Brazil’s Bolsonaro charged in plot to poison successor in alleged coup attempt

Brazil’s prosecutor-general said Tuesday that former leader Jair Bolsonaro knew and agreed to a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as part of an attempted coup that would have allowed him to remain in power.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet formally charged Bolsonaro for attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat. He said that the plan also aimed at shooting dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

“The members of the criminal organization structured at the presidential palace a plan to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of ‘Green and Yellow Dagger,’ ” Gonet said in the report. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.” 

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