Brazil's military chiefs resign in dispute with Bolsonaro

The heads of the three branches of Brazil's armed forces issued their joint resignation on Tuesday in a historic move not seen since 1977 during the country's military dictatorship.

The generals stepped down in protest at a a sweeping cabinet reshuffle carried out by far-Right president Jair Bolsonaro on Monday, which included dismissing highly respected defence minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva.

Edson Pujol, Ilques Barbosa and Antonio Carlos Bermudez — commanders of Brazil's Army, Navy and Air Force respectively — met with the president's chief of staff on Tuesday morning and announced they would leave their posts with immediate effect.

The government did not directly acknowledge their resignation, stating that the trio will be "replaced", and going into no further detail on the reasons for their departure.

A former Army captain himself, Mr Bolsonaro was elected president in 2018 with the tacit support of the armed forces, but his relationship with the military top brass came under strain due to the government's disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Multiple military sources told Brazilian media that Mr Bolsonaro has complained of a "lack of support" from the armed forces, which led to public clashes with ex-defence minister Mr Azevedo e Silva and the outgoing army commander Gen Pujol.

Staunchly opposed to lockdown measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, Mr Bolsonaro sought backing from the armed forces and defence ministry to enact a state of emergency in Brazil, allowing him to outlaw the closure of commerce and other non-essential services.

No such support was forthcoming from either Mr Azevedo e Silva or Gen Pujol. In his letter of resignation, the former stressed that he had "always preserved the armed forces as institutions of the state", indicating that his fealty lay with the Brazilian constitution, and not president Bolsonaro.

Meanwhile, Gen Pujol has been in the president's bad books since April of last year, when he refused to shake Mr Bolsonaro's hand during a military ceremony, offering him an elbow bump instead.

Mr Bolsonaro went to the Supreme Court earlier this month in a bid to overturn lockdown measures in three Brazilian states. His appeal was dismissed, partly due to a legal opinion from solicitor general José Levi, who was also sacked on Monday.

Brazil has recorded almost 11 million coronavirus cases so far, and a total of 313,000 deaths. Public and private hospital networks across the country are rapidly running out of available intensive care beds, and stocks of medical oxygen and intubation kits are dangerously low.