The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has dismissed almost fifty members of the Armed Forces who were performing security functions at the Alvorada Palace, the official residence, further evidencing the distrust he already expressed after the assault on the institutions.
Among those dismissed are forty members of the Armed Forces who worked in a department of the General Secretariat of the Presidency in charge of the security of the official residence and others who were part of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI), one of the agencies most targeted after the attacks of last January 8 at the Esplanade of the Ministries.
President Lula’s decision is evidence of the misgivings he has already expressed in relation to the connivance that certain sectors of the security forces and the military may have shown with the mob of Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters, stating that he was sure of the presence of «accomplices» in those violent acts.
«There were many accomplices, accomplices in the Military Police, accomplices in the Armed Forces. I am convinced that the doors of the Planato Palace were opened from inside because they were not broken,» he said last Thursday.
Lula’s suspicions extend to a large part of his cabinet and the Workers’ Party (PT), where they have even questioned the management of the Minister of Defense, José Múcio, one of those questioned in this crisis for not having acted before against the Bolsonarista camps that rose up in front of the Army headquarters and in which a coup d’état was demanded.
One of these questioned institutions is the GSI, which will be almost completely renewed, as advanced by the head of Casa Civil, Rui Costa. «We have to guarantee a pattern of action that allows us to protect the three palaces,» he said.
The GSI is made up of about 1,100 officers, most of whom belong to the Armed Forces to take charge of the security of the facilities and the authorities, although there are also civilians in administrative areas. At least 10 percent of the approximately 80 positions of trust that existed until now have been dismissed, reports ‘O Globo’.
The idea of Lula and the first lady, Rosângela ‘Janja’ Silva, is to move into the Alvorada Palace at the end of January, upon their return from their first official trip to Argentina. After a first inspection of the facilities, they denounced the poor state of the official residence, with leaks, broken windows and carpets and sofas in bad condition.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
