Bolsonaro Taps General Azevedo e Silva for Brazil Defense Minister

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president-elect in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, announced today (Tuesday, November 13th), through social media, the name of Army General Fernando Azevedo e Silva for the post of Defense Minister.

“Good morning! I would like to communicate to all of you the nomination of General-of-the-Army Fernando Azevedo e Silva for the post of Defense Minister,” wrote Bolsonaro on Twitter.

The position was initially planned to be occupied by General Augusto Heleno. A week ago, however, Bolsonaro confirmed the name of Augusto Heleno for the Office of Institutional Security.

Azevedo e Silva was Chief of Staff of the Army and commander of the Parachute Brigade before going to the reserve. Currently, the general is special adviser in the office of the presidency of the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Azevedo e Silva was declared an officer of the Infantry Weapon on December 14, 1976. He was commander of the Parachute Infantry Brigade (from 2007 to 2009) and then commander of the Army’s Physical Training Center (2009 to 2011).

After that he was director of the Department of Military Sports and president of the Military Sports Commission of Brazil of the Ministry of Defense (2012). Azevedo e Silva was then president of the Olympic Authority (from 2013 to 2015) and military commander of the East, in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016.

The general was also an athlete of the Teams of the Armed Forces of Volleyball and Skydiving. He participated in the Brazilian Championships (children and youth), the Brazilian Student Games (JEBs), the Military World Championship of the International Military Sports Council, among others.

Azevedo e Silva is the sixth minister announced by the future Bolsonaro government. So far, the president-elect has already stated: Augusto Heleno (Institutional Security); Marcos Pontes (Science and Technology); Paulo Guedes (Economics); Sérgio Moro (Justice and Public Security); and Tereza Cristina (Agriculture).

In the current government there are 29 ministries, but the president-elect has already said he intends to reduce the number to fifteen.