As historian and former MR-8 militant Daniel Aarão Reis Filho [pt] declared to journalist Elio Gaspari, "as part of the radicalization process initiated on 1961, the project of the leftist organizations that supported the armed struggle was revolutionary, abusive and dictatorial (...) There is not even one document of those organizations in which they present themselves as a tool of democratic resistance".

The safe was in the residence of Anna Gimel Benchimol Capriglione, secretary and mistress of the former governor of São Paulo, who was popularly known by his supporters' catchphrase "he steals but he gets things done".

While some versions state that Dilma organized the whole operation, Minc and other members of the group assure that she had no major role in the VAR Palmares.

Also in 1969, VAR Palmares members planned the kidnapping of Finance Minister Antônio Delfim Netto, planner of the "Brazilian economic miracle" and the most powerful civilian in the regime at that time.

The alleged kidnapping was to occur in December of that year, but was not accomplished because most VAR Palmares members were captured and jailed just weeks before.