Military movements throughout Brazil?

12/07/22 I've noticed through various sources over the past 2 weeks that there seems to be a surge in military movement throughout the country. Has anyone witnessed this first hand?
-@john8670

I haven't seen any reports of military movements of any kind.

The press has reported that there was a suggestion from the Commander of the Air Force, the most Bolsonarista of the service commanders, for all three to resign early from their posts so that Bolsonaro could appoint their successors; the normal procedure when administrations change is for them to resign after the inauguration so that the new President chooses their successors.  At their normal meeting on November 30, Folha de S. Paulo reported that the High Command of the Army declined to consider this suggestion, and the paper reported that they were informally pressuring the Air Force commander to abandon the idea.

The military movements are more to do with the problems in Peru.

@john8670 Good morning,

It is totally normal. People are revolted because their hero Bolsanaro lost. It is no big deal and it will all die down soon. Just try to focus on your job and life will continue as normal. You will get used to these things here. You need to learn to just ignore it and continue focusing on making money to survive. It will go away soon. The new president will take charge in January and people will have to swallow their pride, like it or not. Just like in the USA.

What you should NOT do is talk about politics with Brazilians as it is a very heated subject that can cause you to lose clients if you own a company depending on what side they think you are on. Some Bolsonaro fans are actually boycotting businesses that are pro Lula. So when a Brazilian asks you what you think.. just tell them you don´t have an opinion. You are not from here and can´t vote anyway.

Everything will be okay. I´ve been here for over 10 years. Brazilians are not agressive in general. They put on a big show and dance but lose their energy quickly.

Devorah- American

Relax, Stop assuming, It's international including the U.S. Army and other Joint forces training. Same as RIMPAC for Naval and Marine units around the world. youtu.be/D4NelJIZ6a4 (how do I know!? Because I'm in it. And I live in Brasil)

@john8670 Good morning,
It is totally normal. People are revolted because their hero Bolsanaro lost. It is no big deal and it will all die down soon. Just try to focus on your job and life will continue as normal. You will get used to these things here. You need to learn to just ignore it and continue focusing on making money to survive. It will go away soon. The new president will take charge in January and people will have to swallow their pride, like it or not. Just like in the USA.

What you should NOT do is talk about politics with Brazilians as it is a very heated subject that can cause you to lose clients if you own a company depending on what side they think you are on. Some Bolsonaro fans are actually boycotting businesses that are pro Lula. So when a Brazilian asks you what you think.. just tell them you don´t have an opinion. You are not from here and can´t vote anyway.


Everything will be okay. I´ve been here for over 10 years. Brazilians are not agressive in general. They put on a big show and dance but lose their energy quickly.

Devorah- American
-@devorahmichaela

Completely and wholeheartedly agree.   

If you study the last coup we had, this in 1964, as far as I can remember people who i spoke to , this a long time ago, the upheaval was palpable.

You had a President who was leaning to the left ( Joao Gourlart, aka Jango  ), in a similar fashion to Allende. You had the middle class supporting the coup, a Congress in disarray,  you had students and labor unions pressing for reforms, land invasions.  It was chaos...

The "joint Chiefs of Staff" had the support from the US ( Lyndon Johnson ) for the coup, who was about to dispatch a naval task force ( never materialized ). This was a time the US had its fingers all over the world in a containment against the rise of communism.  Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa all had the attention of the US Department of State, the CIA.

At that time, in Brazil,  the most vocal right wing politician became virulent against the establishment, starting with Juscelino, and all the way through Jango, not even sparing the empowered post coup President and Moderate General, Castelo Branco.  This was Carlos Lacerda.  It was Lacerda's antics from the right and Brizola from the Left.  Lacerda had the same vitriol as the incumbent, otherwise it had,  at very  least, better public speaking skills ( he was an attorney engaged in politics ).    Same  circus ring then, same as now.

What you see nowadays pales in comparison to the 60's., All there is  to see is a ragtag bunches here and there making noise, blocking roads, acting like total jerks.  Notice, most of these protests are taking places on rural areas, along highways. it's the Ruralist ( the Agribusiness Exporting Lobby )  wing that has been endorsing the incumbent, trying to maintain the status quo on concessions they got from the waning Government, who bankrolls these yokels.  They want to continue to  clear land in the Amazon for grazing ( a lot of whom have been levied heavy fines from the Ibama, btw ) , no taxing on export commodities. 

Oddly enough, even one of the most vocal supporters of the Ruralism has turned himself against their interests, former congressman and now Goias Governor, Ronaldo Caiado.  He is for taxing agribusiness exports.  So , it is safe to say they are not a cohesive group.

The other group giving standing to the current administration, and at fear of losing  their standing privileges,  are the folks who had the finger on the liquidation of Government Public  Concessions ( the financial markets might be  co participants on this ). The  elected had a history of not going through with the sale of Government entities, reversing a trend starting with Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

What you see now is a group who does not want to relinquish their standing, and have paid people to do their bidding, and some folks the Urban Upper Middle Class endorsing a reversal of the presidential election results (. The US is hardly interested on their agenda, specially when these folks were trading, US sanctions aside, with sanctioned Governments ( iran, Russia, China ).

The  Urban upper middle class, and the business class blames the elected for losing a lot during his tenure.  Only they forget to realize a lot of what they lost was due in great part, as result of  globalization ( decimating Sao Paulo''s manufacturing base ) . Pro labor policies started well before Lula, this going through the Constitution change ( Constituinte ), and  spurred by the 80's labor movement.

Also, it is noteworthy to point,  the incumbent never made rank, not all of the Brass trust him enough to handle him the reigns, if a coup ever took place. And I am sure he has been told so.  He would get the same fate as Carlos Lacerda, who stirred until he could do no longer, hoping to get the nod, and at the end was pushed aside ( even thought he bribed the rank ) .  That pretty much explains why  he is so morose.   So, If ever these is a coup, which needs to be sanctioned by the Brass , my money is they will shut the Congress, appoint a President ( certainly not the incumbent ).

Oddly enough, it was during Dilma's Administration that the  three branches of the Militar got budget increases to better equip the Armed Forces. The incumbent only conceded pay raises towards the ranks. No sizeable budget allocation for the Armed Forces.,

But don't take my word for it. 

If you want to understand current events , my advice is to grab some books from some Brazilianists ( American Scholars who studied Brazilian's History ). You will need to look into the past to make sense of the present.

   Here's a list of some of them...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilianist

Aside from that, my educated advice is to act like the Japanese did in Brazil. ( and so do the Chinese who migrated here  nowadays )   Smile, keep your nose in the grindstone, ignore the idiots, and move on. A lot of this is Water Cooler talk ( Conversa de Botequim ).

Trust me, you won't get into a self self enlightening dialogue with Brazzers.  Unlike our American Conspiracy Theory Nuts, they can't stick to the conversation as soon as they realize they are losing the argument.   They are mostly spouting and shouting their nonsense.

Thanks for the political summary.

The Brazil legislative body just passed legislation to allow political appointees to Petrobras.  In other words, Car Wash, the Sequel.  There was a massive sell-off on the stock.  I realize that their performance last year is not going to be repeated for a number of reasons.  Nevertheless, when a stock which paid US $6.48 in dividends last year goes on sale for under  US $9.00 per share, I am selling my children into slavery in order to raise more capital to buy more.....

It has recovered already to around $9.60 ....but it was above $15 earlier in the year, the last time that I sold out, so its got plenty of upside potential......even $15 represented a deep discount to true value, because of the risk of Lula giving discounts like Maduro.   They have increased their cap ex this year, concentrating on the deepwater pre-salt holdings offshore Rio and planning to expand production, expand exports, even more in the coming years.....

Here's a little tidbit for you all.   

Fresh news.....

Honeywell, we all know the company, got a judgement in the US , and has been ordered to pay USD 82 million in fines, for a bribed contract ini 2010, solicited and paid to people of rank at Petrobras, the Brazilian Oil Company. The bribed then amounted to about USD 2 million. Pretty sure Honeywell lost money on the orders that followed that infamous bribe. 

Now, 2010 was then under the Bearded Dude as a President.  Assuming he allegedly never took money, we all know how these things work.  if you watch enough of "The Sopranos" you know there is always money to be kicked up upstairs through the entire chain of command.

At this point, your typical Brazilian Middle Class male will spout, .... "See ??? The Bearded Dude was Crooked!!!! " Nothing new here. Gimme my Savior !!!! 

But in the same turn, the same people here who  point the finger, given the chance will do the same thing themselves,  or at least a great majority. 

We're not in Netherlands, or New Zealand, or Germany, or Japan where these things are frowned upon, and even then there are scandals there. 

See the photo composite i made on quaint Mooca, in Sao Paulo just below.....

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oXyxXddVeaLPB32J7

The first four frames on this photo link  are of a building that is completely boarded up, since 2010, when construction was completed. 

It was supposed to be an Urban Shopping Mall.

It once was the building project of a Portuguese man who planned to build a Shopping Mall.  For all curious to see, it's by Avenida Paes de Barros, by Mooca, at its pinnacle.  As far as I know, it's still boarded up. 

The Bank that carried the note is no longer in business, went belly up ( I believe it was Banco Totta Acores Portugal, later absorbed by Santander ).   

The projected an impounded building,  as the builder failed to meet building codes. Notably the lack of  recess from the Avenue,  an insufficient number of parking spots, amongst other violations. 

It turns out the "Portuguese Entrepreneur" who was then the developer, knew of these violations during its construction stage, ignore them,  and bribed someone at the City's Building Department to get the building awarded a Certificate of Occupancy.  That meant, someone at the City's Building Department took money to get the project approved.   

Well, maybe  his bosses, colleagues did not get their fair share of the  kickback, so they caught up with the violations and impounded the building, reversing the issuance of the certificate.

Our "Portuguese Entrepreneur" passed away, with a heart attack. Lost a significant amount of his fortune on this Development Project. 

Only if himself had the entire Department bribed, then he might get away with it.

A temporary injunction  lifted the restrained order, but the developer lost on the appeal, and the would be Mall has been padlocked since 2010.

All of this story to say....

1.There are no isolated cases of corruption, when it comes to bribes.  Everyone in the chain with some standing is supposed to get their fair share of the graft.

2.This malfeasance could've be credit for the go-go's of that time, where anything went.  But this goes on  at all times. 

3. I am sure the exiting incumbent will have stuff unearthed at some junction later.  Give it time.  There ain't no saviors or saints.

4.Our longstanding tradition of whoever is in power to self dealing is a long one. 

Stuff like that happens in the US too.   We coined the "Pork Barrell Contract" term for a reason.

We have the USD 10,000 dollar latrines for a reason

Our Euclidian zoning endured decades for various reasons, the same that might send cities to bankrupcy.

The Ponzi Scheme is a creation of American Greed.  Charlie Ponzi was a real person. 

Just keep on grinding, pay your taxes, albeit the minimum legally allowed by law, and stop contemplating this stuff.  It won't do you any good.