Almir Garnier Santos

Garnier was General-Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, the second highest office in the department. He concluded his studies at the Navy School in 1981, as the first in the Armada Corp.

As Lieutenant, he served the União and Independência frigates and the Training Ship Brasil. According to the Ministry, Garnier is Master in Operational Research and System Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, in the United States, MBA in International Management at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and course of Politics and Maritime Strategy at the Naval War School for two years.

Garnier commanded the tanker Almirante Gastão Motta, the Center for Support of Operational Systems, the Naval Systems Analysis Center, the Naval War School and the 2nd Naval District in Salvador, Bahia.^[4]

Admiral Garnier worked in the Ministry of Defence from June 2014 to January 2017 as the ministry's special military advisor, advising former ministers Celso Amorim, Jaques Wagner, Aldo Rebelo and Raul Jungmann.^[5]

As Admiral of the Fleet, he had served as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defence during the administration of minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva, until 9 April 2021, when he assumed office as Commander of the Brazilian Navy.^[4]

According to an accusation made by Mauro Cid, aide-de-camp of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Garnier Santos would have accepted to participate in a coup d'état to remove justices of the Superior Electoral Court and the Supreme Federal Court and overthrow the Brazilian democracy in 2022.^[5] Former Brazilian Air Force commander Carlos Baptista Júnior also testified that Garnier told Bolsonaro he would put his troops at his disposal, and commented: "If the [ Army ] commander [ Freire Gomes ] had agreed, possibly, a coup d'etat attempt would have taken place."^[6][7][8]

Garnier Santos was removed from office on January 5, 2023 after President Lula took office. On February 8, 2024, the Federal Police launched Operation Tempus Veritatis to investigate a criminal organization involved in the attempted coup d'état and the abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, aiming to gain political advantage by keeping the then-president of the Republic in power. Garnier Santos was one of the 33 targets of search and seizure.^[9][10][11]