Brazil's Lula claims intelligence services failed ahead of Brasilia riots
"My intelligence did not exist (that day)," says President Lula da Silva after removing 13 more military officers from his team, a day after dismissing 40 officers for failing to act against January 8 rioters.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said his intelligence services failed on January 8, when Brasilia buildings were stormed by supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
"We made an elementary mistake, my intelligence did not exist (that day)," Lula told TV channel GloboNews in an interview on Wednesday.
"We have Army intelligence, Air Force intelligence, ABIN (Brazil's Intelligence Agency); none of them warned me."
Earlier on Wednesday, he dismissed 13 more military officers who were assigned to the National Security Advisor's office, which is responsible for the president's security.
The decision follows the removal of 40 military officers on Tuesday from the Alvorada presidential residence, as Lula expressed his distrust in the military for failing to act against supporters of Bolsonaro.
The leftist president questioned how he could trust the military personnel with his personal security after what had happened.
Government officials said Lula's security would now be placed in the hands of the Federal Police force.