Ghana: "I'm in position." Brazil: "OK. What's the next step?" Germany: "We're waiting." It was 8:45 pm on Thursday, December 15, 2022, in Brasilia. The sun had set, a storm was threatening. In this capital of futuristic architecture, just a few days before the country's summer holidays, all was calm and silent. The city slumbered serenely, filled with the woody fragrances of the Cerrado savannah. But in the darkness, six men were lying in wait, scattered around the city. Each of them had a code name – "Germany," "Argentina," "Austria," "Brazil," "Ghana" and "Japan" – a smartphone registered to a third party, handguns and explosives. Lurking in the shadows, they waited for a passing vehicle. Their objective? To sound the start of a coup d'état.

Their sights were set on Alexandre de Moraes, powerful judge at the Supreme Federal Tribunal (TSF) and president of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), as well as Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva and his running mate Geraldo Alckmin, winners of the October 2022 presidential election, who were due to take office a fortnight later, on January 1, 2023. All are destined to be captured or assassinated so that the incumbent head of state, Jair Bolsonaro, can remain in power despite his defeat at the polls.

These startling and extremely serious revelations come from a report by the Brazilian Federal Police unveiled on November 26. The report shed light on a planned putsch orchestrated in 2022 at the highest level of the State, which almost succeeded. Le Monde has consulted the 884 pages of this explosive document, which recounts the period when Brazil's history was almost turned upside down.

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