Júlio César de Arruda was in command of the Brazilian armed forces for just a few weeks.

At the weekend, the new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, removed him from his post and replaced him with General Tomás Paiva.

Arruda is said to have refused or only reluctantly followed several government instructions.

A number of military personnel, who are responsible for the security of President Lula, among other things, had already been dismissed from the security services of the President's Office.

The incidents on January 8, when radical supporters of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro stormed the government district in the capital, Brasília, severely damaged Lula's confidence in the army.

In an interview, he said that the armed forces "are not the moderating force they think they are".

He had previously said that he suspected

Tjerk Bruhwiller

Correspondent for Latin America based in São Paulo.

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The President isn't the only one suspecting this.

The behavior of the army in the hours after the riot, for example, caused a stir when those involved returned to the camp in front of the army headquarters in Brasília, from which they had come.

The army denied police access to identify and arrest people.

The order for this is said to have come from the very top, i.e. from Arruda himself.

Family members and acquaintances of generals are said to have been among the people in the camp.

Only the next day, and after heated discussions between the army leadership and the government, were the police allowed to evacuate the camp, which had been set up immediately after the runoff election at the end of October.

Camps had also been set up in other places in front of military installations or on military grounds.

According to experts, they played a central role before the riot.

They had attracted radical Bolsonaro supporters who did not accept the election result and openly called for military intervention to prevent Lula's inauguration.

Although calling for a coup is a criminal offence, the camps have been tolerated by the army for more than 70 days and defended as a peaceful and democratic rally.

Will the military intervene one day?

Juliano Cortinhas, professor of international relations and military studies at the University of Brasília, describes the camps as "military camps" whose formation took place simultaneously across the country and must therefore have been coordinated.

The camp in Brasília became the "logistics base" for the acts of violence on January 8th.

"The risk from there was obvious." Cortinhas specifically points to a failed bomb attack on December 24, when a massive explosive charge was discovered on a fuel truck near Brasília airport.

The bomber, a 54-year-old entrepreneur from northern Brazil, has confessed.

He had been in the extremists' camp in the weeks before.

"The new government made the mistake of

not to have the camps cleared on the first day after taking office,” says Cortinhas.

There were no clear instructions.

The camps were not only tolerated.

In November, as road blockades and demonstrations against the election results swept the country, the army leaders sent a message "to the people and institutions" defending the rallies in front of the military installations.

"The army leadership thus legitimized the protests and at the same time authorized members of the army to support them and take part in them," says Marcelo Pimentel.

The army is not entitled to do this.

Pimentel himself served in the army for a long time, including as an instructor.

Today, the reserve colonel is one of the few critical voices within the institution, which is why several disciplinary proceedings have been opened against him.

Among other things, Pimentel criticizes the behavior of reserve generals,