Brazil’s military chiefs resign amid cabinet shake- up

The Chiefs of all three branches of Brazil’s armed forces jointly resigned following President Jair Bolsonaro’s replacement of the defence minister.The announcement came after the heads of the army, navy and air force-dson Leal Pujol, Ilques Barbosa and Antonio Carlos Bermudez respectively-met with the new defense minister, Gen. Walter Souza Braga Netto.The Defense Ministry reported the resignations in a statement released without giving reasons. Replacements were not named.“The 1964 movement is part of Brazil’s historic trajectory. And as such the events of that March 31st must be understood and celebrated,” said Braga Netto, referring to the date of coup d’etat that established the dictatorship.

Bolsonaro, a former army Captain, on Monday carried out a shake-up of top Cabinet positions that was initially seen as a response to demands for a course correction by lawmakers, diplomats and economists, particularly over his handling of the pandemic that has caused more than 300,000 deaths in Brazil. Bolsonaro has often bristled at the checks and balances imposed by other branches of government and has attended protests targeting the Supreme Court and Congress. He has also criticised the Supreme Court for upholding local governments’ rights to adopt pandemic restrictions that he adamantly opposes, arguing that the economic effects are worse than the disease itself. “The dismissal of the heads of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force after the sudden shift in leadership at the defense ministry is unprecedented in the era since democracy was restored,” one lawmaker, Rep. Rodrigo de Castro, said in a statement. “It reveals a real crisis between the military and the government.”