SAO PAULO (AP) — A trove of leaked audio recordings from late 2022 reveal high-ranking members of Brazil 's army discussing efforts to pressure then-President Jair Bolsonaro to carry out a coup and remain in power.
The 53 audios, obtained by the Federal Police and accessed by The Associated Press on Monday, provide a rare chance to hear military members expressing in their own voices their desire to keep leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the police's sprawling investigation, quoted some of those audios in his ruling last week ordering the arrest of five people for plotting the assassination of then-President-elect Lula in 2022 and then attempting to oust him from power on Jan. 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters destroyed government buildings in capital Brasilia.
Audios from one former army officer — who was not among those de Moraes ordered arrested last week — are particularly supportive of a coup, and weren't referenced in de Moraes' order.
Col. Roberto Raimundo Criscuoli, a former subcommander of the army's special forces, told retired Brig. Gen. Mario Fernandes, who was then second in command at the general secretary of the presidency, that the far-right leader had a clear choice after Lula won his third, non-consecutive term.
“It will be either a civil war now or civil war later. We have a justification now for civil war; people are on the streets, we have massive support,” Criscuoli said in one of the audios. “Let's do this now. Speak to 01.”
01 is a common reference to Brazil's president.
Neither the former president nor his ministers are heard speaking in the recordings. The audios are not directly related to the Nov. 21 formal accusation by Brazil's police that Bolsonaro and 36 others attempted to stage a coup.
The Brazilian army did not respond to a request for comment about the Federal Police investigation.
Bolsonaro frequently cast doubt on the election results without providing any evidence and never conceded. He left for the United States days before Lula’s inauguration on Jan. 1, 2023 and stayed there for months, keeping a low profile. The top electoral court has ruled Bolsonaro ineligible to run for president until 2030 for abuse of power, and he is also the target of several investigations for a slew of potential crimes.
Other audios are less explicit in their wording about the urgent need for a coup. In a voice message to Gen. Fernandes, Col. Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu used an expression frequently repeated by Bolsonaro to argue the country's constitution should be ignored.
"We are at war, they are winning. It is almost over and they haven’t fired a single shot. It is because of our incompetence,” he said.
In an audio from Dec. 8, Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, is heard telling Gen. Fernandes that time was running out to keep his boss in office.
“On the 12th... It would have to be before the 12th, right?” Cid said, referencing the day that the electoral court would certify Lula's victory. “I will speak to the president. The thing is his personality sometimes. He waits, waits, waits, waits to see where it is going. To see who supports him. But sometimes time is short, right? We can't wait much longer.”
De Moraes' arrest order last week makes reference to Cid's comment, but it did not include his full statement.
Cid was already under house arrest, after having signed a plea bargain deal with authorities last year. His testimony has helped authorities collect evidence in different cases targeting Bolsonaro and some of his key aides, including Walter Braga Netto, Bolsonaro's chief of staff and running mate for reelection.
In the audios, Gen. Fernandes, who was among those de Moraes ordered arrested last week, repeatedly claimed Brazil’s presidential election had been rigged for Lula and insisted the military high command should be pressured to aid Bolsonaro's cause before his leftist rival assumed power.
“Any solution, you know, will not happen without breaking eggs," he said. "We have to go for it. We have popular support.”
Thousands of Bolsonaro followers camped outside army facilities to pressure military leaders to side with the then-president. Media reports at the time said there was not enough support in the high command for a coup. Bolsonaro supporters only returned home after the Jan. 8 riot, upon orders from the newly installed army commander.
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Former President Jair Bolsonaro arrives to speak with the press after being formally charged by the federal police with attempted coup, at the airport in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press after being formally charged by the federal police with attempted coup, at the airport in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates said Monday police arrested three Uzbek nationals for the killing of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi, an attack that's raised concerns for the burgeoning Israeli community in the country.
The statement from the country's Interior Ministry offered no motive for the slaying of Zvi Kogan, though an Israeli Foreign Ministry official later told The Associated Press that he simply had been “killed because of who he was."
Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a kosher grocery store in the city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel. But Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah militant group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the UAE.
The Interior Ministry statement identified the three men as Olimboy Tohirovich, 28, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28, and Azizbek Kamilovich, 33. The state-run WAM news agency carried images of the three men, blindfolds covering their faces in prison uniforms and flip flops.
The preliminary probe into the men is “in preparation for referring them to the public prosecution for further investigation,” the Interior Ministry said.
It wasn't immediately clear if the three men had lawyers or had sought consular assistance in the UAE, an autocratically ruled nation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. The Uzbek Consulate in Dubai did not respond to a request for comment regarding the arrests.
Israeli media reports, citing unnamed security officials, had alleged Uzbeks were involved in Kogan's killing. Uzbeks and other transnational criminal gangs previously have been hired in Iranian plots targeting dissidents and others.
Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack. Iran’s Embassy in Abu Dhabi has denied Tehran was involved in the rabbi’s slaying.
While the UAE statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.
Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters Monday that the “terrorists” who killed the rabbi would be brought to justice and pointed a finger at the “axis of evil” — a phrase Israel has used to refer to Iran and its allies. That echoed remarks Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also used the phrase “axis of evil.”
Kogan's wife, Rivky, is an American citizen. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nayhan, the UAE's foreign minister, to condemn Kogan's killing.
Blinken “expressed appreciation for the UAE’s close security cooperation with the United States and other partners in the region, as well as its long-standing tradition of and commitment to tolerance and freedom of worship,” the State Department said.
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump who helped broker the Abraham Accords, pledged $1 million to Chabad UAE, the religious organization for which Kogan worked. Kushner's brother Joshua pledged another $1 million.
“Let us come together from all faiths to pick up where Rabbi Kogan left off and bring his work, and the work of those building the UAE into a thriving destination of tolerance, bridge building and mutual benefit, to new heights,” Jared Kushner wrote on the social platform X.
Kogan's body was flown back to Israel on Monday ahead of a planned funeral the following day. His casket, covered in a prayer shawl, arrived to Kfar Chabad, Israel, on Monday night in front of a crowd of hundreds who gathered in the rain to honor him.
“How long will Jews continue to die for the sanctification of God?” Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Aharonov asked those gathered.
The procession then took Kogan's body to be buried at the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation and diplomatic matters, said authorities believe Kogan's death came from his identity as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, not anything else.
“He was attacked because of who he was,” the official said.
Since the Oct. 7 attacks, Israelis and Jews in the UAE have been on edge. Worship, which typically requires 10 Jewish men to happen, still takes place but not at sites previously used by the community, the official said.
The official acknowledged that tensions likely boil beneath the surface in the UAE, but praised the Emirati government for their investigation into Kogan's killing. Israeli security services have been involved in the probe, the official said. That likely includes the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service.
The UAE, while strenuously criticizing the conduct of the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip, has maintained its diplomatic relations with Israel. Israeli diplomats also have returned to Bahrain, the official said.
“They might not agree with what we do in the war ... but the dialogue allows them to send in all the humanitarian aid,” the official said of the Emirati government.
The official added: “It's been challenging to the relationship, but in a way, that keeps it strong.”
The RANE Network, a risk consultancy, separately warned that countries like that UAE that have normalized ties with Israel “will likely face a similarly low risk of attacks by lone actors, small cells or jihadist groups against Israeli, Jewish or even Western individuals and businesses allegedly associated with Israel.”
“The incident highlights heightened anti-Israeli sentiment in the region over the war in Gaza, as well as the ongoing shadow war between Iran and Israel,” it added.
Attendants listen as a rabbi delivers an eulogy during a ceremony prior to the funeral of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A rabbi delivers an eulogy next to the coffin containing the remains of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The body of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan is carried into a funeral home before his burial in Jerusalem, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A rabbi delivers a eulogy next to the coffin containing the remains of Israeli-Moldovan Rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, on Monday, November 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai, where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have increasingly traveled to Dubai for business and tourism since the two countries established diplomatic ties through the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews attend the funeral of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Jerusalem, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Attendants listen under the rain as a rabbi delivers an eulogy during a ceremony prior to the funeral of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
An Israeli soldier attends a ceremony prior to the funeral of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The body of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan is carried from a funeral home before his burial in Jerusalem, early Tuesday Nov. 26, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
The body of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan is carried into a funeral home before his burial in Jerusalem, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Women listen as a rabbi delivers an eulogy during a ceremony prior to the funeral of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A rabbi delivers a eulogy next to the coffin containing the remains of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A rabbi delivers an eulogy next to the coffin containing the remains of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Monday Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store. Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A man walks past Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store managed by the late Rabbi Zvi Kogan, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
