Without proof, Brazilian Minister of Justice claims there was a plan to assassinate Lula at the inauguration

Citing messages discovered by the Federal Police, the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, said there was a “plan” to assassinate President Lula da Silva on Jan. 1.

The author would be George Washington de Oliveira Sousa, responsible for setting a bomb at Juscelino Kubitschek Airport in Brasilia, who was disarmed on Dec. 24.

According to Dino, Sousa was obtaining instructions on how to make a long-distance rifle shot.

“He was getting information,” Dino said in an interview with the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo on Saturday, Feb. 25.

“There is a dialogue where he seeks information about the best rifle and the best aim for so many meters away.”

“There were preparatory acts for the execution of a shot, which would be fired on the day of Lula’s inauguration.”

Dino also said that the messages do not mention Lula but that the content hints that it is a plan to assassinate Lula.

Sousa was arrested in flagrante on Dec. 24 because of the bomb.

According to the Federal Police, in a statement, the man confessed that he wanted to provoke a state of siege, preventing Lula’s inauguration as president.

However, Sousa did not mention an alleged plan to assassinate the then President-elect.

With information from Revista Oeste

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