Dismissed general meets High Command and does not make clear the reason for Lula’s decision – 01/21/2023 – Politics

The commander of the Army, Júlio César de Arruda, called a meeting this Saturday (21) with the High Command of the Force to confirm to the Generalate the decision of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to dismiss him less than a month after taking office office.

Three generals who participated in the virtual meeting told the Sheet that Arruda did not make it clear what would have been the main motivation for his dismissal.

He said, according to reports, that, on Friday (20th), he spent hours together with Lula in a meeting that was considered productive on investments in strategic projects in the area of ​​defense.

Arruda also stated that, on Friday, he was never asked by the president about the reasons that could have led to his resignation. He attributed the decision to criticism that the Army has received for alleged leniency with coup acts, which culminated in the attack on the headquarters of the Three Powers on January 8.

THE Sheet found, however, that Lula’s main discomfort came with the news that lieutenant colonel Mauro Cid, assistant to former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), would be investigated for suspicious movements made at the request of the president.

The investigation was revealed by Sheet in September and confirmed by the Metrópoles portal this Friday (20). According to people close to Lula, the president would have been irritated with the fact that Cid had been chosen to command an army battalion in Goiânia, as shown by the Sheet.

Arruda, according to Palace sources, had refused to exonerate Cid from the position he was placed in at the end of 2022, when General Freire Gomes commanded the Force.

On Friday night, after the Metrópoles report, Lula allegedly asked that the lieutenant colonel be dismissed. Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro even met with Arruda to discuss the situation.

Faced with resistance, Arruda was fired. General Tomás Paiva, chosen to assume command of the Army, left for Brasília this Saturday afternoon to meet with Múcio.

Generals heard by Sheet stated that the resignation was a surprise for the Army High Command, since, despite the dissatisfactions voiced by Lula after the January 8, there was an impression that the crisis had been reversed by Múcio and the military commanders.

On Wednesday (18), Arruda had held a meeting with the High Command of the Force to discuss the current situation of the Army. It was the first meeting between all four-star generals after the January 8 attacks.

In the conversation, the commander spoke about the importance of maintaining the hierarchy, discipline and control of the troops. He said that there are demands for the Armed Forces to be depoliticized.

At the meeting, most of the generals stated that there is no politicization of the Army, that the troops remain under control and that reserve soldiers tarnished the Force’s image with public statements in a coup-like tone and against Lula.

According to reports from generals who participated in the meeting, an order was also passed so that military personnel who had participated in the acts of January 8 were identified and punished.

Such as Sheet showed, it was an effort by the Armed Forces commands to show the Planalto Palace that there would be no complacency with the coup d’état among the military, in what was called the end of the “Pazuello precedent”.