Lula ousts head of Brazil’s army in wake of insurrection

RIO DE JANEIRO – The administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ousted the head of Brazil’s army on Saturday, moving against the most senior military officer to be held accountable in the Jan. 8 insurrection, when right-wing rioters rampaged through this nation’s halls of power.

The removal of Gen. Julio Cesar de Arruda came six days after The Washington Post reported that he had sought to protect rioters and supporters of defeated former president Jair Bolsonaro who were sheltering at Army headquarters after storming and ransacking the presidential palace, the supreme court and congress.

“You are not going to arrest people here,” Arruda told Lula’s justice minister around 10:20 p.m. on the day of the riots, The Post reported on Jan. 14. Authorities weren’t allowed to enter a camp where rioters were holed up until the next morning, a delay that officials say allowed hundreds to escape.

Arruda was ordered to step aside by Lula’s defense minister, Jose Mucio, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Lula’s administration has fired or forced into retirement at least 40 other rank-and-file members of the military who were involved in security at the presidential palace on the day of the attack.

Arruda will be replaced by Gen. Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, the military commander for the Southeast.

In a speech this week, Paiva called on Brazilians to respect the result of the October election and affirmed that the army is a nonpolitical and nonpartisan institution.

Lula had publicly expressed distrust of the army after Jan. 8, but aides said he would not fire the commander before investigations were completed to avoid intensifying tensions between the executive and the armed forces.

On Friday, Lula met with Arruda and the commanders of the Navy, Marcos Sampaio Olsen, and the Air Force, Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno. The meeting was intended to reduce tensions at the beginning of his government.