The president () threatened to dismiss the commander of the Navy, Admiral Marcos Sampaio Olsen, due to the institution in which the Force rebutted the accusations in the context of the discussion of government spending cuts.
Lula was dissuaded from the idea by Minister José Mucio (Defense) in São Paulo this week, according to interlocutors from both authorities. According to the report, the president has not yet digested the advertising piece alluding to Sailor’s Day, December 13th.
In it, in a tone of irony and challenge, the difficulties of military life were exposed, with a sailor asking at the end: “Privileges? Come to the Navy”. and the video was removed from the Force’s networks.
The uneasiness persisted, especially with the country trapped by the soaring dollar, which has at its heart Lula’s difficulty in accepting spending cuts in his disfavored fiscal adjustment package. The issue of military pensions was one of the thorniest issues to be dealt with by the Treasury, and the rule changes ended up being submitted to Congress.
In the conversation with Mucio, Lula came back and suggested Olsen’s dismissal. The minister compromised and said that, if someone was to leave, it would be better for it to be him, a civilian, thus avoiding another crisis between the PT member and the military.
This does not mean that there is a relationship between the video and Mucio’s desire, however: the minister had already been thinking about leaving for months, and voiced his intention to Lula before even talking about Olsen. There would, however, be a related impact: the dismissal would prevent the minister from leaving his position now.
Another factor weighed in: in addition to contracting a military crisis at a tense moment, who would replace the commander? The Admiralty is seen as one of those responsible for PTism in the Forces.
Olsen’s predecessor, Almir Garnier, was part of the coup plot that sought to keep (PL) in power because, according to his peers at the time in the other Forces, he agreed to participate in the plan.
That said, Mucio’s boredom with the position is no secret on the Esplanada, given what his allies consider a lack of support. The president, more specifically those around him in the PT and at Palácio do Alvorada, are extremely critical of the uniforms, which sectors of the Forces had with the Bolsonaro government.
The 8th of January and the subsequent revelation of the coup plot, which saw 25 military personnel indicted and the former Minister of Defense among other high-ranking uniformed personnel, provided the necessary ammunition for the fight against Defense by this wing most to Lula’s left.
An acute point in this relationship was the dismissal of the then Army commander after only 20 days of government, due to negligent behavior. Then, the attempt to further regulate the military, changing the article that regulates the Forces in the Constitution, which was aborted by Mucio.
Discussion of a constitutional amendment on the broader issue came into play, aiming to establish a cordon sanitaire between barracks and politics, preventing defeated candidates from returning to their units, for example.
The issue of cutting expenses, however, changed the game. Few things irritate general officers more than the accusation that they have privileges that are incompatible with the country’s reality. The standard argument is the rigor of military life, which requires constant changes of city, and salaries in general, lower than those in sectors such as the Judiciary.
Mucio has always been the counterpoint to pressure, working mainly with the Army commander who took over during the crisis, General Tomás Paiva, from the barracks. It has worked, but with difficulty and precariously, as the episode in the video shows.
In any case, the minister considers his mission accomplished. There are family issues and fatigue from the constant clash with the left wing of the government. At 76 years old and with a long record of public service, his allies say he has nothing left to prove.
It is a ghost that continues to haunt the Forces. Múcio is only expected to leave the government at the beginning of 2025, and Lula is looking for someone with a profile similar to his.
The first name that came up was the usual one, that of the vice president, who already refused the mission during the transition government and continues with the same position.
Several names were speculated, and one that emerged was that of Alckmin’s executive secretary at the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce, Márcio Rosa.
He has a known relationship with the Defense sector, which could be good or bad, depending on your perspective. In the position, he supervised the support of the national industry in a process that aims to punish the American company Boeing for stealing engineers from Brazilian companies.
The manufacturer most affected was , where Rosa gained a position on the Board of Directors shortly after the MDIC aligned itself with the Brazilians in the process. The department denies any conflict of interest.
