Amnesty for coup plotters? Not here!

There is no attempted coup d'état in Brazilian history as thoroughly documented as the one that took place during the four years of Bolsonaro's government, culminating on January 8th, at the beginning of President Lula's third term.  

For that reason alone, the statement made by the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, on the Roda Viva program, defending an amnesty and reduced sentences for those convicted, would already be extremely serious. Múcio's justification is unimaginably weak; it doesn't hold up in light of everything that has been revealed so far in the investigations that have progressed since then.

From his vast legal ignorance, or perhaps due to his political convictions, Mucio, who had relatives camped in front of the Army HQ, "turned a blind eye," saying: "There were all kinds of people there, there were innocent people, there were troublemakers, there were professional troublemakers who were just there to cause trouble, but would causing trouble bring down the government? Destroying things? Was there any movement? The figures who organized it, who conceived it, didn't show up that day." Of course there was coup-mongering on the day of the "infamy." Have you already forgotten the Federal District's riot police taking selfies next to the "terrorists"? Have you not been aware of the participation of the Black Kids clearing the way for the invasion of the buildings? Or the non-compliance with an order from Minister Alexandre de Moraes, on the part of the then Army commander, General Júlio César de Arruda, preventing the entry of the Military Police with armored vehicles to arrest the coup plotters and dismantle the camp at the gates of the barracks? 

You, more than the other ministers in Lula's government, closely followed the unfolding of that shameful day in our Republic. Do you remember the terrible idea suggested to President Lula, of signing a Guarantee of Law and Order decree to contain the situation? That this idea was aborted by the First Lady, Janja da Silva, who warned of the dangers of handing over control of the country to the military? If you have forgotten, it is worth recalling Janja's statement about a GLO: "That's all they (the coup plotters) want." 

The request for amnesty, as President Lula rightly pointed out, is in reality an admission of guilt by those who orchestrated, financed, and used their public positions to carry out the coup. It's worth remembering that these people have not even been formally charged by the Attorney General's Office to this day. 

I recommend to the Minister of Defense, if he hasn't already, that he watch the film "I'm Still Here." This award-winning cinematic work is compelling proof that granting amnesty to those who killed, tortured, and persecuted in the name of a military dictatorship, instead of pacifying the country, left the doors open for the hate speech of contemporary coup plotters, who recently almost undermined our democracy. Many of them were young officers during the darkest years of the dictatorship and relapsed into crimes against the democratic rule of law, precisely because of the impunity for those same crimes of the past. 

This failure to come to terms with the dictatorial past has cost us (and continues to cost us) dearly. It has fueled the frequent authoritarian backlash from those who, even after redemocratization, insist on exceeding the limits imposed on them by the constitution.

I am well aware of President Lula's high regard for Minister Mucio, and the feeling seems to be mutual. I am also aware of the difficulties in dealing with the sensitivities and moods of the Armed Forces. I know the importance of José Mucio in this tortuous relationship, in the urgent task of definitively establishing the armed forces within the strict constitutional limits of their functions.

The constitutional identity crisis of the armed forces, dear reader, is a problem for all of us, since it is always behind every attack against democracy. It urgently needs a solution, and this necessarily involves the correct handling of any and all coup attempts.

For all these reasons, the statement, at the very least inappropriate, from the Minister of Defense of a government that in its early days had to fight against an attempted coup (and that is what it is called), deserves due condemnation. Coup plotters will not prevail!