Alleged Defense of Democracy Would Justify Military Actions in Brazil

Brasilia – Just three months before general elections, the ghost of a hypothetical military intervention in Brazil hovers today over the national political scenario.

If the Armed Forces had to intervene, it would be to enforce the Constitution, maintain democracy and protect the institutions, General Eduardo Villas Boas, the commander of the Brazilian Army, said on Thursday.

However, the high-ranking officer ruled out the possibility of a military intervention in the same terms as during the dictatorship, from 1964 to 1985, the digital newspaper Brasil 247 reported.

According to Villas Boas, the Army will only act under the determination of one of the Powers of the Republic, as happened, for example, during the strike of truckers in May, he noted.

In a recent comment, the Brasil 247 columnist Ribamar Fonseca warned that judging by the repeated statements by retired generals, who defend an intervention by the Armed Forces, there seems to exist an understanding in that regard at least among the reserve military officers.

Recently, the political scientist Alejandro Frenkel, former advisor to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), recalled that Villas Boas himself had threatened publicly with an intervention if the Supreme Federal Court issued a habeas corpus to prevent former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from going to prisons.

The Armed Forces played a key role in Brazilian politics, the expert told Sputnik Mundo.