Former Brazil Air Force Chief Reveals Inside Struggle

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro summoned the heads of the armed forces six weeks after losing the 2022 election. The defence minister presented a draft decree to invalidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory and keep Bolsonaro in power.

Then air force chief Lieutenant Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior refused to even receive the document. He told the defence minister, "The air force will not take part in this," and left the room. His account is published in a new book titled I Said No!, An Anti-Coup Bulwark, due for release on 15 September.

The Draft Decree and Refusal

The extensive investigation that later convicted Bolsonaro concluded the plot failed because two of the three armed forces commanders refused to participate. Baptista Júnior and army commander General Marco Antônio Freire Gomes opposed the plan. The navy commander, Admiral Almir Garnier Santos, and defence minister General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira were convicted and are serving sentences.

Baptista Júnior, now 65 and retired, told the Guardian he wrote the book to prevent history from repeating itself. He noted that despite trial evidence, about a third of Brazilians in polls do not believe an attempted coup occurred. "Keeping in power someone who lost an election is a coup d'état," he said.

Bolsonaro's Relentless Campaign

The former fighter pilot describes more than a dozen meetings where Bolsonaro sought ways to remain in office. He portrays Bolsonaro as having "significant limitations in political, institutional and administrative experience" and an "almost total imperviousness to outside opinions." During the election period, Baptista Júnior writes that Bolsonaro became "entirely consumed by his own efforts to remain in office."

The president repeatedly cast doubt on the electronic voting system and ordered the armed forces to investigate it. However, he refused to accept their reports when they found no irregularities. "He may still not believe the election result even today. Whether that is a matter of character, personality or something pathological, I don't know," said Baptista Júnior.

Confrontation and Aftermath

At one meeting, Baptista Júnior witnessed the army chief tell Bolsonaro, after hearing a proposal for an institutional rupture, "If you do that, I'll have to arrest you." Both Freire Gomes and Bolsonaro denied this account during the trial, but Baptista Júnior stands by it in his book.

His refusal cost him "many friendships." Some military personnel still call him a "traitor" or a "watermelon," a slur suggesting he is communist red inside. Soon after his refusal, army general Walter Souza Braga Netto-Bolsonaro's running mate, later convicted-ordered other officers to attack Baptista Júnior on social media and "make his life and his family's hell."

Lingering Risks and Broader Context

Juliano da Silva Cortinhas, who heads a security research group at the University of Brasília, said that while it was positive the commanders said no, they had a duty to report the coup attempt to police immediately. He argued the armed forces cannot present themselves as democracy's saviours after allowing active-duty officers to take part in politics under Bolsonaro.

Cortinhas sees a new risk factor: the potential influence of US president Donald Trump, who has sought to support far-right candidates in Latin America. He fears if Lula is re-elected and Trump refuses to recognise the result, some in Brazil's military could feel emboldened. "Coup-supporting groups remain within the armed forces," Cortinhas said.

Baptista Júnior confirmed that an unknown number of active-duty personnel still believe a coup could be justified under certain circumstances. "That's why eternal vigilance is the best path," he concluded.