Military crisis in Brazil: for the first time in history, the entire leadership of the armed forces has resigned

The heads of the Brazilian army, navy and air force resigned on Tuesday, one day after the president, Jair Bolsonaro, announced six changes in his cabinet, including the departure of the Minister of Defense.

The massive replacement of the three military leaders it is an unprecedented fact and was interpreted as a response to gestures of solidarity with the general Fernando Azevedo e Silva, who left the Ministry of Defense on Monday in the midst of the dismissal or replacement procedure of six of the 23 government ministers.

The replacement of commanders Edson pujol (Army), Barbosa Islands (Marina) and Antonio Carlos Bermuda (Aeronautics) was decided at a meeting in Brasilia “with the presence of the Ministry of Defense, Braga Netto, and the former minister, Fernando AzevedoThe portfolio announced in a press release.

Azevedo e Silva did not say whether his departure from Defense was the product of a resignation or decided by Bolsonaro, an army reserve captain who relied on the military to rule, although in recent months he has had friction with the armed forces, who reject their denial in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since Monday, in the military media, it has been assured that the three heads of the armed forces were ready to “Make their positions available” after the departure of Azevedo e Silva.

However, the Defense Ministry itself only reported in an official note that “will be replaced“And stressed that the decision”has been communicated” in meeting that the three high commanders had this Tuesday with General Walter Braga Netto, until now Minister of the Presidency and who will assume the post occupied by Azevedo e Silva.

With that, Bolsonaro must name replacements for Admiral Ilques Barbosa Junior, of the navy; Brigadier Antonio Carlos Moretti, Air Force, and General Eduardo Pujol, Army, with whom he had had various friction in recent months.

This Monday, amid strong pressure from his more moderate political base, Bolsonaro announced changes in six ministries, among which were, in addition to defense, other strategies, such as external relations and justice.

In the chancellery, Ernesto Araújo has left office, a diplomat aligned with the thought of Bolsonaro and who will be replaced by the ambassador Carlos Alberto Franco France, an inexperienced diplomat but considered more moderate and with a spirit of negotiation.

The post of Minister of Justice will be occupied by Anderson Gustavo Torres, a police commissioner close to Bolsonaro and who supports the president’s efforts to relax the sale of arms to civilians, in order to promote “self-defense” against crime.

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