Justice Mendes moves ahead of Bolsonaro, tests Armed Forces reaction
The latest clash between the branches of government - the Defense Ministry's threat to ask the Prosecutor General to legally sanction Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Gilmar Mendes - started with Mr. Mendes strategy to try and prevent President Jair Bolsonaro from holding Brazil's highest court, governors, and mayors accountable for damages to the citizens' health and the country's economy.
An hour and a half into a debate organized Saturday afternoon by the Institute of Private Law (IDP), of which he is a partner, Mr. Mendes said it would no longer be possible to tolerate what is happening in the Health Ministry. "It is terrible for the image of the Armed Forces. The Army is associating itself with this genocide."
Two speakers agreed with Gilmar Mendes: The physician and TV star Drauzio Varella said the military's arrival in the ministry "does not honor the Brazilian Armed Forces" while former Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said the military's intervention in the ministry, replacing the entire technical staff, is as or more serious than the government meddling with the Federal Police. General Eduardo Pazuello, who has been in charge since May 15 after the departure of Nelson Teich, has filled all second-tier positions with people from the Armed Forces.
The Defense Ministry answered Sunday afternoon through a note signed by the press office saying it's only providing information linked to the Armed Forces' involvement in combating the pandemic, mentioning that 34,000 military officers are working on that, a headcount higher than what Brazil deployed in World War II.
Yet a harsher note came Monday. Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva and the commanders of the Army, Navy, and Air Force signed a note saying they are "outraged" by the justice's comments. "This is a serious accusation, as well as unfounded, irresponsible, and, above all, thoughtless."
The note cites the Genocide Law, no. 2.889 of 1956, to say that it is a "very serious" crime, both domestically and abroad, a fact "well known by a legal expert." The note ends saying that the Armed Forces, including Navy, Army, and Air Force, "are fully committed precisely to preserving lives." And says the Defense Ministry will ask the Prosecutor-General to "take appropriate measures."
President Jair Bolsonaro did not speak, but Vice President Hamilton Mourão, who had already supported criticism leveled at the STF before, reacted using a slang borrowed from polo, a sport of which he is a...
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