The , a group made up of the Force’s 16 four-star generals, has none for the first time after the elite group assumed protagonism during the government ().
The absence of military personnel is the result of a set of factors in recent years, such as the low number of “black kids” for promotion to the last post in their career.
The new configuration of the Force High Command shows a different scenario from the end of 2022, when four Special Forces generals were in strategic roles in the Army.
They were the generals , , and .
Five generals heard by Sheet They stated, with reservations, that internal factors were more relevant than external ones for the “black kids” to be left out of the Army leadership after ten years of protagonism.
They highlight, however, that the massive departure of these soldiers to the Bolsonaro government — like the generals and — eroded the internal image of the Special Forces. At least 28 of them took on positions in the Executive from 2019 to 2022.
“Black Kids” are soldiers trained in the Army’s special operations courses. They make up the Force’s elite troops, trained for sabotage and irregular warfare. The nickname was given because officers in this area wear a black beret as a symbol.
They undergo the Army’s most demanding training, with grueling physical tests while suffering from lack of food. The training also involves parachute jumping in adverse situations.
The 1st Commando Action Battalion, the main one of the “black kids”, has as its motto “maximum confusion, death and destruction in the enemy’s deep rear”. The Army has around 2,500 soldiers trained in the Special Forces, a number that represents little more than 1% of the Army’s personnel. Its bases are in Goiânia (GO), Rio de Janeiro and Manaus (AM).
The “black kids” have a historical rivalry with the Army’s paratrooper precursors, a group of which the Army commander, General Tomás Paiva, is a member. The symbols of the two specialties are similar, but the precursors use the color red instead of black.
The special operations area was created in the Army in the 1950s, and until the early 2010s there were few Special Forces in the High Command. The arrival of “black kids” at the top of the Army has intensified in the last decade.
The wave is explained by a few reasons, according to the generals heard by the Sheet. One of them was the relevance of the actions of some of them in international military operations, such as in .
They also highlight the cohesion of the group and say that the “black kids” in the High Command generally chose other “black kids” to be promoted, due to corporatism and the trust developed over the years.
Military personnel trained in Special Forces courses came into the spotlight after identifying their participation in plans to carry out a coup d’état after the victory of (PT) in the 2022 presidential elections.
Of the 37 indicted by the Federal Police on suspicion of participating in the coup plots, 12 are “black kids”. Other soldiers wearing black berets are being investigated in PF investigations related to the attacks on January 8, 2023, such as oeo.
The main Special Force indicted by the Federal Police was retired general Mario Fernandes. He is identified as the author of an operational plan to kill Lula, the vice-president (PSB) and the minister of the (Supreme Federal Court).
Until 2020, Mario held the position of head of the Army Special Operations Command. According to the PF investigation, the general recruited other “black kids” to carry out the coup plans.
One of these soldiers was identified by the Federal Police as Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Martins de Oliveira, assigned to the battalion in Goiânia. He and Mario were arrested last Tuesday (19).
A Sheet found that Mario was Rafael’s boss and other “black kids” investigated for the coup plans. The two participated in a meeting at Palácio do Planalto on December 6, 2022, when the general presented the planned assassination of the authorities to the lieutenant colonel, according to the investigation.
