After the invasion of the Brazilian government district, soldiers and police chiefs had to leave. Now also the commander of the army.
After the invasion of the government district in Brasilia, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replaced the commander of the army. “Today, together with Defense Minister José Múcio, I spoke with General Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, the new commander of the Army”, wrote Lula on Twitter this Saturday (local time) and wished the new commander success in his work.
Ribeiro Paiva, who succeeds Júlio César de Arruda, was previously commander of the Southeastern Command based in São Paulo. He said in a video this week that election results must be respected to ensure democracy.
Invasion of government buildings
On January 8, supporters of the head of state Jair Bolsonaro, who had just been replaced by Lula, invaded Congress, the seat of government and the Federal Supreme Court in Brasília and caused considerable damage. About 1,500 supporters of the right-wing Bolsonaro have been arrested for the time being. Many do not want to recognize the victory of the new President Lula in the October elections. Because they suspect fraud because of the tight election result, they repeatedly call for military intervention.
The left-wing politician Lula expressed the suspicion that the rioters, for example with the military and federal police in the capital, had made arrangements during the invasion of the government district of the capital. Out of distrust, he had already dismissed several dozen military personnel from duties at the presidential residence and renewed the leadership of the police.
(APA/dpa)