The commanders of Brazil’s army, navy, and air force, General Edson Leal Pujol, Admiral Ilques Barbosa, and Lt. Brig Antonio Carlos Bermudez, have all resigned following the resignation of defense minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva on Monday.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is increasingly under fire by the population especially given his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has resisted implementing quarantine measures, stating that the damage to Brazil’s economy would be worse than the virus itself. There have been nearly 12.5 million cases of the coronavirus and over 314,000 deaths in Brazil. Less than two percent of the Brazilian population have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Bolsonaro had even told Brazil’s citizens to “stop whining.”  

Bolsonaro, who has been in office since 2019, reshuffled his cabinet following a slew of resignations.

Azevedo resigned after his disagreement with Bolsonaro over the loyalty of the armed forces. Azevedo said that the armed forces should be upholding the constitution rather than supporting the president personally. Azevedo’s resignation came after Bolsonaro had demanded that the leaders of the defense ministry be more loyal to him than to the constitution, according to the Brazilian newspaper Estado. The defense ministry refused to abide by Bolsonaro’s demands.