The lieutenant colonel returns to duty next Tuesday (5), the first day after the definitive start of two years of imprisonment for .
To avoid embarrassment, the Army decided that Cid will need to take 60 days of vacation — a period corresponding to the days off not taken during his role as aide-de-camp to the former president (PL).
Mauro Cid should not return this year. The expectation in the Force is that the Army commander, , will grant the right for the lieutenant colonel to go into reserve by the beginning of January.
The lieutenant colonel has not taken a vacation since 2020. He received exceptional authorization from the Army Command at the time, to remain in service as head of the Presidency’s Order Assistance.
The Force’s internal regulations establish that soldiers who have not taken leave, for exceptional reasons, must withdraw from service at the first opportunity they have. For the Army leadership, this is Mauro Cid’s situation.
The matter was discussed with the lieutenant colonel himself in recent days, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. Even with five holidays to take, the provisional decision is only 60 days off. Cid did not oppose the determination.
The assessment of Army officers heard in recent months by Sheet is for Cid’s return to work in the barracks. This is one of the reasons why the military’s request for early retirement is welcomed at the Brasília headquarters.
In August, the Army received a request from Mauro Cid to complete the minimum service period before completing the minimum period of service. The Force created a commission to analyze the soldier’s documentation before making a decision — expected by the end of December or beginning of January.
The request is known as compulsory quota — a mechanism by which a soldier can join the Army reserve and receive a pension amount proportional to his time of service.
Mauro Cid is 29 years old and has served in the Army for 6 months. He would have the right to leave active service, with full benefits, only after 31 years of work. In practice, however, a salary reduction in the reserve would be small.
The request for a compulsory quota is not automatic. An Army commission will analyze all the documentation submitted by Cid — which includes his military history and the reasons for the request — and will suggest a decision in the case to the Army Command.
The Army suggested to Mauro Cid that he go to the reserve in 2023, through the compulsory quota, according to three generals interviewed by the report. The argument was that the military could focus its efforts on its defense as investigations into the coup plot progressed.
The lieutenant colonel denied the suggestion at the time. He believed it was possible to reverse the scenario, still confident that he would not even be denounced for the attempted coup d’état. The assessment of Cid’s allies is that the situation ended up becoming unsustainable, and the best path was to leave the Army.
The minister of the (Supreme Federal Court) determined on Thursday (3) Cid’s sentence for participating in the coup plot. He was sentenced to two years of open prison.
The soldier will undergo a hearing at the Supreme Court on Monday (3) to effectively begin his sentence. He will still be able to remove the electronic ankle bracelet, which he has been using since September 2023.
Moraes also ordered that a certificate of sentence to be served by Cid be prepared and that the “period in which the defendant remained provisionally detained for the purposes of criminal detention” be calculated.
Moraes’ decision does not mention the lieutenant colonel’s return to work.
Cid has been making plans for his future. He hopes to obtain authorization from the Army by the beginning of 2026 to go to the paid reserve, maintaining his benefits as a soldier. He is considering moving to the United States, where one of his brothers lives.
He also evaluates his ability to teach and provide consultancy on . According to one of his interlocutors, the soldier says he has no experience in the civilian world and his future remains uncertain after the end of his case at the Supreme Court.
