Army chief said Lula’s election was unwanted – 02/28/2023 – Politics

The commander of the Army, General Tomás Paiva, told subordinates that the electoral victory of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) was “unwanted” by the majority of the military, but “unfortunately” it happened.

“It is not possible to say with certainty that there was any type of irregularity [na eleição]. Sadly, it was the result that, for most of us, was unwanted, but it happened,” she said.

The statement was given to officers of the Southeastern Military Command on January 18 — three days before assuming the leadership of the Army with the resignation of General Júlio César de Arruda.

The audio was secretly recorded by one of those present and released by the Roteirices podcast. A Sheet had access to the recording, which has been circulating among military groups since last week. Sought, the Army did not manifest itself.

In the conversation, Tomás said that it was necessary to accept the results of the elections because there was no sign of irregularity in the electoral process. He recalled that the Armed Forces inspected the electronic voting system and found no flaws.

“The difference has never been so small, but the guy says: ‘General, there was fraud’. We participated in the entire inspection process, we made a report, we did everything. Was there fraud? No. I’m telling you, you can believe. Did we detect fraud? No.”

“This electoral process that elected the current president and did not elect the former president was the same electoral process that elected a mostly conservative Congress. It elected mostly conservative governors,” he added.

Tomás was talking to subordinates after the then Army commander, General Arruda, convened the Army High Command for the first time after the January 8 attacks.

According to reports made to Sheet, Arruda had ordered the military commanders to pass on legalistic messages to the troops, in order to maintain hierarchy and discipline. Tomás took advantage of this order to hold internal conversations and encourage support for the Lula government.

In the recorded conversation, Tomás stated that “we are in the uniformed, militarist, right-wing and conservative bubble” and that it was important to recognize that “there is another bubble, and it is not a small one”.

The commander devoted part of his speech to talking about the coup camps that formed in front of Army barracks spread across the country.

According to Tomás, there was initially a “widespread orientation” not to prevent coup manifestations, citing the note released in November by the commanders of the three Forces that, with messages to the Judiciary, tried to justify the requests for military intervention.

“There was an understanding of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, who was the President of the Republic, that it was not to mess with [nos acampamentos], which was legit. There was no intercurrence, no one manifested [pelo término dos atos]neither the Justice nor the Public Prosecutor’s Office, there was nothing,” he said.

The commander also said that, at the turn of the government, there was no order from Lula for the demobilization of the camps. “And from 1st to 8th [de janeiro], what was the order received for take out? None, there was no order. Because the expectation was that the movement would naturally dissolve. It was to be expected, and it didn’t happen.”

Despite the attacks on the headquarters of the three Powers, highlighted by Tomás as “deplorable and regrettable”, the commander said that there is no way to call Bolsonaristas terrorists.

“It’s also sad because we gave them the tools to call the guy a terrorist. What is that? He’s not a terrorist. They’re even kidding saying that the Mossad, everybody wants to come here to learn from the Federal Police how to arrest 1,500 terrorists at once […] Here’s the thing: he’s a vandal, he’s crazy, a guy who got into a spiral of fanaticism and extremism that can’t be sustained,” he added.

Tomás also said that it was “impossible to carry out” a “military intervention with Bolsonaro president”, as asked by Bolsonaristas in front of the barracks. According to the commander, the effects of a military coup would be devastating.

“Imagine if we had embarked on an adventure. We would not survive as a country. The currency would explode, we would lead to an economic blockade never seen before. street. Or do you think people would stay put? It wasn’t going to happen, man.”

Tomás’ presentation had a series of slides with journalistic articles and other information. The general read the contents aloud to subordinates.

The commander was irritated by the cartoons and memes made about the role of the military in the electoral process and, mainly, by the parade of armored vehicles that the Navy had on the Esplanada dos Ministérios on the day of the vote on the PEC (Proposal for Amendment to the Constitution) of the vote printed in the Chamber, in 2021.

“We get pissed off when we see something like that, we get upset, nobody likes it,” he said.

At the end of the conversation, which lasted about 50 minutes, Tomás read news about the PT’s plans to promote reform in the Armed Forces. The commander said that it is necessary to contain PT proposals and preserve the Army.

“It’s part of the chain of command to hold back so that this doesn’t happen. Now it’s more difficult, but we’re going to hold on, because Brazil needs the Armed Forces. Our posture, our cohesion, our maintenance of values, our belief in hierarchy and discipline, on our professionalism, depends on the political strength of the commander and the Force commanders to prevent any kind of attempt to want to throw us into the framework”, he concluded.