Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, announced on Wednesday (1st) an operation involving military participation at some ports and airports to combat organized crime.
The decree authorizes a Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO) operation by the Armed Forces, starting Monday (6). The aim is to assist Rio de Janeiro in tackling a public security crisis. The decree will be in effect until May 2024.
Naval 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 assist in controlling the Galeão airport in Rio and Guarulhos in São Paulo. Soldiers will reinforce surveillance at the borders of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Paraná.
The Lula administration chose these areas because they are entry points for drugs and weapons for the organized crime operating in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. A total of 3,700 military personnel will be mobilized.
“The violence we have witnessed has worsened, and we have therefore decided that the federal government must actively participate with all the potential it has so that we can help local governments and help Brazil itself rid itself of organized crime, factions, drug trafficking, and arms trafficking,” Lula said at a press conference after announcing the decree.
The latest wave of violence in Rio began on October 5, when assassins killed three doctors at a seaside bar, mistaking one of them for a member of a militia. The city’s powerful militias emerged in the 1990s and were originally composed 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 turned to drug trafficking themselves.
Source: G1 and AP