Brazil military chiefs quit as Bolsonaro seeks their support
The leaders of all three branches of Brazil’s armed forces jointly resigned Tuesday following President Jair Bolsonaro’s replacement of the defense minister, causing widespread apprehension of a military shakeup to serve the president’s political interests.
The Defense Ministry reported the resignations — apparently unprecedented since at least the end of military rule 36 years ago — in a statement released without giving reasons. Replacements were not named. But analysts expressed fears the president, increasingly under pressure, was moving to assert greater control over the military.
“Since 1985, we haven’t had news of such clear intervention of the president with regard to the armed forces,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.
Bolsonaro, a conservative former army captain who has often praised Brazil’s former period of military dictatorship, has relied heavily on current and former soldiers to staff key Cabinet positions since taking office in January 2019, but Melo said the military itself has so far refrained from politics.
“Will this resistance continue? That’s the question,” Melo said.
The announcement came after the heads of the army, navy and air force met with the new defense minister, Gen. Walter Souza Braga Netto, on Tuesday morning.
Braga Netto’s first statement on the new job showed he is alligned with Bolsonaro’s views for the armed forces. The incoming defense minister, unlike his predecessor, celebrated the 1964-1985 military dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands of Brazilians.
“The armed forces ended taking the responsibility of pacifying the country, facing the challenges to reorganize it and secure the democratic liberties that today we enjoy,” said Braga Netto, who did not discuss the departure of the military chiefs. “The 1964 movement is part of Brazil’s historic trajectory. And as such the events of that March 31st must be understood and celebrated.”
‘Embarrassing’
A retired army general who has a relationship with the three commanders as well as with Braga Netto told The Associated Press that “there was an embarrassing circumstance so they all resigned.” He agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, expressing fear of retribution.
Bolsonaro on Monday carried out a shake-up of top Cabinet positions that was initially seen as a response to demands for a course correction by lawmakers, diplomats and economists, particularly over his handling of the pandemic that has caused more than 300,000 deaths in Brazil.
That included the replacement of Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva, who said in his resignation letter that he had “preserved the armed forces as state institutions,” a nod at his effort to keep generals out of politics.
Bolsonaro has often bristled at the checks and balances imposed by other branches of government and has attended protests targeting the Supreme Court and Congress.
He has also criticized the Supreme Court for upholding local governments’ rights to adopt pandemic restrictions that he adamantly opposes, arguing that the economic effects are worse than the disease itself.
His recent slide in popularity, and the sudden likelihood that he will face leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the 2022 presidential election, has analysts saying he is looking to the armed forces for support.
Retired Gen. Carlos Alberto Santos Cruz, who previously served as Bolsonaro’s government secretary, appeared to refer to such concerns when he responded to early rumors of military resignations with a tweet saying, “THE ARMED FORCES WON’T GO ON AN ADVENTURE.”
Keeping a distance
Since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, the armed forces have tried to keep a distance from partisan political quarrels.
“The government has to give explanations to the population about the change in the Defense Ministry,” Santos Cruz added.