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Brazil: Lula's security chief quits after riot footage leaks

April 20, 2023

One of Brazil's top security officials has resigned after footage emerged showing him talking to pro-Bolsonaro protesters inside the presidential palace. He said the scenes had been taken out of context though.

https://p.dw.com/p/4QKVE
Marco Edson Goncalves Dias (center of frame) talking to another official. Archive image from December 2022.
Marco Edson Goncalves Dias says he was peacefully trying to de-escalate the situationImage: Alexandre Brum/Ag. Enquadrar/IMAGO

The chief of security to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has resigned, after surveillance videos emerged showing him inside the presidential palace during January riots after Lula's election victory. 

General Marcos Edson Goncalves Dias quit following the reports, first aired on CNN Brasil, that included footage of him opening doors and showing the way to rioters in the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Lula's government's press office announced the general's resignation on Wednesday.

The palace was one of several federal buildings stormed by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro days after he left office.

Protesters, supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro, sit in front of police after inside Planalto Palace after storming it, in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. Planalto is the official workplace of the president of Brazil.
The unrest echoed the scenes in Washington DC after Donald Trump's election defeat to Joe BidenImage: Eraldo Peres/AP Photo/picture alliance

General had said he was showing people the exit

Dias had earlier attempted to explain the footage publicly.

He told broadcaster El Globo that the pictures had been taken out of context and that he had been trying to peacefully de-escalate the situation. 

"I entered the palace after it was raided and was removing people from the third and fourth floors so that the arrests could take place on the second floor," Dias told GloboNews. 

Dias had also said footage appearing to show at least two soldiers shaking hands with protesters and handing out water bottles were taken out of their wider context.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva walks at the Planalto Palace after it was stormed by supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023.
President Lula said soon afterwards that there were indications some security forces may have opened the doors for the protesters, perhaps literallyImage: Eraldo Peres/AP Photo/picture alliance

Riots reminiscent of post-election chaos in US

On January 8 this year, after President Lula's narrow election victory over his predecessor Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro's supporters invaded the supreme court, the national parliament and the presidential palace. 

The scenes drew comparisons with the January 6, 2021, unrest in Washington D.C. after former US President Donald Trump's election defeat to Joe Biden. 

Lula, who had been sworn in a week earlier, soon said there were indications that parts of the military and police might have helped the rioters. 

Bolsonaro is a former soldier known to have strong ties with Brazil's military and law enforcement. Some members of the military have since been arrested or fired.

Dias was no newcomer to Lula's circle, having been part of his security teams during his first two terms, from 2003 and 2009, as well. Following his election, Lula appointed Dias the head of Brazil's Institutional Security Bureau (GSI), which is responsible for presidential security. 

Dias will be succeeded by Ricardo Cappelli on an interim basis, the government said on Wednesday. 

msh/nm (AFP, dpa)