Brazil’s army is trying to distance itself from Jair Bolsonaro

GENERAL ORLANDO GEISEL, the brother of a military president during Brazil’s dictatorship of 1964-85, once remarked: “It’s very easy to get the army into politics. The difficult thing is to get it out afterwards.” That is the problem the country’s generals now face. They embraced Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain of hard-right views elected as president in 2018. With Mr Bolsonaro now in trouble, the army is trying to distance itself from him. The strains showed in the resignation of the commanders of the three armed forces on March 30th following a cabinet reshuffle.

Several retired generals campaigned for Mr Bolsonaro; one is his vice-president. The cabinet is stuffed with military officers. Their alignment is partly ideological—the army came to hate the left-wing Workers’ Party of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and liked Mr Bolsonaro’s call for order and security. But it is also opportunistic. Around 6,000 military folk have government jobs. The forces have received wage increases and were exempted from a money-saving pension reform.