With general at Petrobras, military commands one-third of state companies in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL –  General Joaquim Silva e Luna, appointed to Petrobras, will be the 17th military in charge of Brazil’s state-owned companies. Luna was Defense Minister in the last year of President Michel Temer’s administration and has been general director of Itaipu Binacional since early 2019, the first year of the Bolsonaro administration.

Should the appointment of a reserve general to the presidency of Petrobras be confirmed, the military will be in charge of over one-third of state-owned companies directly controlled by the federal government.

A survey shows that, out of 46 state companies, 16 are chaired by the military in Jair Bolsonaro’s government. General Joaquim Silva e Luna, appointed to Petrobras, would be the 17th.

Luna was Defense Minister in the last year of Michel Temer’s administration and has been general director of Itaipu Binacional since early 2019, the first year of the Bolsonaro administration.

Companies run by uniformed and former uniformed officers manage essential areas in the country, such as university hospital administration, mail and parcel shipping, nuclear energy, port administration, and research project financing.

Should Luna be confirmed as Petrobras’ CEO, oil production and refining will also be in a military officer’s hands, which had not occurred since the late 1980s.

Leadership by members of the Armed Forces – and the State Police, as is the case of the president of CEAGESP (São Paulo General Warehouse and Distribution Company) – goes beyond state companies directly controlled by the federal government.

Reserve General Antonio Carlos Krieger is the CEO of Eletrosul, a subsidiary of Eletrobras. At Telebras, three directors working closely with the president are military.

The Bolsonaro government appointed another general to lead Itaipu Binacional in Luna’s place, retired general João Francisco Ferreira. Itaipu does not meet the technical criteria of a state-owned company, but rather of a binational company, managed jointly by Brazil and Paraguay.

Ferreira was retired in May 2018, having reached the age limit to be in the reserve. He is from Luna’s 1972 class at AMAN (Agulhas Negras Military Academy), the institution that trains Army officers, similar to West Point in the US.

Bolsonaro is from the 1977 class. To appoint the retired general as Itaipu’s CEO, the president asked the military what Ferreira’s class had been.

The retired officer has lived in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, for over five years, since his retirement, and has not held any position in the federal government since then. In the 2018 transition, he was considered for government positions, but was not appointed.

The last time the military led Petrobras was in the late 1980s, during the government of President José Sarney. The chairmen were Navy and Air Force officers. The last army officer to head the state-owned company was in the 1970s, during the military dictatorship.

The most recent reports from the Ministry of the Economy show that there are 46 state-owned companies under the direct control of the federal government, of which 19 are dependent on government funds and 27 are independent. The complete list of state companies totals 197.

Among those dependent on the federal government are EBSERH (Brazilian Company of Hospital Services) and Valec Engineering, Constructions and Railways.

EBSERH, linked to the Ministry of Education, is in charge of 40 university hospitals linked to federal universities. Since the inception of the Bolsonaro government, it has been led by retired general Oswaldo Ferreira, who was involved in the drafting of proposals in the electoral campaign and in the transition. Valec is headed by André Kuhn, a former Army lieutenant colonel.

AMAZUL (Amazônia Azul Defense Technologies), NUCLEP (Nuclebrás Heavy Equipment), INB (Nuclear Industries of Brazil), and IMBEL (Brazilian Arms Industry) are also dependent on the federal government. The first three are chaired by Navy officers. An Army general heads IMBEL.

Navy officers also command three of the seven port authorities in the country: Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia Dock Companies.

Part of the state companies run by the military are targeted by the Bolsonaro government’s privatization agenda. These include the Correios (Postal Service), chaired by General Floriano Peixoto Neto, who was transferred from the General Secretariat of the Presidency in 2019; food supply warehousing giant CEAGESP, led by state police officer Ricardo Augusto Mello; and NUCLEP.

STATE-OWNED COMPANIES RUN BY THE MILITARY:

EBSERH (Brazilian Company of Hospital Services) – General Oswaldo Ferreira

Correios – General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto

Valec Engineering, Constructions and Railways – Lieutenant Colonel André Kuhn

INFRAERO – Lieutenant Brigadier Hélio Paes de Barros Júnior

CEAGESP (São Paulo General Warehouses and Distribution Company) – State Police officer Ricardo Augusto Nascimento de Mello Araujo

Rio de Janeiro port authority – Vice Admiral Francisco Magalhães Laranjeira

Rio Grande do Norte port authorithy – Admiral Elis Treidler

Bahia port authority – Vice-Admiral Carlos Autran de Oliveira

AMAZUL (Amazônia Azul Defense Technologies) – Vice-Admiral Antonio Carlos Guerreiro

EPL (Logistics and Planning Company) – Arthur Luis Pinho de Lima

EMGEPRON (Management Company of Naval Projects) – Vice-Admiral Edesio Teixeira Lima Júnior

IMBEL (Brazilian Arms Industry) – General Aderico Visconte Pardi

INB (Nuclear Industries of Brazil) – Naval Captain Carlos Freire Moreira

NUCLEP (Nuclebras Heavy Equipment) – Rear-Admiral Carlos Henrique Silva Seixas

FINEP (Funding Authority for Studies and Projects) – General Waldemar Barroso Magno Neto

Eletrosul – General Antonio Carlos Krieger

Petrobras – General Joaquim Silva e Luna