Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during the swearing-in ceremony of Tarciana Medeiros, the first woman to preside the Banco do Brasil, one of the country's main public banks, in Brasilia, Brazil, on January 16, 2023
PRESIDENT Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva fired Brazil’s army chief on Saturday, just days after warning that some military members had connived at the far-right January 8 uprising in Brasilia.
The official website of the Brazilian armed forces said General Julio Cesar de Arruda had been removed as head of the army. He was replaced by General Tomas Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, formerly head of the South-east Military Command.
Lula, who did not comment publicly on the firing, met with Defence Minister Jose Mucio, chief of staff Rui Costa and the new army commander in Brasilia at the end of the day.
Speaking to journalists afterward, Mr Mucio said the January 8 insurgency had caused “a fracture in the level of trust” in the army’s top levels and the government had decided a change was needed.
Lula has heavily criticised the military since supporters of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed through government buildings and destroyed public property in an attempt to keep Bolsonaro in office.
The uprising underlined a deep polarisation in Brazil between the left and right.
Lula said several times in public that there were definitely people in the army who allowed the rioting to occur, though he never cited General Arruda.
During a meeting with the press last week, Lula said that “a lot of people from the military police and the armed forces were complicit” and had allowed protesters to enter the buildings through open doors.
In another interview, the president said that “all the military involved in the coup attempt will be punished, no matter the rank.”
Rioters who stormed through the Brazilian Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court in Brasilia sought to have the military intervene and overturn Mr Bolsonaro’s loss to Lula in October’s presidential election.
In a video posted on social media from inside the presidential palace on the day of the attack, a colonel is seen trying to stop police from arresting Mr Bolsonaro’s supporters who had invaded the building. He asks for patience from the military police, which report to the federal district’s government.
More than a thousand people were arrested on the day of the riot and the morning after the disturbance.
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice earlier this month authorised adding Bolsonaro in its investigation into who incited the rioting in Brasilia as part of a broader move to hold those responsible to account.
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