The Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, announced last Saturday night the change of Army Command. General Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva assumes command in place of General Júlio César de Arruda, appointed in December, during the transitional government.
“Relations, mainly in the Army Command, suffered a fracture in a level of trust and we thought that we needed to stop that from the beginning to overcome this episode. I would like to introduce the replacement, General Tomás, who as of today is the new commander”, said José Múcio Monteiro. “Today, we are investing once again in bringing our Armed Forces closer to President Lula’s government.”
The announcement of the change of command was made after a meeting with the participation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Minister of Defense, the new commander of the Army and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Rui Pimenta. Afterwards, Lula posted a photo on Twitter with General Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva and wished “a good job to the general”.
Today, together with the Minister of Defense, José Múcio, I spoke with General Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, the new commander of the Army. I wish the General a good job.
?: @ricardostuckert pic.twitter.com/1Ixf3ZVYyb
— Lula (@LulaOficial) January 21, 2023
The new army commander was at the head of the Southeast Military Command. Since 1975 in the military, he has already commanded troops in the Haiti mission and in the pacification of Complexo do Alemão, in Rio de Janeiro, in addition to being a military advisor for Brazil with the Ecuadorian Army.
At an event on January 18, which brought together military personnel who served in Haiti, General Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva defended that the result of the elections should be respected.
