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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro

‘It cost me many friendships’: former Brazil military chief reveals inside struggle to stop Bolsonaro’s coup

Jair Bolsonaro stands with arms folded in a white polo shirt, with a blurry metal gate in the foreground
Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro stands outside his home in Brasília, where he is under house arrest, in September 2025. Photograph: Luis Nova/AP

The far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro was in his final days as Brazil’s president when, six weeks after losing the election and still refusing to recognise the result, he summoned the heads of the armed forces to a meeting.

The defence minister, Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, took out a document from a plastic folder and handed copies to the commanders of the navy, army and air force.

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