BRAZIL MILITARY CHIEFS QUIT AS BOLSONARO SACKS DEFENSE MINISTER

The leaders of all three branches of Brazil’s armed forces jointly resigned Tuesday (Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Manila) following President Jair Bolsonaro’s replacement of the defense minister, causing widespread apprehension of a military shakeup to serve the president’s political interests.

The Defense Ministry reported the resignations — apparently unprecedented since at least the end of military rule 36 years ago — in a statement released without giving reasons. Replacements were not named.

But analysts expressed fears the president, increasingly under pressure, was moving to assert greater control over the military, Diane Jeantet and David Biller reported for the Associated Press (AP).

“Since 1985, we haven’t had news of such clear intervention of the president with regard to the armed forces,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.

Bolsonaro, a conservative former army captain who has often praised Brazil’s former period of military dictatorship, has relied heavily on current and former soldiers to staff key Cabinet positions since taking office in January 2019, but Melo said the military itself has so far refrained from politics. “Will this resistance continue? That’s the question,” Melo said.

The announcement came after the heads of the army, navy and air force met with the new defense minister, Gen. Walter Souza Braga Netto, on Tuesday morning.

A retired army general who has a relationship with the three commanders as well as with Braga Netto told AP that “there was an embarrassing circumstance so they all resigned.” He agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, expressing fear of retribution.

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