For Jair Bolsonaro’s core, a message intercepted by the federal police testifies on behalf of the former president. In the aforementioned dialogue, Colonel Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu told General Mario Fernandes, detained this Tuesday (11/19):
“Sorry for the expression, but four lines is best. Four lines of the Constitution is the essence. We’re at war, they’re winning, it’s almost over and they didn’t fire a shot because of our incompetence. Our incompetence, that’s all,” said Abreu, Fernandes’ then chief of staff.
He continued: “We are just like the frog, in the story of the frog in the hot water. You put the frog in hot water, it doesn’t feel the water temperature change and it just keeps getting bigger, bigger, bigger… Next thing you know, it’s dead. And so”.
The expression “playing within the four lines of the Constitution” was frequently used by Bolsonaro in 2022. For allies, Abreu’s criticism of obedience to the Magna Carta would reinforce the version that the then president stopped the military’s momentum and he was against a democratic breakdown.
Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu has a degree in Military Sciences from the Agulhas Negras Military Academy and a Master’s degree in Military Operations from the Officer Improvement School. He served as advisor to the Presidency between 2021 and January 1, 2023.
