Commander points out Bolsonaro’s interference in the Army – 02/27/2023 – Politics

The commander of the Army, General Tomás Paiva, told subordinates that the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) interfered at various times in the Force and that, within the barracks, the policy created “wear and tear” for the military.

The statements were made at a meeting with auxiliaries at the Southeast Military Command on January 18 — three days before the resignation of then-commander Júlio César de Arruda.

The audio was secretly recorded and released by the Roteirices podcast. A Sheet confirmed the veracity of the recording, which has been circulating among military groups since last week.

“Some direct interference by the government in the military area. ‘President Bolsonaro’s new motorcycles will be on Aman’ — this was reported. It did not happen because our commanders, our generals, managed to convince the [ex-]president [Bolsonaro] that it was not appropriate to have a motociata, which is a political act of support for the president, inside the military academy”, said Tomás.

Tomás also mentioned that the commanders of the Forces used to stay four years in the role. In the Bolsonaro government, however, the head of the Army was changed three times, in the context of interference by the former president.

“In the past government we had something unusual which was the three changes of force commander. We went through General Pujol, then General Paulo Sérgio and then General Freire Gomes. in all governments. This is the context I am showing you of what happened”, he added.

The commander also criticized the change of the September 7 parade in Rio de Janeiro. Such as Sheet showed, the president hurriedly determined the move to hold the military event in Copacabana, where a demonstration in support of his re-election had already been scheduled.

“I’m putting [as notícias] because there were several points of political interference within themes that are military.”

The recording is about 50 minutes long. In the audio, Tomás states that he did not consider the position of former minister Eduardo Pazuello to be adequate, who, still an active general, participated in a motorcycle alongside Bolsonaro.

The commander said that Pazuello’s stance was “inadequate” and signaled that he did not agree with the decision of former commander Paulo Sérgio not to punish the general.

“The commander decided to hand over the FATD [Formulário de Apuração de Transgressão Disciplinar]the general replied and […] the staff considered that the transgression was justified. It is very difficult for a commander [militar de área] criticize his decision [comandante do Exército]. I can even tell him what I think, but the decision is made,” he said.

“We have to forgive the sinner, but we have to show that the sin happened. You cannot accept the sin, the error. The error happened”, he concluded.

Commander Tomás Paiva also took advantage of the conversation to explain Bolsonaro’s participation in an event at Aman (Military Academy of Agulhas Negras) in 2014.

At the time, the then deputy took advantage of the end of the marlin ceremony to talk to aspirants and announce his interest in running for the 2018 election. At the time, Tomás was the commander of Aman. The conversation was recorded and published on Bolsonaro’s social media.

“He was a federal deputy, sure, and he always attended events and was received, he knows the academy, he was an aspirant, he knows where the cadets are concentrated before entering.”

“I wasn’t there. I was at the Transit Hotel receiving the authorities and he went there, went on, went on, reached the candidates, spoke and that was filmed there and became a ‘start’ of his campaign”, he added.

A Sheet approached the Army to comment on the statements, but has not yet received a response.