Marco Antônio Freire Gomes

Marco Antônio Freire Gomes (born 31 July 1957 in Pirassununga) is a retired army general of the Brazilian Army, which he commanded from 31 March to 30 December 2022.

Military career Military official Gomes is son of Cavalry Colonel Francisco Valdir Gomes and Maria Enilda Freire Gomes.

From Military School of Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, he joined the military on 14 February 1977 at the Agulhas Negras Military Academy. He was declared officer candidate of the cavalry on 15 December 1980.

Official general As Official General, he served as Commander of the Special Operations Command in Goiânia, 1st Subchief of the Land Operations Command in Brasília, Commander of the 10th Military Region in Fortaleza and Executive Secretary of the Institutional Security Bureau in Brasília.

After that, Gomes served as Command of Land Operations in Brasília, from 9 September 2021 to 30 March 2022.

Resistance to 2022 Brazilian Coup Plot In 2024, investigations by the Supreme Federal Court revealed that general Freire Gomes was one of the army officials positioned against the 2022 Brazilian coup plot. Witness testimony provided by Brazilian Air Force commander Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior says that, in the reunion where the coup meetings with then president Jair Bolsonaro took place, Freire Gomes threatened to arrest the president if he tried to proceed with the coup attempt.

This event earned Gomes the enmity of the coup supporters. In cellphone messages recovered by the Federal Police of Brazil between Walter Braga Netto and former captain Ailton Barros, if Gomes continued to resist the coup he should be "thrown to the lions" and "his head should be offered".

In March 2024, he provided over eight hours of witness testimony to the Federal Police as part of Operation Tempus Veritatis.