Bolsonaro’s Armed Forces meddling ushers ghosts from Brazil’s past

Close observers of Brazilian society have always noted the political machinations of the Armed Forces. Indeed, they’ve had to, given the recurrent tendency of military men to involve themselves in politics beginning in the 19th century. Modernity, republicanism, national development — these were the universal aspirations soldiers invoked time and again when forcing themselves upon the body politic. 

When it comes to episodes like the 1889 military intervention that extinguished the monarchy and birthed the Brazilian Republic, or the 1922 revolts of young lieutenants dissatisfied with the prevailing order, “the tendency of the literature has been to explain behavior in relation to civilian politics and society, making the military rebels instruments of, spokesmen for, or symbols of urban middle-class desires,” according to historian Frank McCann. 

But, as Mr. McCann argues in “Soldiers of the Pátria: A History of the Brazilian Army, 1889-1937,” this analysis overlooks the critical influence of developments within the Armed Forces that have historically moved Brazilian men in uniform to political action. In other words, the internal disputes of the Armed Forces — arcane and often intensely guarded as they are — are critical to any understanding of Brazilian politics.

This insight, and some historical reflection, helps clarify the stakes of the simmering crisis in the Brazilian Armed Forces today. On May 23, General Eduardo Pazuello — who served a calamitous stint as Health Minister from September 2020 to May 15, 2021 — appeared alongside President Jair Bolsonaro at a political rally in Rio de Janeiro. Almost immediately, calls emerged for disciplinary action against Gen. Pazuello, an active-duty officer forbidden by the military code of conduct from participating in political events. 

It seemed almost a given that Gen. Pazuello, fresh from testifying before Congress regarding the country’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, would be punished. 

Vice President Hamilton Mourão — himself a retired general — called Gen. Pazuello’s actions “a transgression of army regulations” and noted that the military was handling the matter internally. Mr. Bolsonaro has stacked his administration with more military men than any other government since the return of civilian rule in 1985, but Gen. Pazuello’s preening...