If Bolsonaro attempts a coup, the Armed Forces will not obey, say generals.

Sputnik News Calls for the military to shut down Congress and the Supreme Court have been displayed on banners at marches in support of President Jair Bolsonaro in recent weeks, but retired generals and observers close to the Armed Forces call it empty talk.

A defender of the 1964 military coup in Brazil and the two decades of dictatorship that followed, Bolsonaro has allowed his sons and supporters to threaten democratic institutions in part because he has been forgotten, according to analysts.

While the right-wing populist struggles with a faltering economy, the worst outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the world outside the United States, and police investigations against his family and friends, these anti-democratic actions are likely to continue.

However, three retired generals have stated in recent days that there is no risk of military intervention and have expressed concern that the Armed Forces are being unduly politicized under Bolsonaro, a former captain expelled from the Army for insubordination and an alleged terrorist plot.

"The idea of ​​putting the Armed Forces in the middle of a dispute between branches of the State, authorities and political interests is completely out of place," Carlos dos Santos Cruz, a retired Army general who served in the cabinet last year until he clashed with Bolsonaro's sons, told Reuters.

"It's a lack of respect for the Armed Forces," he added to Reuters.

Bolsonaro himself insisted on defending the Brazilian Constitution. But he accused the courts of abusing their authority and did nothing to stop his most fervent supporters from demanding military intervention. His son, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, recently said that an institutional "rupture" was only a matter of time.

The statements followed a decision by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to investigate suspected disinformation and intimidation networks run by the president's supporters on social media, which played a major role in his 2018 election. The inquiry could lead the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to question his victory and potentially annul his candidacy.

The threats of a democratic breakdown are aimed at intimidating rivals, prosecutors, and the Supreme Court, political scientist Christian Lynch told Reuters. But military commanders have publicly dismissed any likelihood of a coup.

"The Supreme Federal Court called Bolsonaro's bluff," explained Lynch, a professor at the Institute of Social and Political Studies at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). "He didn't have the coup card. He was bluffing the whole time."

'Unconstitutional'

According to retired General Roberto Peternelli, elected to Congress in 2018 by the same party that nominated Bolsonaro, the PSL, the military simply would not obey a presidential order to close Congress or the Supreme Court.

"The Armed Forces fully respect the Constitution, and this order would be unconstitutional and illegal," the former military officer, who commanded the Brazilian Army's helicopter fleet, told Reuters.

Retired General Paulo Chagas, a former infantry officer, told Reuters that the president does not have the power to close Congress or the Supreme Court and would lose legitimacy if he tried.

Some critics say that Bolsonaro is already politicizing the Armed Forces, which have worked for decades to establish themselves as an apolitical defender of democracy after the human rights abuses of the dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

With military figures holding positions in a third of Bolsonaro's cabinet, including two active-duty generals among his closest advisors and retired General Antonio Hamilton Mourão as vice president, the reputation of the Armed Forces is tied to the government.

According to an investigation by the Federal Audit Court (TCU), there are now up to 3 military personnel in government positions.

Chagas, who campaigned for Bolsonaro's election, said he still believes the president is the best man to lead the country, but he suggested that active-duty officers should refuse or retire from government jobs in order to maintain a distance between the military and political spheres.

Paulo Kramer, a professor at the University of Brasília (UnB) who knows Bolsonaro's cabinet well, highlighted to Reuters that the generals in the cabinet, such as security advisor Augusto Heleno, vividly remember how the legacy of the 1964 coup tarnished the reputation of the Armed Forces.

"This generation of General Mourão and Heleno is immune to any coup attempt. They feel uncomfortable when the president and his sons make these threats," Kramer pointed out.