Lula promotes general who appointed delegate investigated in the Marielle case

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) appointed General Richard Fernandez Nunes to the position of Chief of Staff of the Army, the second most important in the hierarchy. He will replace fellow general Fernando José Sant’ana Soares e Silva in the post.

Nunes is mentioned in the Federal Police (PF) report that led to the arrest, on Sunday (24), of the three alleged masterminds behind the death of councilwoman Marielle Franco in 2018, in Rio de Janeiro. At that time, the general had been appointed state Secretary of Public Security by the federal intervener, General Walter Braga Netto.

In the document, Nunes is cited as the person responsible for appointing Rivaldo Barbosa to head the Rio Civil Police (PC-RJ) days before Marielle’s murder. According to the PF, Barbosa would have helped organize the execution of the councilor, guaranteeing the criminals that the case would not be solved. He was arrested on Sunday (24) as a result of investigations.

The PF report shows that Rio de Janeiro’s undersecretary of Intelligence at the time, Fábio Galvão, opposed Barbosa’s appointment to head Rio’s Civil Police in March 2018 and prepared a contraindication document.

Upon receiving the contraindication, General Nunes would have assessed that it was not based on “objective data” and therefore “supported the appointment of Rivaldo in disregard of what had been recommended”, states the PF. Months later, in August 2018, Galvão was dismissed – there are suspicions that the reason for his departure was Barbosa’s contraindication.

In an interview with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, Nunes said he was perplexed by Barbosa’s arrest. “Of course, this arrest left me perplexed. How could something like this happen? It’s impressive. It’s jaw-dropping business. At that time, there was nothing that signaled something like that, something outrageous,” he said.

He also told the newspaper that there were elements to believe that both Barbosa and police chief Giniton Lages – responsible for conducting the crime at the Homicide Police Station and also being investigated as a participant in the murder – were working correctly to elucidate the crime.

Legalism and neutrality

Nunes also gained visibility among the public after the 2022 elections, as he was one of the army generals who declared himself against the pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations after the 2022 elections.

As reported by Sheetat the time, he was Military Commander of the Northeast and wrote a text on the Army’s blog in which he criticized nonconformity with the Army’s “traditional legalistic and neutral stance.”

In his text, he argues that this stance was generating “insults to long-time comrades, attacks on reputations typical of totalitarian regimes, ‘leaks’ of supposed information, dissemination of defamatory memes, all to try to achieve the cohesion of the Force”. Nunes also stated that, “sometimes, saying ‘no’ requires much more courage than aligning yourself with possible political pressures.”

The report from People’s Gazette He looked for General Nunes’ text on the Army Blog, but couldn’t find it.

Nunes’ promotion was published in the Official Gazette of the Union this Friday (29), but was carried out the day before, during the signing of the promotion of officers and changes in the forces held in President Lula’s office. Army commanders and Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro were present.