Lula will not forgive coup attacks, says Múcio – 01/22/2023 – Politics

One day after conducting the change of command of the Army, the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, said this Sunday (22) to Sheet that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) does not waive the punishment of those responsible for the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Three Powers, which took place two weeks ago, on the 8th.

According to Múcio, there is no way to prevent the investigations. “Lula will not forgive coup attacks. Investigations go to the end.”

When talking about the reasons that led to the resignation of the former commander of the Army, Júlio César de Arruda, Múcio stated that there had been a breach of trust.

“The climate of trust ended and we decided to change the command”, he justifies. He was chosen for the position of the current military commander of the Southeast (responsible for São Paulo), General Tomás Miguel Miné Ribeiro Paiva.

The general would not be able to break down internal resistance to investigations into the participation of military personnel and relatives in the anti-democratic acts that culminated in the attack on Congress, the Planalto Palace and the STF (Federal Supreme Court).

Lula’s allies claim that the attacks on the headquarters of the Three Powers offered him the opportunity — perhaps the only one — to reinforce his authority over the Armed Forces in the midst of a climate of mutual distrust and hostility.

The president, they say, would not like to travel to Argentina this Sunday (22nd), without having effected the change of command of the Army.

For these interlocutors, the omission of the military in the face of the depredations of January 8 and the investigations against the former aide-de-camp of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, embarrass Bolsonarists inside the barracks, creating the right environment for Lula to try to quell the opposition in the generalship.

The reluctance of the then army commander to reverse the appointment of former aide-de-camp Bolsonaro to command a battalion, even under investigation, allowed Lula to review the choice of the general himself.

In December 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cesar Barbosa Cid —Bolsonaro’s assistant— was assigned to command a battalion in Goiânia.

But, as revealed by Sheet in September, the Federal Police found messages on his phone that raised suspicions about financial transactions made in the Presidency’s office.

On Friday (20), when the Metrópoles portal also reported details of the investigation, Lula asked that Cid be exonerated. According to sources at the Palace, Arruda refused to follow the guidance – this being the last straw for his resignation.

On Saturday morning (21st), around 6:40 am, Lula telephoned Múcio requesting that Cid’s nomination for the command of a battalion neighboring Brasília should not be carried out.

After hearing repeated complaints from Lula, Múcio said, according to reports, that he would put an end to the problem. The Minister of Defense then telephoned Arruda to inform him of the dismissal. Still according to these reports, the general warned that he would summon the General Staff, which occurred hours later.

The call for generalship was received by palace advisers as an attempt by Arruda to seek support among his peers, which did not happen, in addition to embodying a veiled threat.

Made still in the morning, this summons was also a surprise for five generals who reported to the Sheetwith reservation, that they believed that the worst moment of the crisis had already passed.

At the meeting, according to reports, Arruda was not clear about the reasons for his dismissal. He said it was strange that his fall occurred one day after participating in meetings considered relevant for the future of the Force.

Arruda also justified the hastily convening the meeting to the generals, stating that he would undergo surgery on Saturday afternoon.

The Army High Command should meet again on Monday (23) for a first conversation with the new commander, General Tomás Paiva.

In the opinion of the Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Wellington Dias, Arruda’s permanence could represent a “confused message” for the troops and for civil society.

Also according to the minister, there would be a risk that the problem would persist if Lula did not take action now. The minister claims that Lula made the choice for Arruda “trusting what is expected of the Armed Forces” and cannot have this disagreement. “The president cannot lose authority, he will not lose the prerogative won by voting,” said the minister.

And he justified: “If it’s not easy when everyone is in the same direction, in love, imagine when there’s one pulling one way and one to the other”.

On Saturday night, the president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), said on the networks that Lula acted firmly to guarantee the Constitution and the prerogatives of commander of the Armed Forces. “The former Army commander’s behavior characterized inadmissible insubordination in the face of threats to democracy and the Force’s partisanship,” she published.

The president of the PSB, Carlos Siqueira, said that the replacement was necessary and correct. For Siqueira, the choice of the new commander, General Tomás Miguel Paiva, which was equally correct, “fell on an excellent cadre of our Army, who has a very clear understanding of the role of State of our Armed Forces”.

Siqueira recognizes the possibility of impact on the relationship with the Armed Forces. “But there was no other option, since the demand for discipline is indispensable in exercising command of the Forces and in military life. It is never too much to remember that the President of the Republic is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces”, he emphasizes.

According to the president of the PSB, “discipline is the cornerstone of the proper functioning of the Forces”.

The president of União Brasil, Luciano Bivar, says that, at the beginning of governments, adjustments are absolutely normal, “since the President of the Republic, by constitutional precepts, is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and he is responsible for of any of his assistants”, ranging from the Ministry of Fisheries to the Minister of Defense”.

Bivar recalls that these changes are made in line with the portfolio holder. For Lula’s allies, this replacement gives the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, the chance to rehabilitate himself within the government, after having his performance criticized, especially in response to the coup threats that materialized on Sunday (8).

Múcio was chosen by Lula to officially announce the change in command of the Army. The head of the Institutional Security Office, General Marcos Edson Gonçalves Dias, was unaware of the decision.

Today subordinated to the GSI, Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) could be included by the Civil House, in a sign of weakening of G. Dias (as he is called), after the invasion of the Planalto Palace.