of the Federal Supreme Court of clearing the general in the trial of the coup plot, making the soldier the first to escape conviction in the process, may ease the uneasiness between the court and those in uniform, but it is far from over.
The bitterness has something atavistic about it: there has been a consensus for several years among the top echelons of the three Forces about what the Supreme Court has, and this has only worsened with the adherence of part of the military establishment to Bolsonarism.
Part of the Eduardo Villas Bôas Army’s effort to return the military to politics involved a diagnosis of institutional failure, including the reading that the Supreme Court was taking the place of the Legislature — something that court ministers attribute to parliamentary inaction.
If the experience of entering the government of (PL, 2019-2022) was disastrous and takes a toll to this day, as the work to depoliticize the Force led by the current head of the Army, Tomás Ribeiro Paiva, proves, this does not mean that all convictions have been abandoned.
Holding a monopoly on the use of force alongside the police, the military cannot constitutionally act in a political manner. This does not take away the voting rights of generals, admirals and brigadiers, obviously, and a right-wing worldview is prevalent among them — which is another discussion.
In the case of the 2022 plot, there are several gradations between former and current members of the High Commands and Admiralty when the process is evaluated.
Overall, few have kind words for , always seen as an ambitious politician. More measured are the comments about former GSI Augusto Heleno, former Navy commander Almir Garnier and former Defense chief Paulo Sérgio Nogueira.
But there is agreement in the assessment that the sentences applied to all of them, ranging from 19 to just over 26 years, were abusive.
That said, the decision freeing Theophilo was received by general officers with whom the Sheet they spoke with a mixture of relief and surprise, although neither of them identified any concession made by his heavy hand.
Relief because, even among the general’s enemies when he was in High Command of the Force, there was a feeling that there was no evidence against him. Surprise because, always in the view of those in uniform, the fact that Theophilo was recognized by that collegiate would alone weigh against him.
The conviction of the “black kids” was seen as predictable, even due to the profusion of evidence in the process. On the other hand, the harsh sentences imposed on the 8th of January protesters, some of whom were from military families, are the subject of almost unanimous opposition.
Apart from the trial itself, and individualized the blame, Moraes has maintained dialogue with those in uniform, as a meeting with General Tomás and Minister José Múcio Monteiro (Defense) on Monday (7) demonstrated.
In it, gentler rites were established for the detention of military personnel alongside Bolsonaro in September. Before, the military leadership ensured that the former president was not imprisoned in a barracks.
The most immediate issue of the ongoing trial will still have side chapters, such as the decision by the Military Court next year regarding the loss of the ranks of the condemned general officers, to keep spirits high despite the accommodation made by Tomás.
