The Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvagave quite a show of force by removing the army commanderin an attempt to appease his relationship with the military after the assault on the powers that be on January 8 by radical Bolsonarists.
Lula’s decision showed his authority as supreme commander of the Armed Forces and with it he hopes to rebuild his confidence in the Army.
Without having completed his first month in power, the progressive president dismissed General Julio Cesar de Arruda as head of the Army on Saturday night, a day before heading to Argentina for his first international trip since taking office.
He chose as his replacement the general Tomas Paivawho this week vigorously defended democracy and the result of the October presidential elections in which Lula emerged victorious over a former president Jair Bolsonaro who still does not admit defeat at the polls.
“Lula’s decision showed his authority as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces” and with it he hopes to “restore his trust” in the Army, he explained. Marco Teixeira, professor of Political Science at the Fundación Getulio Vargas (FGV) study center.
In his opinion, the unexpected dismissal of Arruda also sent a message to reinforce “civil authority over the Army”, after the four years in office of the now far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), in which he opened space for thousands military to fill government posts.
The confidence crisis between Lula’s government and the Army was recognized by the Defense Minister José Múcioand it has been brewing since even before the attempted coup perpetrated two weeks ago by thousands of Bolsonaro supporters in Brasilia.
It began to take shape with the camps set up by supporters of the ex-president at the gates of the country’s barracks to call for a military “intervention” that would overthrow Lula and return the retired Army captain to power.
One of the most numerous was installed in front of the Army Headquarters in Brasilia from practically the October elections until one day after the violent invasion of the headquarters of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court.
Lula did not forgive, nor will he forgive, the occupation of camps in front of the Army. He wants a full investigation.
The camp was only deactivated by order of the Supreme Court and it is suspected that it housed relatives of military personnel.
“Lula did not forgive, nor will he forgive, the occupation of camps in front of the Army. He wants an absolute investigation, ”Múcio indicated in statements to the newspaper O Globo.
The assault on Brasilia on January 8, in which a few active and reserve soldiers are being investigated for their alleged participation, increased the cracks in the relationship with the land force.
Lula himself accused “many” police and military officers of being “collusion” with the attack on the institutions.
“We need to know who the culprits are. Obviously, the Army was not behind it, but we must punish the people from the Forces who were involved and know who helped destroy” the three powers, Múcio defended O Globo.
It is preferable to show strength at this moment and reestablish the pattern of confidence than to have an open fissure in the Army that could generate instability again.
The high point was, according to local media, the resistance of General Arruda to dismiss Bolsonaro’s former order assistant, Lieutenant-Colonel Mauro Cid, appointed to command a strategic battalion in the city of Goiânia.
Cid was a man of the highest confidence of Bolsonaro and is being investigated in the Supreme Court in various cases, one of the latest leaked by the press deals with suspicious financial movements of the family of the far-right leader. All this led to the dismissal of Arruda.
Teixeira is now confident that the government-army relationship “will calm down” and put an end to this climate of mistrust.
“It is preferable to show strength at this moment and reestablish the pattern of trust than to have an open fissure in the Army that could generate instability again,” concludes Teixeira.
Sao Paulo, Efe
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