Brazil's security chief resigns after leaked footage of palace riot

By Bala Chambers

BUENOS AIRES (AA) - The head of Brazil’s Institutional Security Office (GSI) resigned Wednesday after leaked surveillance footage showed him in the presidential palace on Jan. 8, when rioters stormed and ransacked the country's three branches of government.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accepted Marcos Goncalves Dias’ resignation, according to state news agency Agencia Brasil.

The move by Goncalves Dias came after surveillance footage was leaked to CNN Brasil showing him and other GSI officials walking the halls of Planalto Palace in the capital Brasilia and greeting the rioters during the attack.

CNN Brasil said they had gained exclusive access to footage from 22 security cameras at the presidential palace and analyzed over 160 hours of it.

In an interview with Brazil’s TV Globo, Goncalves Dias insisted that he entered the palace after it had been invaded and ransacked.

On Wednesday, he also presented a medical certificate to explain his non-attendance at a public hearing to provide clarification regarding the Jan. 8 attacks.

A statement from the President's Office did not mention Goncalves Dias by name but reaffirmed that the government "has taken all the measures it has to investigate the episode.”

It added that any perpetrators of the Jan. 8 riots, whether civilian or military, are being investigated by the authorities and "there will be no impunity.”

On Jan. 8, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro managed to invade and ransack the Planalto Palace, Congress and the Supreme Federal Court until they were eventually contained by security forces.