Amid the worst crisis, Bolsonaro criticized the co …

From Rio de Janeiro

With the deadly pandemic remaining on a steep climb and with no solution in sight – on the contrary, collapse alarms are increasing throughout the health system – Brazil met the three new senior leaders of the armed forces on Wednesday after the resignation of the previous ones, highlighting the armed crisis of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

The appointment coincided with the 57th anniversary of the 1964 military coup, which Bolsonaro and the soldiers around him insist on calling a “redemptive revolution.” The most fanatical supporters of the ultra-right had announced “popular acts” in several Brazilian cities, notably Brasilia, claiming “a military intervention with Bolsonaro”. What has been seen are erratic manifestations of no real importance.

It also coincided with the highest score of covid-19 deaths in 24 hours: 3,869. That is 161 per hour. More than one every 30 seconds. Official data indicates that the pandemic has already killed 321,515 people.

These are tragic dimensions: only 5 percent of Brazil’s more than 5,100 municipalities have a population greater than the number of deaths from covid in a year.

Horror scenes are now emerging in San Pablo, the capital of South America’s richest state: vans originally used to transport schoolchildren now carry corpses to cemeteries.

Faced with this image of unlimited crisis, also this Wednesday the coordinating committee for the fight against the coronavirus, made up of the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, scientists, representatives of provincial governments and headed by the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, had their first meeting.

At the end, Bolsonaro spoke. And contrary to everything that had been agreed at the meeting, he once again severely criticized the isolation measures. He did so without a mask, clearly indicating his rejection of the recommendation to use it.

Analysts, observers and even seasoned politicians try to decipher the twists and turns of what happened Last Monday, when Bolsonaro brutally fired then defense minister, retired General Fernando Azevedo e Silva. A crisis comparable to that of 1977 was created, in the midst of the dictatorship, when then President General Ernesto Geisel toppled Silvio Frota, the ultra-reactionary minister who had opposed the opening.

There are strong and palpable indications of Bolsonaro’s irritation with Azevedo e Silva over his refusal to fire the then commander-in-chief of the army, General Edson Pujol, who in turn did not obey the orders. President’s demands to send messages of harsh condemnation to the Supreme Court: Federal Court for overturning the trial against Lula da Silva.

In the post of Azevedo e Silva, considered a conservative but who rejected the political use of the army as Bolsonaro wanted, another retired general, Walter Braga Netto, was appointed, who, unlike his predecessor , is much more than a conservative, is a real reactionary. Therefore, worthy of the presidential confidence.

Braga Netto, however, and in order not to further aggravate the active generals’ unease over the far-right president, has chosen to command the military, a name that has recently been the target of presidential fury. and his closest followers at the presidential palace, Paulo Sergio Nogueira.

The reason for this fury was statements by General Nogueira defending social isolation, the use of masks and other preventive measures which he said led to the registration of a considerably low number of coronavirus victims in barracks. He also said that, if the current situation is maintained, a third wave of covid-19 will cause further devastation of lives in the country.

That Bolsonaro silently swallowed Nogueira’s nomination would indicate, according to senior officials active in statements to the media on condition of anonymity, that he understood there was no space to politicize the barracks, yet less to adopt drastic measures against governors and mayors. which impose more or less severe isolation in their regions and municipalities.

In this way, if he does indeed intend – as he insinuates from time to time and has declared on certain occasions – to resort to the state of siege or, in extreme cases, to a coup d As a state, Bolsonaro would have no choice but to seek the support and action of junior officers, the militarized provincial police and the so-called “militia”, bands of matadors from the security forces.