By Lisandra Paraguassu
(Reuters) – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Saturday dismissed the current army commander, General Júlio César de Arruda, and appointed General Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, who is now the military commander of the Southeast, to the post.
The official announcement of the exchange was made at night at the Planalto Palace by the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, who spoke of “a breach in the level of trust” in the relationship with the Army command after the episodes of the camps and on January 8 .
“We thought we needed to stop this right from the start, even so that we could overcome this episode”, said Múcio to journalists, with General Paiva at his side, who did not make any statements.
“That is why we spoke today with the general who was in command, early on, General Arruda, to whom I make my best references, and I would like to introduce you to his replacement, General Tomás, who from today on is the new commander of the Armed Forces, of the Brazilian Army”, added the minister.
Múcio spoke after meeting with Lula, who arrived in Brasília from Boa Vista in the late afternoon, after the news of Arruda’s dismissal had already surfaced with unofficial information, and went to Planalto.
The change of command in the Army, reported earlier by Reuters based on information from sources, takes place amid a military crisis in the government after attacks by radical Bolsonaristas on the Three Powers on January 8. Days after the attacks, which included the participation of pro-military coup demonstrators who were setting up camps in front of the Army HQ in Brasília, Lula showed distrust in the military leadership and accused “people from the Armed Forces” of having been colluding with the depredation in Brasilia.
On Friday, the president met with Arruda and the commanders of the Navy, Marcos Sampaio Olsen, and of the Air Force, Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno, in Brasília.
After the meeting, Múcio told journalists that the actions of January 8 were not the main topic of the meeting, but stressed that there would be punishment if the participation of military personnel in violent acts was proven. “I understand that there was no direct involvement of the Armed Forces, but if any element had personal involvement, it will be investigated”, he said.
Arruda was nominated by Minister Múcio even before Lula took office, in early December, respecting the criterion of seniority in the Army – he is the oldest four-star general on active duty. In an interview to the press at the time, Lula said that the Armed Forces have a noble mission and highlighted having had an “extraordinary” relationship with the military the first time he governed the country.
Arruda took office on an interim basis while still in the Jair Bolsonaro government, two days before Lula’s inauguration.
One of the sources told Reuters that Arruda’s dismissal could have been influenced by the general’s possible resistance to the reversal of the appointment of Bolsonaro’s former assistant, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cesar Barbosa Cid, to the Special Operations Command, with headquarters in Goiania.
On Friday, when information about the appointment surfaced on the Metrópoles portal, the topic caused tension between the Minister of Defense and the commander, said the source.
Múcio made no reference to the case of the aide-de-camp in his brief speech to the press.
“Evidently, after these last episodes, the issue of the camps, the issue of January 8, relations, mainly at the command of the Army, suffered a fracture in the level of trust”, said the minister.
General Paiva, who will now replace Arruda in command of the Army, made a strong speech on Friday in defense of respect for the results of the elections.
Speaking at a ceremony honoring military personnel killed in Haiti, Paiva said that Brazil is currently experiencing a “political earthquake”, against the background of misinformation, and stated that it is the role of the Armed Forces to defend democracy.
“When we vote, we have to respect the result of the ballot box”, said Paiva. “This is the role of those who are institutions of the State.”
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu, with additional reporting by Isabel Versiani and Ricardo Brito.)
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