Development: On 8 September Brazil’s defence minister, Jaques Wagner, contradicted the words of a presidential decree with a statement confirming that it would remain the military’s prerogative to manage its own personnel without government interference. Significance: President Dilma Rousseff last week signed a decree transferring from the armed forces command to the defence minister the prerogative to promote officers and control the curricula of military academies. The president apparently did so without consulting congress or the military beforehand. Wagner’s statement may raise some doubts as to the capacity of President Rousseff to communicate not only with Brazilian institutions but also…