RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A group of military reserve officers issued a statement supporting the Minister of Institutional Security (GSI), General Augusto Heleno, who spoke of “unforeseeable consequences” should President Jair Bolsonaro be forced to hand over his cell phone for investigation into his alleged interference in the Federal Police (PF).
In the statement, the retired military officers – all of whom were (like Heleno) members of the Agulhas Negras Military Academy [Brazil’s West Point] Class of 1971 – alert to an extreme scenario of “civil war”. They say that “decency” and “patriotism” are lacking among the Federal Supreme Court (STF) justices.
“Thus, they create insecurity and instability in the country, with a serious risk of institutional crisis leading to an unforeseeable outcome, perhaps a civil war in the worst-case scenario”.
Bolsonaro is the subject of an STF inquiry, in which he was accused by ex-Minister Sérgio Moro of interfering in the Federal Police. The released video of a cabinet meeting held April 22nd will be used as evidence to assess whether the President’s interference in the force’s Rio de Janeiro command was intended to prevent issues with his friends and family, which would constitute an abuse of his administrative powers.
The statement is signed by dozens of reserve military officers. Among them is General Luiz Eduardo Rocha Paiva, a member of Brazil’s Amnesty Commission.
Paiva explained that the term “civil war” is the last scenario in the event that the conflict with the judiciary is not resolved before an “institutional crisis” and a “social upheaval”. But he said this “prospect” can and should be prevented first.
Institutional crisis and social upheaval
According to Paiva, “General Heleno’s position was understandable, since there is conflict between the [governmental] branches, with the Judiciary fully interfering in the Executive Branch.”
Paiva adds: “This upsets the balance between Branches. If there is conflict between branches, it may lead to an institutional crisis and social upheaval. There is strong interference, mainly by Justices Celso de Mello and Alexandre de Moraes.”
In the statement, the military officers said, “Hold it right there, STF ‘justices’!” The group discredits the legal training of some justices, as many were attorneys rather than career judges, before being appointed to the post. [The Federal Constitution does not, however, require STF justices to have served as magistrates.
According to the military officers, the Supreme Court justices are a “gang of [political] protégés”.
“I am grateful, moved, for the support of my dear friends in the Marshal Castello Branco-AMAN-1971 Class. The radical left suffers from a coup syndrome, theorizes and reads poorly. I did not mention names, nor the Armed Forces, much less [the Constitution’s] Article 142. I spoke of institutional security, which interests Brazilians of good will.”
— General Heleno (@gen_heleno) May 24th, 2020
Quoted in the document, general will not sign statement
General Paulo Chagas, who was subject to a search and seizure ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes in an inquiry launched at the behest of Presiding Justice Dias Toffoli, is quoted in the statement. However, he stated that he will not sign the document.
First, he said he would not sign a statement in support of himself. Second, he feels that the terms could be different.
“The terms could be about our support for his [General Heleno’s] attempt to pacify the country,” Chagas explained. According to him, Heleno does not need “solidarity” because “he is not being threatened”.
Read the full statement below:
SOLIDARITY TO GENERAL AUGUSTO HELENO RIBEIRO PEREIRA
We, officers of the Brazilian Army reserve, members of the Marshal Castello Branco Class of 1971, graduated from the “SACRED HOUSE” of the Agulhas Negras Military Academy and comrades from the seats of the military schools who, although having taken different paths, share the same ideals, have come to publicly extend the fullest, total and unreserved solidarity with GENERAL AUGUSTO HELENO RIBEIRO PEREIRA, Chief Minister of the Institutional Security Office of the Presidency of the Republic, not only with respect to his Note to the Brazilian Nation, which he issued on May 22nd, 2020, but also with respect to his leadership, his irreproachable conduct as a military officer, as a citizen and as a Minister of State.
Hold it right there, STF “justices”!
We have been following the news on social media (because, with very few exceptions, the news on TV, newspapers and radios is biased, dishonest, untruthful and villainous, as the Honourable President rightly asserts), the repeated arbitrariness, which borders on illegality and dishonesty, practiced by this gang of protégés who were raised to the status of STF justices, most of whom without even having passed qualifying examinations for lower court judgeships.
We witnessed, quietly and respecting the preservation of peace in the country, the violent arbitrariness of search and seizure, by order of of two colluding “justices”, committed against General Paulo Chagas, a classmate. But the silence of the good has encouraged the misplaced deeds of the wicked, who mistake respect and the attempt to avoid contributing to disrupt the national environment with blind obedience to “authorities” or conformity to their demands. We have learned early on that nonsensical and illegal orders should not be obeyed.
There is no need to list the misplaced, illegal, unjust, arbitrary, violent interferences against the President of the Republic, his Ministers and upright citizens, while convicts are released, the computer and cell phone of the attacker of the then candidate Jair Bolsonaro are protected by the stroke of a pen, lacking any legal basis, but merely by the whim of some Justice.
Enough!
A judge who once offended – and/or daily offends with arbitrary rulings and decisions in violation of the law – too easily grants pardons.
He pardons, supports, sets free and defends criminals, but wants to show power and arrogance at the expense of good people and legitimately-appointed authorities. For this reason we see a thief, corrupt and convicted, walking around Europe speaking ill of Brazil. Less harm has been done to the country by the corrupt ‘mensalão’ and ‘petrolão’, the corrupt leftists and their minions, than by the wicked judges who, today, are undermining the nation’s justice and taking a political stand as the lackeys of their appointers, red minions and unpatriotic peddlers.
The indelible mark of the nobility of the human soul is justice and the feeling of justice. STF Justices, although not all, lack nobility, decency, dignity, honor, patriotism and a sense of justice. Thus, they cause insecurity and instability in the country, with a serious risk of institutional crisis with an unforeseeable outcome, perhaps, in the worst case scenario, a civil war. But those who believe they are Gods of the Olympus believe they are untouchable and greater than anything and anyone, savoring lobster and sipping noble wines; conceit and power blind them to common sense and greatness.
We are in the reserve of the ranks of our Army. Not all our reflexes are the same as those of our youth. We no longer possess the youthfulness of the junior officers of the time, but we nevertheless preserve, in maturity and conscience, the patriotism, the feeling of duty, the enthusiasm and the greater commitment undertaken before the Flag, to protect the Institutions, the honor, the law and the order of Brazil with the sacrifice of one’s own life. This commitment has no expiration date; ad eternum.
Brasília, May 23rd, 2020.
Sign (names listed in alphabetical order):
Adonai de Ávila Camargo Infantry Colonel
Alvarim Pires do Couto Filho Infantry Colonel
Álvaro Vieira Military Engineer Colonel
Altimelio Silva Pinheiro Homem Infantry Colonel
Alzelino Ferreira da Silva. Communications Colonel
Amaury Faia Infantry Colonel
Anquises Paulo Stori Paquete Infantry Colonel
Antônio Carlos Gay Thomé Military Engineer Colonel
Antônio Carlos da Silva Portela Brigade General
Antônio Ferreira Sobrinho Artillery Colonel
Augusto Cesar Lobão Moreira Prosecutor
Carlos Alberto Dias Vieira Engineer
Carlos Alberto Zanatta Military Engineer Colonel
Carlos Augusto da Costa Brown Infantry Colonel
Carlos Soares Colonel Military Engineer
Celso Bueno da Fonseca Cavalry Colonel
Chacur Roberto Jorge Warfare Material Major
Claudio Eustaquio Duarte Infantry Colonel
Dalton Domingues Warfare Board Colonel
Décio Machado Borba Junior Infantry Colonel
Edson Pires dos Santos Infantry Colonel
Edu Antunes Infantry Colonel
Eduardo de Carvalho Ferreira Board of Warfare Material Colonel
Eduardo José Navarro Bacellar Communications Colonel
Eliasar de Oliveira Almeida Artillery Colonel
Emilio Wagner Kourrouski Cavalry Colonel
Ênio Antonio Alves dos Anjos Communications Colonel
Fernando Francisco Vieira Artillery Major
Fernando Freire Infantry Colonel
Francisco José da Cunha Pires Soeiro Engineer Colonel
Fernando Ruy Ramos Santos Quartermaster Colonel
Francisco de Assis Alvarez Marques Artillery Colonel
Gabriel Cruz Pires Ribeiro Communications Colonel
Genino Jorge Cosendey Engineering Colonel
Gilberto Machado da Rosa Engineering Colonel
Ivanio Jorge Fialho Quartermaster Colonel
Jeová Ferreira Rocha Board of Warfare Material Colonel
Johnson Bertoluci Engineering Colonel
João Cunha Neto Infantry Colonel
João Henrique Pereira Allemand Communications Colonel
João Vicente Barboza Infantry Colonel
Jorge Alberto Durgante Colpo Artillery Colonel
Jorge Cosendey Engineering Colonel
José Benedito Figueiredo Artillery Colonel
José Carlos Abdo Engineering Colonel
José Eurico Andrade Neves Cavalry Colonel
José Rossi Morelli Engineering Colonel
Josias Dutra Moura Quartermaster Colonel
Julio Joaquim da Costa Lino Dunham
Juarez Antônio da Silva Infantry Colonel
Lincoln Ungaretti Branco Infantry Colonel
Luiz Antônio Gonzaga Artillery Colonel
Luiz Dionisio Aramis de Mattos Vieira Cavalry Colonel
Luiz Eduardo Rocha Paiva Brigade General
Manoel Francisco Nunes Gomes Infantry Colonel
Marcio Visconti Cavalry Colonel
Mark Antônio Cunha Infantry Colonel
Marino Luiz da Rosa Communications Colonel
Nelson Gomes Engineering Colonel
Moacir Klapouch Colonel of Intendence
Nilton Nunes Ramos Infantry Colonel
Nilton Pinto France Artillery Colonel
Norberto Lopes da Cruz Infantry Colonel
Osiris Hernandez de Barros Cavalry Colonel
Pascoal Bernardino Rosa Vaz Cavalry Colonel
Paulo Cesar Alves Schutt Infantry Colonel
Paulo César Fonseca Infantry Colonel
Paulo Goulart dos Santos Infantry Colonel
Paulo Sérgio de Carvalho Alvarenga Military Engineers Board Colonel
Paulo Sérgio do Nascimento Silva Infantry Colonel
Pedro Sérgio Chagas da Silva Warfare Material Board Colonel
Pedro Paulo da Silva Infantry Colonel
Renan Coelho Caldeira Quartermaster Colonel
Renato César do Nascimento Santana Infantry Colonel
Roberto Barbosa Infantry Colonel
Robert Henriques entrepreneur
Ronald Wall Barbosa de Carvalho Engineer and entrepreneur
Rubens Vieira Melo Artillery Colonel
Rui Antônio Siqueira Infantry Colonel
Sebastião Célio de Aquino Almeida Quartermaster Colonel
Sérgio Afonso Alves Neto Artillery Colonel
Sérgio Antônio Leme Dias Attorney and Professor
Siloir José Soccal Quartermaster Colonel
Téo Oliveira Borges Infantry Colonel
Tércio Azambuja Cavalry Colonel
Tiago Augusto Mendes de Melo Artillery Colonel
Tulio Cherem Army General
Vanildo Braga Vilela Engineering Colonel
Vicente Wilson Moura Gaeta Quartermaster Colonel
Waldir Roberto Gomes Mattos Infantry Colonel
Walter Paulo Brigade General
Willard Faria Familiar Infantry Colonel
Zenilson Ferreira Alves Artillery Colonel