Rio will receive Federal support against attacks at Pacification Units
Brasília - Rio Governor Sérgio Cabral and Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo, after a meeting with President Dilma Rousseff at the presidential palace.
The Federal government will offer its support to public security authorities in Rio de Janeiro in an attempt to help the state face the attacks in the pacified favela communities, announced on Friday (Mar. 21) Rio Governor Sérgio Cabral and Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo, after a meeting with President Dilma Rousseff at the presidential palace.
“We have requested President Rousseff and the federal government to provide the support of the Federal Forces in the fight against organized crime in Rio de Janeiro, which proves necessary now that organized crime attempts, after the progress made by the pacification police, to threaten the presence of the police in these communities through cowardly attacks, bringing about panic and disorder in the communities, making victims among officers from the military and the civil police,” Cabral declared.
According to the governor, public security leaders at federal and state levels are expected to draw up new strategies at a meeting scheduled for Monday (24) at the Command and Control Center, in Rio de Janeiro. Until then, Cabral added, public security will be ensured by the deployment of all the police forces of the state on full alert.
“They have all been summoned extraordinarily. We will not wait until Monday. Our action begins today, Saturday and Sunday, and we will keep acting next week, with the federal support in operation. We are not idle; we are acting,” he said.
When asked about the deployment of agents from the National Security Force and the Army in the operation, Minister Cardozo declared that the actions will not be disclosed. “The questions you may ask about what forces will intervene, where and how, I will not be able to answer. Questions of public security will be dealt with confidentially. In the future, Governor Sérgio Cabral and I will account for all that will have been done, as well as our plan, but it should be formulated and carried out first.”
In Cabral’s view, the fight against organized crime in Rio de Janeiro is at a crucial moment, as the attacks were aimed at hindering the work of the Police Pacification Units (UPP’s) and the pacification policy in effect in the favelas.
“There has been a clear attempt at demoralizing the pacification policy that made Rio de Janeiro a landmark in terms of territorial occupation, permanent presence and the guarantee that as of this point the lives of the people who live there will have improved. The progress made is remarkable and criminals see at this moment an opportunity to make this project vulnerable.”
The governor said that asking for the support of federal forces to bring the public security situation under control is no reason for embarrassment, and that both the federal and the state governments should work together to fight organized crime. “Criminals try to take back territories, they try to demoralize our police, and the State is a single entity. It must show how strong, united and capable of defeating organized crime it is,” he added.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Rio will receive Federal support against attacks at Pacification Units
