Martins, the most popular Brazilian classical pianist. He was decorated with hundreds of awards in Brazil and also in Portugal, including the Order of Infante Dom Henrique, awarded by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in 2016.
Member of Opus Dei, founder of the Brazilian Institute of Law and Religion and professor of law at the head of the army – Hamilton Mourão, Bolsonaro’s vice president, and Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s 2022 vice presidential candidate, were his students -, the opinions of Ives Gandra, regularly published in the newspapers of São Paulo, were always applauded from the right.
Bia Kicis, a Bolsonarist deputy, called him the “greatest living constitutionalist” and Carla Zambelli, another staunch far-right parliamentarian, honored him “for the example of an ethical and honorable life.”
In the messages released by the STF, Colonel of the Lawand Junior Army is pressuring Mauro Cid to carry out the coup. “Cid, for God’s sake, man. He [Bolsonaro] let him command, for the people are with him, man. If the boys don’t obey, that’s their problem. The Brazilian army will end if these guys don’t follow the command of the commander in chief,” the colonel begged. In response, Cid says, “A lot is happening. Step-by-step”.
In fact, Bolsonaro’s aide in Planalto had a “draft of the coup” on his cell phone, similar to another found in a search, after the January 8 attacks, at the home of former Bolsonarist Justice Minister Anderson Torres, with the “step by step” for the declaration of “martial law” and the resulting coup.
In another message addressed to Bolsonaro’s right-hand man, Lawand assures that he has received a guarantee from Édson Rosty, divisional general, that if an order comes from the president to carry out the coup, the officer will immediately obey.
And finally, through Lieutenant Colonel Marcelino Carneiro, Commander of the Training Center for Reserve Officers, a document arrives at Cid with consultation with Ives Gandra where, in the answers to the questions, the jurist defends the proposition that Article 142 of the Constitution gives the armed forces the role of moderating power, which could be used in case of “external enemy or crisis between powers”.
left attack
One of the few prestige names leaning towards Bolsonarianism, the reference to Gandra in coup-like messages alerted the press and political rivals.
“It can be said without any doubt that he [Ives Gandra] was the theoretical mentor of the coup, the person who used his reputation to falsify the law and spread an absolutely false idea: that the constitution would provide for the possibility of the armed forces being the instrument of a coup,” the website of the coup wrote. party of workers.
Gleisi Hoffmann, chairman of Lula’s party, added on social media that “the famous professor Ives Gandra, already highly regarded in legal circles, was caught on Mauro Cid’s mobile phone as a “legal” source of the Bolsonarian military coup”. “Inspirator of the far right in Brazil and abroad, Professor Ives, who knows, may have ended up in the barracks as a lawyer,” he concluded.
In an article in Folha de S. Paulo entitled “Cid Didn’t Plan the Coup Alone”, sociologist Celso Rocha de Barros mocks Gandra’s participation and the contention, maintained by Bolsonaro’s defense, that the president was unaware of the maneuvers crooks from your inner circle.
“Cid tried to organize a coup for Jair, without agreeing with Jair. It would be some sort of surprise party coup. How would that go? things the whole couple does together, like lost jewelry or a crack”.
“On the way back to Alvorada,” Barros continues, “a somewhat stunned Bolsonaro would find the palace in darkness. When the light came on, the heads of the armed forces clapped their hands, shouted “Surprise!” and Ives Gandra would come out the pie, dressed in Marilyn Monroe, singing “Happy Blow, Mr. Presidenteeeeeeeet”.
On the UOL portal, journalist Reinaldo Azevedo classified Gandra’s comments as “garbage disguised as a constitution for scammers”.
Answer
Given the repercussions, Advocacia Gandra Martins’ office issued a note the day after Cid’s posts were published. “They are used in the email messages of replies given to a student in 2017, which addressed constitutional issues, never called for any kind of coup-like behavior, and violated respect for the law and our constitutional order”.
The lawyer and his daughter Ângela, who was the national secretary for the family at the Ministry of Women, Family Affairs and Human Rights headed by Minister Damares Alves in the Bolsonaro government, appeared in a video denying their influence in the coup attempt . “The only blow I wanted to deal, and my father too, is the blow in the hearts of families, to strengthen bonds. A blow of peace and love.”
Ives Gandra Martins: “It was just an email exchange with a student”
How do you stand being seen as a theorist of a pro-Bolsonaro coup in Brazil?
I act, I don’t react and I attack ideas, not people. I will not say that this situation was indifferent to me, because it gave me the trouble of having to react. But in a November 28 article on the website of Consultor Jurídico, I said that there was no risk of a coup because I have been teaching army officers for decades and I know their mentality.
So do you think Bolsonarists used your thesis in an offensive way?
I’m not making any value judgments about the messages they exchanged, but if they had read my Article 142 articles and books, they wouldn’t be using my May 2017 email exchange with a student in that way. Look, I answered a student, who wasn’t even my student, in fact, he was a major and I teach colonels who become generals, but I always respond to all students, mine or not, who ask me, and they used It.
Last Thursday he gave a lecture at the Escola Superior de Guerra, which was closed to the press. Have you addressed the controversy?
No, I taught my class the same way I had for years, to military personnel, including foreigners, and to members of civil society. And at the end I got a touching acknowledgment. In addition to having received dozens of complaints messages in recent days.
Have you ever felt that Brazilian democracy is in danger after Lula’s victory?
No. The article published in November on Consultor Jurídico’s website already stated that the risk of a coup multiplied by zero and divided by zero was zero.
Source: DN
