Brazil: Militaries explicitly threaten with a new military Coup d’État
Statement of the Corrente Comunista Revolucionária-CCR (Brazilian section of the RCIT), 25 May 2020, http://www.elmundosocialista.blogspot.com
On Friday, May 22, General Augusto Heleno, the Minister of the Brazilian Intelligence Service, released a note to the Brazilian nation in response to the Supreme Court judge Celso de Mello. In this note, he said that "the request for seizure of the cell phone of the President of the Republic is inconceivable and, to some extent, unbelievable." His note concludes with a clear threat to the entire country. The general says that if this apprehension would take place, it "could have unpredictable consequences for national stability." Soon after the speech of General Heleno, the ministry of defense, commanded by General Fernando Azevedo Silva, emphasized that there is no divergence within the military sectors installed inside the government. He said in an interview with CNN Brazil: "The Ministry of Defense was aware that General Heleno would drop the note and agreed to the issue, given that the president's cell phone is a matter of institutional security." The Ministry of Defense is the federal government body tasked with exercising the superior direction of the Armed Forces.
When he heard about the possibility of having his phone requested by the highest court, Bolsonaro stated in an interview on São Paulo Radio Jovem Pan: "Celso de Mello, cancel your order, that my phone will not be delivered, nobody will take my phone."
Both the statement by General Heleno and by the President should not be underestimated. In reality, it can be said that it constitutes a kind of mini-coup d'état by refusing to comply with possible court orders.
The main bourgeois press, the center-right and the left-wing parties condemned these statements. The president of the Federal Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, said that "the threat is very bad, that is not the way". The president of the Brazilian Bar Association, Felipe Santa Cruz, released a note saying: “General Heleno, democratic institutions reject the anachronism of your note. Get out of 1964 and try to contribute to 2020 if you can. On the contrary, stay at your home.” General Heleno's note clearly demonstrates that the militaries are aligned with Jair Bolsonaro and obtained support among military ministers in general, as well as the high command of the Armed Forces.
In view of this, it cannot be ruled out that the government's contradictions are resolved in the sense of a military coup d’état against the institutions.
This does not mean that the military itself considers this the best possible solution at the moment. However, in the face of a collapse of the economic and political situation and the COVID-19 pandemic, there exists a real possibility that the military will resort to a coup within the coup.
However, in addition to the military, a substantial sector of the bourgeoisie still supports the current government and, therefore, there are negotiations in the National Congress with the intention to creat a force that blocks any impeachment request.
In article 142, the Constitution says that the "Armed Forces (...) are permanent and regular national institutions, organized on the basis of hierarchy and discipline, under the supreme authority of the President of the Republic, and are intended for the defense of the Fatherland, the guarantee of constitutional powers and, on the initiative of any of these, of law and order ".
In our article of 31 May 2019, we already warned about the real power project of Bolsonaro and the Armed Forces when we said: “There is only one project that unifies all those sectors of the bourgeoisie that are in an open struggle for power: the neoliberal reforms. The bourgeoisie, in choosing Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 elections, hoped that Jair Bolsonaro would be the right man for this project. They were already aware of his lack of preparation, his political incapacity and his truculence, but everyone hoped to be able to control himself when he took power, including the generals who prevented Lula da Silva from the Workers Party from being a candidate. What they did not expect is that Bolsonaro and his family clan, guided by their guru, the US-based astrologer Olavo de Carvalho, had their own power project that they do not want to be submissive to either the congress or the Federal Supreme Court and even refuse to be submissive to generals, for example Vice President Hamilton Mourão. Bolsonaro and his clan desire a Bonapartist regime with strong fascist tonalities to make not only ultraliberal reforms but to crush all resistance from the mass movement, all workers' and peasants organizations.” (1)
In the face of the explicit threat from the Armed Forces, from General Heleno and President Bolsonaro, we at CCRI reiterate our rejection of article 142 of the constitution. Likewise, we support the call for the cancellation of the fraudulent 2018 presidential elections.
In the face of this situation, it is essential that the left forces - workers' parties and organizations, as well as social movements - initiate a broad mobilization capable of breaking the military's initiative, which leads to the danger, albeit not imminent, of a military coup d’état.
* For the annulment of Article 142 of the Constitution!
* Out with Bolsonaro and his vice-president General Mourão! For the annulment of the fraudulent elections of 2018!
* Build the general political general strike!
* Cancel all austerity measures such as pension reform and labor reform!
* Convene popular assemblies in trade unions, workplaces and neighborhoods!
* For the immediate formation of a broad single united front of all mass organizations of the working and oppressed class (PT, PCdoB, PSOL, PCO, CUT, MST, MTST, etc.) to organize a mass resistance!
* For a Revolutionary Constituent Assembly!
Footnotes
1) https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/brazil-bolsonaro-s-auto-putsch-failed/
The RCIT has published a number of documents on Brazil which can be read on the sub-section on Latin America on this website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/. See for example this statement: CCR: Brazil: Defeat the Pension Reforms of President Bolsonaro and Mayor Covas! Build the political general strike to overthrow these governments! 8 February 2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/brazil-defeat-the-pension-reforms-of-president-bolsonaro-and-mayor-covas/