CPI: Minister of Lula defends use of uniform by Mauro Cid – 07/12/2023 – Power

Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro told the Sheet who did not see Mauro Cid’s decision to testify in uniform as an affront to the CPI on January 8 and said that other active-duty military personnel could do the same until the end of the commission, if they wanted to.

Múcio also said that he awaits a verdict from the CPI on the participation of the military in the coup attacks, but freed the Army Command from blame. The minister stated that, as in football, those who commit indiscipline are thrown out of the game and the match continues.

“It will not be up to us to judge. The crimes that are said to be common, which were crimes committed individually, are crimes against civilians. The command did not participate in that”, he said.

Múcio said he had “a thesis” about the camps set up near barracks after the election campaign and said that not everyone agrees with his ideas.

“There were two factions of the Army living together in that camp. But the Armed Forces were not interested in a coup. In a soccer game, a player commits indiscipline, you put him out of the game. The team continues”, said Múcio, citing that, for him, there were the “legalists” and the “indignants”.

The best-known camp was in Brasilia, where Bolsonaristas who tried to invade the Federal Police building, on December 12, and those who destroyed the headquarters of the three Powers, on January 8, left.

As shown to Sheet this Tuesday (11), a report prepared by Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) on December 27, 2022 warned about the presence of an extremist group composed of reserve military personnel in the camp set up in front of the Army headquarters, in Brasilia.

The document describes the actions of the so-called “Red Berets” or “paratroopers”, a group without an official name or centralized structure whose members, according to the agency, “identify themselves as reserve soldiers of the Army’s Parachute Infantry Brigades”.

Although Múcio argues that the Armed Forces had no interest in a coup, it was the leadership of the Army that prevented the Government of the Federal District from putting an end to the encampment in front of the headquarters.

In a statement to the PF and the CPI, the then Chief of the Operational Department of the Military Police of the DF on the day of the coup attacks, Jorge Eduardo Naime, cited General Gustavo Henrique Dutra, former head of the Planalto Military Command, as one of those responsible for prevent the breaking of the camp still on December 29th.

Regarding the use of a uniform by Mauro Cid at the CPI, Múcio stated that he is a military officer and has the right to wear the uniform. Former President Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) chief aide-de-camp, the lieutenant colonel did not respond to the CPI’s questions. The Minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Cármen Lúcia understood that he should go to the session, but could remain silent so as not to produce evidence against himself.

“Not the slightest problem [o uso da farda]. He’s official. He has the right to wear a uniform. He is even arrested, wearing military clothes, he doesn’t even have civilian clothes. [Essa foi] the information I had”, said Múcio about Cid.

The minister, however, said he had not accompanied the testimony of the former aide-de-camp. “It wasn’t an affront, it wasn’t anything, it’s his right.”

The Army said this Tuesday that Cid “was instructed by the Army Command to appear in uniform” to the CPI “under the understanding that the active duty military was summoned to deal with issues related to the function for which he was designated by the Force”.

Questioned whether the Ministry of Defense is willing to collaborate with the CPI investigations, Múcio said that the episode “needs to be clarified”.

“This day—doesn’t a day have 24 hours?—this one doesn’t end. So we need this to come to an end. It’s good for everyone.”