Brazil: Governors of nine states sign pact to fight crime

Governors of nine states in North and Central-West Brazil signed a commitment with the federal government to put up joint efforts to combat organised crime and transnational drug trafficking, reduce homicide, femicide, and make Brazil's prison system more efficient. The document was signed by the governors of Acre, Roraima, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Amazonas, Rondônia, Amapá, and Pará.

Following the prison riots that broke out in the early days of the year in different Brazilian states, which has resulted in 100 inmates killed, the federal government has held meetings with agencies linked to the penitentiary system, and state representatives and launched a National Public Security Plan two weeks ago.

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes was at President Michel Temer's meeting with the governors on Wednesday (Jan 18) , and said the actions outlined in the plan will be rolled out as of the second half of January in Rio Grande do Sul, Sergipe, and Rio Grande do Norte. The nine states that were at the meeting will then receive assistance with drug trafficking and transnational crime.

Asked whether these actions, by leading to more arrests, would worsen the problem of prison overcrowding, Minister Moraes said there would be “additional efforts” to “release those who don't need jail and keep those who need it.”

Borders

Mato Grosso Governor Pedro Taques joined the appeals from Confúsio Moura, governor of Rondônia, to step up border security.

“You can't have Armed Forces with men deployed in every mile of the border. Mato Grosso has 750 kilometres of land borders with Bolivia, so we need tech resources through Sisfron [the border monitoring system], the national border security sistems, and stronger Armed Forces operations...,” he urged.

Taques reiterated calls from state security departments to provide more details as to where the resources to fund the national plan execution would come from. “We need less talk and more resources. There's no public security without money. And for the money, we need to turn to the federal government's sources,” he said.

According to Alexandre de Moraes, the plan does not incur any additional costs to the states—the resources that will be used by the federal government to pay the military police deployments, for example, has already been provided for in this year's Justice Ministry budget.

Translated by Mayra Borges

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