Former GSI minister says distrust of Lula is cowardice – 01/19/2023 – Politics

Minister of the GSI (Institutional Security Office) during the Michel Temer government, reserve general Sérgio Etchegoyen said that President Lula’s statements about the Armed Forces show “profound cowardice”.

Etchegoyen, in an interview on Tuesday (17th) with TV Pampa, in Rio Grande do Sul, made reference to Lula’s meeting last week with journalists in which the president stated that there were “many people from the Armed Forces inside here colluding” with the coup attacks on January 8.

The general said that statements of this type do not pacify the country or the military environment.

“A President of the Republic, supreme commander of the Armed Forces, who goes to the press to say that he does not trust his Armed Forces, knows right away that no general will call a press conference to respond to the offense. So, that is an act of profound cowardice. Because he knows no one will answer.”

Etchegoyen also said he saw an “old technique of looking for culprits, of finding someone to pay the duck for it”. “It will not be by having accusations or listening to insults from the supreme commander that he will have the respect of the Armed Forces. It is my opinion.”

He also stated that the Forces are based on hierarchy and discipline and will not break their criteria to counter criticism. “I’m saying this because I’m in the reserve. I’m not speaking on behalf of anyone,” said the general.

When the Federal Supreme Court annulled Lula’s convictions and returned his political rights, in 2021, Etchegoyen wrote an article criticizing the decision and stating that the measure destabilized the country.

Lula, this Wednesday (18), said that the government’s intelligence service “did not exist” to prevent the attack and that members of the Armed Forces who want to do politics must take off their uniform and resign from their position.

“The Armed Forces are not the moderating power they think they are,” he said on the last 12th.