Brazil gov’t orders deployment of Armed Forces in Roraima state

President Michel Temer ruled the deployment of the Armed Forces in the state of Roraima, north Brazil. The decision, made official Tuesday (Aug. 28), comes under a decree entitled Guarantee for Law and Order.

“I have ordered the deployment of the Armed Forces under the Guarantee for Law and Order in the state of Roraima—naturally to provide safety to Brazilian citizens and Venezuelan migrants who flee to Brazil in search of refuge. I’ve made this decision to add to the humanitarian efforts that the federal government has made for months in Pacaraima and Boa Vista,” the president said in his address at the Planalto presidential palace.

Defense Minister General Silva e Luna reported that no request had been made by state governor Suely Campos to enact such a decree. The military hold police status for as long as the decree is effective—from August 29 to September 12—after which the measure will be revised and a decision made as to whether it will continue.

The agents engaged are those already in the region—of the First Forest Infantry Brigade, based in state capital Boa Vista. The area covered encompasses Pacaraima, a town on the border with Venezuela, as well as Boa Vista.

According to Sérgio Etchegoyen, the president’s secretary for institutional security, the plan aims to curb the crisis facing the state, and not to prevent Venezuelans from entering the country. Etchegoyen said that, of the 600 to 700 Venezuelans crossing the border daily, only some 20 to 30 percent enter the country.