Lula seeks to appease military after 100 days and attacks – 04/11/2023 – Politics

The need to normalize and depoliticize the relationship with the military is seen by assistants of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) as one of the greatest challenges of the mandate.

The diagnosis —made since the election campaign— led Lula to call former TCU (Union Court of Auditors) minister José Múcio Monteiro a few days after the result of the second round. At the time, Lula told Múcio that he would need him in charge of the Ministry of Defense.

Múcio was one of the first officially announced holders of the Esplanada dos Ministérios. Since November, he has started working to build bridges between the PT and the top of the Armed Forces. The task was not easy: the then commander of the Navy, Almir Garnier Santos, refused to meet with Múcio.

Lula’s first hundred days were marked by a traumatic change in command of the Army, coup attacks on January 8 and a crisis over the future of Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) former assistant.

The balance of members of the government is that Lula, at the beginning of his term, initiated the depoliticization of the Armed Forces, managed to appease the relationship with the military and now wants to guarantee investments in the Defense industry as the main bet to improve the relationship with the barracks.

In Lula’s words, his main commitment to the Armed Forces is depoliticization. “I have the word of the three Forces that there will be a great effort to depoliticize the Armed Forces. You know, we are going to discuss it with the National Congress, we are interested in sending the bill, you know, saying that whoever wants to be candidate for something, go to reserve. What you cannot do is use the Armed Forces to do politics”, said the president in an interview with the Brasil 247 website.

The project that Lula is referring to was put together by Múcio and by the military commanders in a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that is currently under analysis at the Planalto Palace.

She is also one of the big bets of Múcio’s management at the head of Defense.

The minister told the Sheet that there were “many advances in relations between the government and the military” in the 100 days of government.

“On the depoliticization of the Armed Forces, the approval of the PEC suggested by the Ministry of Defense will be an important step in this direction. We count on the support of the parliamentarians”, he added.

An expected gesture of rapprochement is a meeting between Lula and the High Command of the Army and Air Force, scheduled for the return of the PT’s trip to China.

The Army, the Force that brought the most noise at the beginning of the government, will have a window of opportunity in April to restore a level of trust with Lula: in addition to the president’s lunch with generals, 6 of the 8 area commands should be modified, officially starting to the new management of Commander Tomás Paiva.

The main point of tension in those 100 days of government was precisely the departure of the former army commander, General Júlio Cesar de Arruda, which culminated in the appointment of Paiva.

The fall occurred in the midst of a crisis of confidence that had two main points: the attacks on January 8 in Brasília and the promotion of Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former assistant, to command an elite troop battalion in Goiania (GO).

Nonconformity with Bolsonaro’s defeat among a portion of his voters, with requests for military intervention, triggered coup attacks of invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the three Powers.

At the time, PT members and Lula’s allies blamed part of the acts on the Minister of Defense, who had been advocating the gradual and negotiated demobilization of Bolsonarist camps set up in front of barracks across the country. Múcio went through intense frying, until the president publicly expressed his confidence in the head of Defense and said he would not dismiss him.

“Who puts in a minister and takes out a minister is the President of the Republic. I brought Zé Múcio here, he will continue to be my minister, because I trust him”, said Lula at breakfast with journalists, four days after the acts. scammers.

In addition to the pressure in the face of coup acts, there was discomfort in the Planalto Palace with the promotion of Mauro Cid to command the 1st Battalion of Command Actions, in Goiânia. Lula’s allies had been trying to reverse it, but there was resistance from Arruda, then commander of the Army.

The fact that Cid was investigated by the Federal Police for suspicious transactions carried out by him during the period when he was Bolsonaro’s assistant, as revealed by the government, caused discomfort in the government. Sheet.

Arruda did not comply with the order to revert Cid’s nomination, given by Múcio at Lula’s request. Thus, 20 days after his appointment, the general was dismissed and the Minister of Defense appointed Tomás Paiva in his place.

Paiva, still the military commander of the Southeast, had given a speech in São Paulo defending the troop that the result of the polls be respected, regardless of the president who is in office.

The video circulated among authorities and served to endorse his move to the High Command.

Days later, an audio of the general was made public in which he tells his subordinates that Lula’s electoral victory was unwanted by the majority of the military.

“It is not possible to say with certainty that there was any type of irregularity [na eleição]. Sadly, it was the result that, for most of us, was unwanted, but it happened,” she said.

The statement, given to officers of the Southeast Military Command, brought wear and tear to the general, but it was not enough to remove him from his post.

Also in an attempt to rebuild the bridges, Lula signaled to the commanders of the Armed Forces that he will make an effort to increase investments in the Industrial Defense Base.

The president appointed Múcio, the vice president and Minister of Development, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and former BNDES president Luciano Coutinho to create a recovery plan for defense companies.

The initial focus will be on rebuilding Avibras —a company in the aerospace sector that is undergoing judicial recovery.