President of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, announced this Wednesday (1st) an operation with the participation of military personnel in some ports and airports to combat organized crime.
The decree authorizes a Law and Order Guarantee (GLO) operation of the Armed Forces, starting on Monday (6). The goal is to help Rio de Janeiro combat a public security crisis. The Decree will remain in force until May 2024.
Navy ships will monitor the ports of Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro, and Santos, in São Paulo. There will be an increase in personnel in Guanabara Bay, Sepetiba Bay and maritime access to the Port of Santos.
Air Force teams will help control Galeão airport, in Rio, and Guarulhos, in São Paulo. Soldiers will reinforce border surveillance in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná.
The Lula’s Administration chose these areas because they are entry points for drugs and weapons for organized crime operating in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In total, 3,700 soldiers will be mobilized.
“The violence that we have been witnessing has gotten worse and we, therefore, decided that the federal government should actively participate with all the potential it has so that we can help the local governments and help Brazil itself to get rid of organized crime, gangs, drug trafficking and weapons trafficking”, said Lula in a press conference after announcing the decree.
The latest wave of unrest in Rio began on October 5, when assassins killed three doctors in a beachside bar, mistaking one of them for a member of a militia. The city’s powerful militias emerged in the 1990s and were originally made up mainly of former police officers, firefighters and military personnel who wanted to combat lawlessness in their neighborhoods. They began charging residents for protection and other services, but more recently they turned to drug trafficking themselves.
Source: G1 and AP