MADRID, 21 Jan. (.) –
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has dismissed the commander of the Army, General Júlio César de Arruda, apparently due to his differences with the Government over the fate of a colonel considered to be close to former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Arruda’s replacement will be the current commander of the Southeast military region, General Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, according to the Brazilian newspaper ‘Estadao’. The Army has confirmed the dismissal, but has not given any specific reason.
On Friday, Arruda participated in a meeting with the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, and the commanders of the Navy and the Air Force, in which there was reportedly a strong tension due to the Government’s intention to annul the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cesar. Barbosa Cid, as commander of a battalion in Goiania. The one known as ‘Coronel Cid’ is considered very close to Bolsonaro.
The Metropole portal reported on Friday that the Federal Supreme Court is investigating Cid and financial and in-kind transactions carried out on behalf of Bolsonaro and the former first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro.
Paiva has condemned the assault on the headquarters of the three public powers on January 8 in Brasilia. “We are going to continue guaranteeing our democracy because democracy presupposes freedom and individual and public guarantees. It is the regime of the people, of the alternation of power, it is the vote, it is when the people vote and the result of the polls must be respected,” he said after the assault.
Arruda would have prevented the entry of military police into the Bolsonaro camp located for weeks before the Army Headquarters that was the origin of the assault on the three powers.
