Augusto Heleno is currently being investigated by the Federal Police of Brazil, along with other former members of the Bolsonaro government, as a suspect of participating in a coup d'état plot.

As Colonel, he commanded the Preparatory School for Army Cadets (EsPCEx) in Campinas and was military attaché in the Brazilian Embassy in Paris, also accredited in Brussels.

From June 2004 to September 2005, he was the first military commander of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), made up of 6,250 Blue Helmets from 13 countries, of which 7 were Latin Americans.

During his time in Haiti he was known for leading a United Nations armed assault on Cité Soleil that killed dozens of people including Dread Wilme.

[5] Similarly to Chilean ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés, special representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and chief of the mission, and of the Latin American governments, General Heleno expressed his disapproval at the strategy adopted by the international community about Haiti.

[6] He was succeeded in the MINUSTAH command by General Urano Teixeira da Mata Bacelar, who committed suicide in Port-au-Prince, four months later, in January 2006.