After vandalism, Lula tries to approach the military in Planalto

Amidst criticism and distrust, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is holding a meeting this Friday (20) to get closer to the military of the Armed Forces at the Planalto Palace. In addition to the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro Filho, the meeting will be attended by commanders General Júlio Cesar de Arruda (Army), Admiral Marcos Sampaio Olsen (Navy), Brigadier Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno (Aeronautics) and Admiral Renato Rodrigues de Aguiar Freire, representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Despite the tone of Lula’s criticism of the military after the episode of vandalism to the buildings of the Three Powers, members of the PT claim that this meeting is aimed at the government listening to the structural demands of the Armed Forces. In this case, this meeting will be a way for the military to present the surveys requested by Lula in December, when the then president-elect met for the first time with members of the Armed Forces.

The assessment of government members is that Lula’s movement is a way of showing dialogue and strengthening of defense institutions. For the Planalto interlocutors, a removal from the government of members of the Armed Forces could favor the growth of a “coup-mongering” movement on the part of the military who are currently opposing the PT.

“I am calling the commanders to talk because the first time I talked to them I said I would like to discuss the strengthening of the Defense industry in this country. I asked each Force to present me with the structural difficulties, so that we can have a process of rebuilding the productive capacity of this country’s Defense”, said Lula in an interview with GloboNews this Wednesday (18).

In the government supporters’ calculations, Lula’s nod aims to show that the PT does not intend to maintain revenge with the military. To counter possible resistance, the government intends to work to strengthen the Armed Forces as an important State institution, which has an institutional role.

According to the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, one of the possibilities studied by the government is to close Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to guarantee more structure for the Armed Forces. “Other nations in the world, for example, large and developed nations, make PPP projects to equip their Armed Forces. With this, they manage to anticipate investments that, if they were to depend only on annual budgetary resources, would not be possible”, he stated.

Lula promises punishment against soldiers who “collaborated” with acts of vandalism

Even with the strategy of strengthening the Armed Forces in structural matters, Lula intends to reinforce to the commanders that the soldiers who condone the acts of vandalism in Brasília will be punished. The PT intends to signal during this Friday’s meeting that the government’s intention is to unlink the military institution from the coup movement and show that eventual collaborators of the acts do not represent all the military.

“It doesn’t matter the rank, it doesn’t matter what force he participates in. Everyone who we find to have participated in the acts will be punished. They will have to be removed from their duties and will answer to the law,” Lula told the GloboNews.

The president has indicated that it is necessary to “depoliticize” the Armed Forces and restore the institutional role of the Army, Navy and Air Force. “Commanders need to assume the responsibility of saying: the soldier, the colonel, the sergeant, the lieutenant, the general, he has the right to vote, he has the right to choose whoever he wants to vote for. Now, as he is a career position, he defends the Brazilian State”, commented Lula.

In the government supporters’ calculations, it is possible to relax Lula’s relationship with the Armed Forces through the military that has acted in defense of the institutions at this political moment. Allies of the president defend that, despite the influence of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the sector, most of the military did not “embark” in the coup movement of Lula’s opponents.

Criticized by wings of the government after the episodes of vandalism, the Minister of Defense, Múcio Monteiro, has defended that the Armed Forces want to turn the page on the acts, despite the fact that, in the legal-military scenario, there is still a long way to go to punish the supposed “collaborators”. Lula ruled out Múcio’s resignation and defended that his work will be decisive to ease the relationship with the military.

“I brought José Múcio here and he will continue to be my minister because I trust him. He is a companion of my historical relationship, I have the deepest respect for him”, said Lula after the acts of vandalism in Brasília.

Lula’s distrust expands the list of dismissals within the federal government

Despite the nod, Lula intends to maintain the movement to exonerate military personnel who hold positions in the federal government. Until this Thursday (19), the Civil House had already published the dismissal of at least 140 military personnel who held positions in sectors such as the Institutional Security Office (GSI), the Personal Office of the Presidency of the Republic and the Special Secretariat for Administration. of the Presidency.

The dismissals occur after Lula publicly manifested his distrust of the military. He said that he suspects that there was connivance by “people from the Armed Forces” in the attacks on the headquarters of the Powers.

“I’m waiting for the dust to settle. I want to see all the tapes recorded inside the Supreme Court, inside the palace. There were a lot of people conniving. There were a lot of people from the PM conniving. of the Planalto Palace was opened for these people to enter because there is no broken door. In other words, someone facilitated their entry here”, said Lula last week over coffee with journalists in the Planalto Palace.

The soldiers who were exonerated remain in the Armed Forces, but will be reassigned to other posts. At the GSI, responsible for the security of the Planalto, the expectation is that civilians will be appointed to work in the cabinet. “Did anyone think we were going to keep the advisors from the previous government? It is unreasonable that it was like that. The government regime has changed. If the philosophy has changed, the content has changed, then who is implementing it has to change”, justified Minister Rui Costa.