Colonel says black kids' gathering was a meeting between friends

Colonel Bernardo Romão Correa Neto , a defendant in the coup plot that allegedly tried to keep former President Jair Bolsonaro in power, said that the meeting in which actions against opponents of the plot were planned was actually a get-together between friends from the same military specialty.

The soldier was questioned on the morning of Monday 28th at the Supreme Federal Court.

Romão Correia Neto denied any involvement with the idea of institutional rupture or coup d'état, or any planning to kidnap or execute authorities opposed to the coup plot.

"What actually happened was a meeting of friends from the Special Forces. There was no organization. These meetings occur spontaneously when several people gather in a garrison," the soldier stated.

The colonel also said that, on November 28, 2022, the date of the alleged coup meeting, he was in Brasília on a mission, and that the meeting between members of the Special Forces occurred due to the coincidence that other colleagues were in the country's capital at the same time.

According to him, there was no prior organization for the event, nor was there any discussion of any kind of action planning for a coup. "This meeting was held in a party room, surrounded by glass walls. Pizza and soda were served, people were chatting casually, a doorman was passing by... It's impossible for Special Forces planning to be done this way," he opined.

Letter

The soldier was also questioned about a letter he sent to a colleague, the content of which attacks the then Army commander, General Freire Gomes, for not adhering to the coup plans.

According to the colonel, a colleague requested the document, and he simply looked for the file in a messaging app group, of which he said he was a member but did not participate, and forwarded it.

He denied that the text was prepared at the alleged meeting of black kids , as members of the Army's Special Forces are informally called.

Messages

Bernardo Romão Correa Neto was also confronted with messages he sent to Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro's former aide-de-camp, with encrypted content in which he appears to lament the hesitation of the former president or the commanders of the Armed Forces in taking any action in light of the country's situation.

The colonel said he was a “happy soldier” who enjoyed socializing, and so he had informal conversations with his colleagues, but that these should not be taken seriously, being merely “concerns about the country’s situation.”

Regarding one of the messages, in which he says it is necessary to “influence” the high command of the Armed Forces, the colonel said that the Federal Police, in the final report of the investigation into the plot, had removed the word “positively” from the text.

According to the colonel, "positive influence" would involve convincing commanders to educate their subordinates about the country's true situation, after an official Army message legitimized the protests in front of the barracks. "People thought the Armed Forces would do something, but that wasn't true," he said.

He apologized to the Army and his superiors for the “leak” of messages that were supposed to be private.

"It gave the impression that I was being ungrateful. I've never been ungrateful; on the contrary, I greatly admire my institution, I love my institution, and I apologize to my superiors," he said. "I will never support a rupture or a coup d'état or anything like that."

Defendants

The Supreme Federal Court will conduct interrogations this Monday 28th of the third nucleus of the coup plot, made up of nine military personnel and a federal police officer.

The group is accused of carrying out field actions to consummate the coup, putting in place a plan to "neutralize" opponents, and also of promoting a campaign to pressure the high command of the Armed Forces to join the coup plot.

Confirms the list of defendants to be questioned this Monday:

• Bernardo Romão Correa Netto (colonel);
• Estevam Theóphilo (general);
• Fabrício Moreira de Bastos (colonel);
• Hélio Ferreira (lieutenant colonel);
• Marcio Nunes De Resende Junior (colonel);
• Rafael Martins de Oliveira (lieutenant colonel);
• Rodrigo Bezerra de Azevedo (lieutenant colonel);
• Ronald Ferreira de Araújo Junior (lieutenant colonel);
• Sergio Ricardo Cavaliere de Medeiros (lieutenant colonel);
• Wladimir Matos Soares (federal police officer).