RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Despite his increasingly frequent recourse to members of the Armed Forces, President Jair Bolsonaro, influenced by his children, is annoyed by the prominence garnered by military Ministers appointed as “guardians” and “firefighters” of a government that is piling up crises.
For Bolsonaro, the uniformed aides get the credit for what he considers “positive aspects” of his administration, while he and civilian aides aligned with the ideological discourse are attacked.
Bolsonaro supposedly has demanded that Ministers speak out publicly against reports citing criticism from the military.
Currently, three Generals have a seat in the Planalto Palace: Walter Braga Netto, Minister of State Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Luiz Eduardo Ramos, Minister of the Government Secretariat, and Augusto Heleno, Minister of Institutional Security (GSI). The trio worked to circumvent the crises involving the ex-Ministers of Justice Sérgio Moro and Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta and Nelson Teich, who left the portfolio on Friday.
On Tuesday, May 12th, the military Ministers trio gave a statement in the inquiry launched by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to investigate Moro’s allegations that Bolsonaro tried to interfere in the Federal Police. Moro said the three had been willing to discuss with the President in an attempt to find a consensus on replacing Mauricio Valeixo in charge of the force.
According to people close to the President, the crises were used to monitor the reactions and positions of his aides from the Armed Forces. According to reports, there is a cross-check of what comes out in the press and internal moves in an attempt to trace sources.
On April 25th, the President’s son, Rio City Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro, publicly complained on Twitter with a hint at the military. In the post, he attached a report from Estadão entitled: “Moro’s Exit and change in PF command bear the fingerprints of City Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro”.
“Have you noticed that everything that looks bad at first glance from the public the press will say that I am involved, and everything that looks good will be attributed to a particular ‘wing’? Someone really believes that supporting Bolsonaro and not getting daily criticism from the press is not, to say the least, incoherent,” wrote the City Councilor.
According to sources close to the President’s son, he is convinced that the press release of the “hate bureau” – the name assigned to the group of advisors who are linked to Carlos and operate in Bolsonaro’s social networks – has had the involvement of the President’s military aides, who intend to lessen their influence on the government’s communication.
“I wonder if they think that no one has noticed that the press does for this group exactly what it says a ‘hate bureau’ does for the President, only in this instance with a gigantic and legitimate structure, truly capable of killing reputations because it speaks under the institution’s mantra?”, attacked Carlos.
The message from Bolsonaro’s son #2 was further bolstered by the President’s questions to military Ministers as to why they did not challenge news reports of the military wing’s criticism of him. Despite the inconvenience, Bolsonaro continues to resort to the Armed Forces to fill positions. He claims that military training guarantees ethics and commitment to the job, but another motivation is that with no party and no qualified cadres around him, he has trouble finding names for key positions.
Disputes
On the same day that Carlos criticized the military wing, the Chief Minister of the Government Secretariat, Luiz Eduardo Ramos, challenged a report from Estadão on Twitter that disclosed that General-officers had privately considered that the President would not regain political capital after Moro’s departure from the government.
“None of us: Heleno, Fernando, Braga Netto and Rêgo Barros said this,” he wrote.
General Heleno, head of the GSI, also challenged a report in Veja magazine on social media, denying that the Generals have watched Moro’s video in order to “prepare a deposition” to the Federal Police. “I didn’t align my version to anyone,” he said.
Daily, the President typically sends links to reports and files of the country’s major newspapers to his assistants in the early hours of the morning and demands explanations. One of his most frequent complaints is that he often finds out from the press what is going on in his government.
On May 5th, to defend himself against Moro’s claims that he tried to politically interfere in the PF, Bolsonaro showed his cell phone with an excerpt from his conversation with the ex-Minister. At the time it was noted that on April 23rd the President forwarded links from Estadão and Folha de S.Paulo to Moro with the following words: “Wake up adequately misinformed”.
On that day, Estadão’s headline was about the Pró-Brasil (Pro-Brazil) program, announced by the Chief of Staff of the Presidency without the endorsement of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes: “Military wing demands works; Guedes’ team says there are no funds”. Moro replied: “The press is not easy.”
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo