Proposal ends GLO operations and transfers to the reserve the military who assumes public office
PT deputies draft a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) to end GLO (Guarantee of Law and Order) military operations. The text in articulation also obliges the transfer of military personnel to the reserve when they assume public positions, even if temporary.
Second draft that the Power360 had access, the proposal amends article 142 of the Federal Constitution, which deals with the functions of the Armed Forces. Under current law, any Power can order the military to ensure law and order.
What Article 142 says:
“Art. 142. The Armed Forces, made up of the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, are permanent and regular national institutions, organized on the basis of hierarchy and discipline, under the supreme authority of the President of the Republic, and are intended to defend the Fatherland, the guarantee of constitutional powers and, at the initiative of any of them, of law and order.”
With the text under discussion, however, this section would be cut. The allocation of the Armed Forces would be restricted to “ensure the independence and sovereignty of the country and the integrity of its territory”.
The initiative of the proposal belongs to the deputies Alencar Santana (PT-RS) and Carlos Zarattini (PT-SP). According to the 1st, the idea is to finalize the draft, collect signatures and present the text officially by the end of the 1st semester.
Both had initiatives similar to this one in 2020, but failed to get the necessary signatures at the time. To be presented, PECs need the support of at least 171 deputies.
The theme was taken up again by deputies after the acts of vandalism on January 8, in which right-wing extremists demanded military intervention based on article 142.
Planalto has not yet been consulted on the proposal and, therefore, there is no government guidance regarding the deputies’ idea. As it is still a draft, the content of the proposal can be changed indefinitely.
The GLOs are regulated by the federal Constitutionfor the Complementary Law 97from 1999, and by the Decree 38972001. Without the constitutional provision, however, the other regulations would lose their object.
Despite putting an end to the possibility of GLO, the PT’s draft establishes that the President of the Republic can summon the military to act in civil defense missions.
The PT proposal also determines that military personnel must exercise their functions in a “non-partisan, being blindfolded the use of office, function or weapon for any political intervention”.
Even during the transition of government, PT members were already studying to change article 142 of the Constitution. An article signed by 2 university professors on how defense policy should be in the new government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) advocated limiting the role of the Armed Forces to external defense.
The text was published on the website of the Perseu Abramo Foundation, the theoretical arm of the PT, on September 8, 2022 – read the full (336 KB).
Article 142 is one of the most cited by allies of the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) when they suggest some military intervention.
The proposed text by the Perseu Abramo Foundation was never mentioned in interviews by the transition team or discussed by the group that prepared Lula’s government program.
The idea was not well seen by members of the transitional government and allied parties. The assessment is that the discussion about such a constitutional change would disrupt the assembly of the new PT government.
No active ministers
Another point covered by the draft is the automatic transfer of military personnel who assume temporary non-elective civilian positions to the reserve. This is the case, for example, of a member of the military being nominated to be a Minister of State.
During the Bolsonaro government, the then Minister of Health, General Eduardo Pazuello, was active and remained that way, receiving a salary while she held the position. The fact was criticized by the opposition at the time.
Pazuello was transferred to the paid reserve of the Brazilian Army. The transfer was requested by the general himself and took effect on February 28, 2022.
Pazuello’s move to the paid reserve was published in March of that year in Official Diary of the Union. The decree was signed by then President Bolsonaro. Here’s the full of the document (42 KB).
He would be compulsorily retired on March 31, 2022, according to Army rules, as he reached the rank of Intelligence Service in 2018 and could only stay in the position for 4 years. As a general of division of the Army, when he was on active duty, Pazuello received R$ 32,633.40, according to the Transparency Portal.
The anticipation of his retirement had electoral reasons. In reserve, Pazuello could join political parties and run for public office in elections. In October last year, he was elected federal deputy for the PL of Rio de Janeiro.
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