Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
The recently inaugurated Lula Da Silva government in Brazil is facing the effects of the most pernicious and negative policy of Jair Bolsonaro, his predecessor in the Presidency of his country: the militarization of public administration. Bolsonaro pushed thousands of military cadres into all spheres of the country’s public administration, militarizing public security in state governments. He embedded them in the Brazilian State’s central functions, such as the control of customs and ports and the administration of airports. In addition, he entrusted military cadres with his government’s most important public construction works. He expanded the public budget of the intelligence and security agencies so that they could know in real-time all the country’s events, even before the President himself. Thus Bolsonaro’s confidence in the military.
In addition, he turned the military high command into entrepreneurs on their own, with almost unlimited access to public funds to promote their projects, of particular interest to the military high command. Prosperity launched the generals into an economic position above what is known as the “middle class”. They became a new layer of the Brazilian bourgeoisie.
In this context, it was not difficult for the new President Lula to understand that the entire military establishment, and not only the high command, saw with interest and “whimsy” the calls from sectors of Brazilian society to step into power, to avoid what, for some, was an “unwanted” alternation.
Important Brazilian military commanders, poisoned with the apple of power, allowed insurrectionist masses to take over the installations of the three branches of the Brazilian State in the capital city of Brasilia: the offices of the Executive, the National Congress, and the seat of the Supreme Court of Justice. It is understood that they let the demonstrators go, probably with the idea that, to reestablish order, the military would be summoned to seize power and thus prevent the new Lula Da Silva government from forming. But this did not happen.
Various political and security forces intervened to prevent this coup scenario from taking place. In the end, the new Brazilian President began dismantling the country’s intelligence and security agencies because they did not warn about the danger and did not try to stop the angry mob. The most relevant act so far was the dismissal of the Army’s top commander, who refused to act against the demonstrators. He has also dismissed civilian authorities who apparently motivated the protesters to act this way.
Former President Bolsonaro is being investigated for his possible participation in the events that shook Brazil, even though he lives in the United States.
It is relevant that, like Bolsonaro, President Lopez Obrador is creating similar conditions for the Mexican military to be in a position to take power. Like Bolsonaro, he has integrated thousands of military cadres into all levels of the country’s public administration, as has never happened in the modern Mexican era. He handed over vast portions of the public budget to Mexican generals to spend as they pleased, outside any accountability. They decide on what public works to do and directly award favorite (or family?) builders to carry them out. They control the country’s major airports, ports, and customs. They are in charge of public security in all the states governed by Morena and have a National Guard for crowd control in Mexico City, starting with the Metro. Military engineers guard the Metro workshops and build the nation’s most important rail projects. The new undersecretary of national public security is a military. An army officer is in charge of State intelligence and spies on opponents pointed out by the President.
Additionally, from now on, the military patrols the country’s federal highways, secondary roads, feeder roads, and dirt tracks. The Army has barracks and surveillance posts throughout the national territory and is preparing the same for the National Guard, with its own barracks.
According to the Guacamaya Leaks, the National Defense Ministry is able and positioned to take control of the country at any moment. The National Guard is preparing for the control of mass protests and demonstrations against the government. The question is, what mass demonstrations are they preparing for?
Some Mexican generals have expressed themselves openly favoring Lopez Obrador’s ideological model. So there is a stimulus not only of economic but also political-ideological interest on their part to participate in a continuing and imposing conspiracy of the 4T, especially in the case of losing the elections in 2024.
The Brazilian military set a path for their Mexican counterparts to follow. A path that leads to breaking the democratic agreement and promoting the authoritarian and militaristic process to continue. It is no accident that the phrase “coup d’état” comes out of López Obrador’s mouth with increasing frequency in any context. He obviously has that option in mind.
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