Brazil's Lula claims intelligence services failed ahead of Brasilia riots

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.

READ MORE: Brazil's Lula removes 40 soldiers from presidential residence after riots

Bolsonaro instigated people 'to hate'

Lula had previously said he suspected that there was collusion by "people in the Armed Forces" with the insurrection in which several thousand Bolsonaro supporters invaded and ransacked the Congress building, the Planalto presidential offices and the Supreme Court.

The demonstrators were protesting Bolsonaro's loss in the October elections and calling for a military coup to oust Lula and restore the far-right populist leader.

The violence recalled January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by supporters of ex-president Donald Trump.

"I don't know if the former president ordered (the riots). What I know is that he [Bolsonaro] carries the blame because he spent four years instigating people to hate," Lula said at a meeting with unions at the ransacked Planalto palace on Wednesday.

Some 1,400 alleged rioters remained in custody as investigators track down the masterminds and financiers of the January 8 revolt.

So far, 39 people have been officially charged.

Anderson Torres, a former Bolsonaro justice minister who was in charge of Brasilia security but abroad when the riots happened, has been arrested on suspicion of collusion.

Like his former boss, Torres has denied any link to the revolt.

READ MORE: Brazil: How pro-Bolsonaro supporters crowdfunded the insurrection