The damage Braga Netto can cause

Moisés Mendes

Braga Netto does not count on a single incisive, categorical, and unconditional defense to console him in his condition as an imprisoned coup plotter. All the public figures who defend him beat around the bush, saying he should be free.

There are merely formal statements, reported without much attention because they lack even a semblance of indignation. These defenses are lifeless, like those from Bolsonaro and Hamilton Mourão.

All follow the same line that it is an "unjust imprisonment," which essentially says nothing. Some even admit, like Mourão, that a group of generals may have dreamed of a coup, but only as a delusion, and that they were all retired.

Senator Mourão even disqualified his peers by referring to it as a “tabajara coup attempt.” Journalists who support the old and new right reinforce the idea that the plot involved only "people in pajamas." Thus, we could have a “culpable coup,” but without intent.

A central question now arises, considering the reactions and potential support from accomplices to Braga Netto’s situation: what damage will follow that could influence the course of investigations and alter the weak rhetoric of those pretending to defend him?

Is Braga Netto a bomb that could implode at any moment? How willing is the general to unload part of the burden that should be carried by others to try to lessen his own blame? Who else might Braga Netto bring down with him?

The general is a potential explosion, as his colleagues know his temperament. He is also much more than a repository of information. He is the leader, the most respected figure among all the uniformed and civilian coup plotters.

He was first in everything within his generation, received training few have had, is talented, and knows the corridors, kitchens, and undergrounds of politics and power since leading the 2018 intervention in Rio.

He knows things most people have never imagined. He heard things from Bolsonaro that no one else must have heard. He showed his face, as in the "don’t lose faith" video from November 18, as someone who believed in the success of what he was doing and was willing to take risks.

Braga Netto can go far beyond Mauro Cid’s back-and-forth information. He can reveal details that the aide-de-camp colonel doesn’t fully know.

And he knows how the November 12, 2022 meeting was organized and transpired, where the assassinations of Lula, Alckmin, and Alexandre de Moraes were allegedly planned—right in his house.

A single piece of information from Braga Netto could untie crucial knots to understand the coup's structure and Bolsonaro's involvement, including the financiers of the plan. But how long will the general hold out?

How long will his preventive detention last, knowing that the duration depends on random and often questionable factors? So far, Moraes has ordered 64 preventive detentions of Bolsonaro supporters, all with varying time frames.

How many months can Braga Netto remain imprisoned? The detention tests the resilience that military training requires them to endure. Colleagues who were inside or outside the coup must know how long he can hold on.