Brazilian Military Takes Command of Rio State Security.
| Autor | Scruggs, Gregory |
Calling for "extreme measures" following months of worsening violence in the state of Rio de Janeiro, including robberies and shootouts that marred Rio's Carnaval celebrations, President Michel Temer announced on Feb. 16 that the Brazilian military would assume control of all security and policing operations in the state. Temer's move marks the first time since the restoration of democracy and the adoption of the 1988 Constitution that the federal government has interfered in state affairs. Under the Brazilian Constitution's federal system, public security is a state government responsibility.
"The federal government will give a hard and firm response and adopt all the necessary steps to confront and defeat organized crime and gangs," Temer said in a speech. He accused organized crime of "having almost taken over Rio de Janeiro" in a way that "metastasizes" to infect the entire country.
"We are seeing entire neighborhoods besieged, schools in the line of fire, streets turned into trenches," he said. "We are not going accept those who kill our future and continue to assassinate our future."
On Feb. 17, Temer traveled to Rio and formally appointed General Walter Souza Braga Netto of the Comando Militar do Leste as the new official in charge of the state's security operations. He also announced the formation of a new Ministerio da Seguranca Publica that would oversee all police and armed forces in the country, effectively replacing the Ministerio da Justica. The former secretary of security for the state of Rio de Janeiro, Jose Mariano Beltrame, the architect of a once-successful favela pacification program, is rumored to be a leading candidate to direct the new ministry.
The federal intervention is not a military occupation, although there will likely be an increased military presence on the streets of Rio. Rather, military officials will take over the leadership of the state's Secretariat of Public Security for an indeterminate period and will not be responsible to the state governor. Political analysts and opposition politicians called the move a smokescreen to mask Temer's fading political fortunes and avoid a controversial vote on social security reform.
Escalating violence
As Ash Wednesday dawned on Feb. 14, the media image of Brazil's most famous Carnaval city was tarnished. For several days during the annual festivities, television stations broadcast footage of gunfights in favela communities and robberies of tourists, sometimes...
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