Lula’s government appoints 121 new soldiers to the GSI amid a crisis of confidence – 01/30/2023 – Politics

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) appointed this Monday (30) 121 military personnel to the Institutional Security Office, reversing the series of dismissals in the body that followed the coup acts of January 8

That is, in practice, the Lula government indicates that it will carry out a replacement of the military personnel who worked at the GSI during the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and not exactly a demilitarization of the body, as was once considered.

In addition to these exchanges, there was the appointment of an Air Force lieutenant to the Extraordinary Secretariat for Immediate Security of the President of the Republic, in his personal office. And two other military personnel were dismissed from the same secretariat.

The designations of the 122 soldiers were published this Monday (30) in the Official Gazette.

The Lula government had started a series of dismissals of military personnel who worked inside the Planalto Palace, including the presidency, the vice-presidency and the GSI itself. These actions were intensified after the coup demonstration, in which supporters of Jair Bolsonaro advanced against the security forces and invaded and vandalized the Planalto, the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court.

In just one week, 84 soldiers were dismissed from their positions in Planalto, most of them in the GSI. Lula also changed the body’s number 2. Bolsonarist general Carlos José Russo Assumpção Penteado was exonerated from office, who was considered a trusted man of the former head of the GSI in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, General Augusto Heleno.

In his place, general Ricardo José Nigri took over as executive secretary of the GSI, who was once a cabinet officer for former army commander Eduardo Villas Bôas.

The new nominees for the GSI will all work in Lula’s security, more specifically in the body’s Secretariat for Security and Presidential Coordination. There will be nine military personnel who acted as supervisors, 28 as assistants, 23 as secretaries and 57 as specialists.

The GSI and its head, General Gonçalves Dias, became the target of criticism from allies because of the ease with which the military coup leaders entered and vandalized the Planalto Palace. Defense Minister José Múcio was also criticized by PT members. The sequence of suspicions involving the military led to the fall of the Army commander, General Júlio César Arruda.

Mistrust of the GSI, a body that became closely linked to the president during the Bolsonaro administration, dates back to the transitional cabinet. At the time, it was decided that Lula’s personal security would pass from the body to the Federal Police.