When he entered the (Agulhas Negras Military Academy) in 1983, Brazil lived under the . He left the Army officer training center in Resende (RJ) four years later, with the return of democracy in the country.
The cadet did not stand out in the class. He was placed between 50th and 60th on the list of Infantry aspirants of his year, a group of almost 120 soldiers in training.
Mario only gained relevance in his career years later, in , when his rise coincided with the protagonism of —military personnel with training in the Special Forces course who are part of .
A Sheet spoke to six general officers after Mario Fernandes was arrested on Tuesday (19) by the president (), the vice-president () and the minister, of the (Supreme Federal Court).
They say, with caution, that the path from military to generalship was tortuous. Considered an excellent marksman and paratrooper, Mario was sponsored by relevant generals in the Army structure before earning the two stars characteristic of the rank of brigadier general.
Good relations were not enough for him to earn the third star, and Mario went to the Army reserve in 2020. Wearing his pajamas, he ended up rescued by one of his career godfathers, General-Minister Luiz Eduardo Ramos, to be his number two in the General Secretariat of the Presidency in 2021. He only left office with the defeat of the former president ().
Mario graduated from Aman in 1986. He joined the Army ranks with fellow cadet Elcio Franco, who would later work at General Eduardo Pazuello’s Ministry of Health.
In the 1990s, he took the Army’s parachuting course, one of the requirements to join the Special Forces. In 2008, he already held a command position in the 1st Special Forces Battalion, in Goiânia.
The nickname “black kids” came about because of the black caps worn by soldiers entering the specialization. The symbol also marks the differentiation of this group of Special Forces from other military paratroopers — such as the Precursors, with a red symbol, historical rivals of the “black kids”.
The FEs (as they are also known) have a different characteristic from other areas of the Army. They stay in the same places for long periods, as their only bases are in Goiânia, the main center of the Special Forces, in Rio de Janeiro and in Manaus.
Mario Fernandes stood out in this area. He headed the 1st Special Forces Battalion in 2011, recently promoted to colonel, and remained with the other “black kids” during the five years of his colonelship.
When the time came for his promotion in 2016, the Army High Command was undergoing significant change. The group, made up of 16 four-star generals, at the top of their careers, had three “black kids” — generals Mauro Lourena Cid, Guilherme Theophilo and Paulo Humberto Cesar de Oliveira.
The area of special operations was created in the Army in the 1950s, and until the beginning of the 2010s there were few Special Forces in the High Command of the Force. According to the military interviewed by the Sheet“black kid” traditionally chooses “black kid” for promotion to generalship.
The Special Forces wave was in favor of Colonel Mario Fernandes. Promoted to general in 2016, he migrated to São Paulo to command the 12th Light Infantry Brigade.
Two years later, he returned to Goiânia to head the Special Operations Command — the main position that a “black kid” can occupy in this sector. It was this time that Mario commanded soldiers who were then invited by the retired general to implement plans to kill authorities, at the end of 2022, according to the PF.
When he was an active soldier, Bolsonaro dreamed of becoming a “black kid”. He took a skydiving course in the early 1980s and signed up for a special operations course. He failed both times he tried.
Elected in 2018, he was the first president of the Republic since redemocratization to visit Forte Camboatá, headquarters of the Special Operations Command, in Goiânia, in July 2019. He was received by the then head of the sector, General Mario Fernandes, who introduced him to the Gorro Preto Monument and the free fall simulator.
The general was arrested by the Federal Police on suspicion of developing a plan in 2022 that involved killing Lula, Alckmin and Moraes. The objective was to prevent the PT member from taking office. To carry out the planning, he recruited “black kid” lieutenant colonels who were commanded by him in Goiânia, according to the investigation.
When contacted, the military’s defense said it would not speak out before having access to the final report of the PF investigation.
