During the four years of Jair Bolsonaro's government, the media and experts on military issues tried in vain to find out the real support that the Army gave to his intentions to provoke a coup to prevent the return of the left.
There was a question as to whether the military gave credit to the captain, who in his youth had been expelled from the institution accused of attempted acts of terrorism within the barracks itself, or whether they used him to enter the Government and State structures. to reach charges.
In reality, Bolsonaro's placement of more than 6,000 soldiers within the government was seen as a way for the Army to return to rule without the need for a new coup.
However, during the four years of the administration of the extreme right with a vocation for a coup, it was not possible to know for sure whether or not the military would really support the coup always threatened by the retired captain.
Only now, thanks to an audio released by the journalist Carlos Alberto Jr in
Metropolis,
has the enigma been solved.
The audio is from the new commander of the Army, Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, appointed by Lula da Silva after the coup attempt on January 8 that led to the assault and destruction of the headquarters of the three State powers in Brasilia.
A few days before his appointment as the new head of the Army, Paiva had told his subordinates that Lula's victory at the polls was "undesirable" for the Armed Forces since, he stated: "Unfortunately it was the result that for most of us It was unwanted, but it happened."
Yes, the Army would have preferred the re-election of Bolsonaro and the vast majority did not want the return of Lula, which for them was the return of communism.
However, in that same audio the new Army general also says that "it cannot be said with certainty that there were irregularities" in the elections, although he admits with some ambiguity that "the process may have failures that must be analyzed, serious failures, but it cannot be said with certainty that there were irregularities”, which is why Lula's appointment had to be accepted.
It was certainly a speech with a certain ambiguity, but it made it clear that the majority of the Armed Forces were with Bolsonaro.
Hence, the question that the left and specifically a part of Lula's party, the PT, asks is why this general was chosen by Lula as the new head of the Army.
And Lula's delicate relationship with the military, which is like walking on eggs without breaking them, is being viewed with sympathy and respect so as not to create further friction.
Lula, in effect, is placing those considered by the least “legalistic” in key positions in the Army, even though they admit that they would have preferred Bolsonaro.
One of the first victories already achieved by Lula with his prudence in the appointments related to the Army is the announcement that General Paiva has just made that this year the military institution has prohibited the 31st of this month from being commemorated the anniversary of the military coup of 1964, which stopped being celebrated in 1995 and which was dusted off by Bolsonaro when he came to power, turning said anniversary into a rally with coup nostalgia.
On the last anniversary of the 1964 coup celebrated last year by Bolsonaro with open threats to democratic institutions, General Braga Neto, then head of the Defense Ministry, released a text stating that the 1964 military coup "strengthened democracy and He fought the anti-democratic ideals of the communist attempt”.
With all these precedents, Lula's attitude towards the Army, considered even by some of his own as dangerously risky, is being rather praised by the democratic forces.
Especially now that it is already known that the Army was betting on the re-election of the captain and that they would never have elected the old trade unionist who was falsely seen as the reincarnation of communism.
What is certain is that Lula's diplomatic attitude toward the military, appointing the most legalistic and least coup-minded to the new posts, is revealing every day as the most appropriate and perhaps the only possible one.
And the essential question is “what else could Lula do, knowing that the majority of the Army was betting on the re-election of the coup leader Bolsonaro?
Face them?
It would be suicide and a solution that does not fall within his already recognized prudence and political sagacity.
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