Senate approves president's intervention decree in Rio state

The Brazilian Senate approved the federal intervention decree for public security in Rio de Janeiro state, with 55 favorable and 13 opposing votes, plus one abstention. After the move was ratified by both congressional houses, the government is to name an interventor for the state due to the “severe danger facing public order,” as solicited by President Michel Temer last Friday (Feb 16).

The vote in the Senate lasted a little more than three hours, half the time spent on the matter by the lower house, which voted 350-72 in the early hours yesterday (20). This is the first time a federal intervention is conducted in a Brazilian state since 1988.

During the session, five senators spoke for the decree and five against it. The opposition requested the creation of a temporary external commission to monitor the developments of the intervention.

Senator Eunício Oliveira, head of the Brazilian Congress, is to complete the final proceedings and publish the decree, authorizing the president to appoint General Walter Braga Netto to spearhead the plan, as interventor.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira