The newspaper Le Monde, which hits the newsstands on Tuesday (16), features an article on violence in Rio de Janeiro, denouncing the ineffectiveness of police operations to curb crime.
(RFI) In Brazil, Lula defeated by the rise of organized crime” is the title of the text signed by French correspondent Anne-Dominique Correa. She reports on the change of command in one of the main militias in the state of Rio de Janeiro, described by Le Monde as a “criminal paramilitary group formed by former police officers”.
The report recalls President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s promise to “remove the power of organized crime” when he announced the deployment of 3,700 military personnel to patrol the country’s ports and airports. It was an “unplanned” operation that only had a “palliative effect”, says Bruno Longeani, a security expert at the “Sou da Paz” Institute, who was interviewed by Le Monde.
“Criminals feel free to kill at any time of the day, in any city, without fear of being arrested,” says the lawyer. For him, only “a reinforcement of intelligence, prevention and coordination between the state police and federal forces” could result in an effective change.
The text goes on to explain that “the multiplication of episodes of violence in Rio de Janeiro bears witness to the progression of organized crime, which controls half of Rio’s territory”.
Le Monde also cites the growth of violence in Bahia, which has “the second highest homicide rate in the country, with 47 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, double the national average”, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP).
The Amazon is also cited for bordering several cocaine-producing countries. The region has become “the main center of drug trafficking in Latin America”, as well as being home to “wildlife traffickers, deforestation gangs and illegal mining”.
Achilles heel
For Le Monde, “criminals are not just a challenge for the police, but for the government, which is unable to maintain its political agenda and meet social and environmental objectives”.
The article concludes by saying that public security has become the “Achilles heel of the Brazilian government”, since 47% of the people interviewed in a recent poll consider the Lula government’s security policy to be “very bad”. For the first time in six years, 60% of Brazilians interviewed in this type of poll consider “crime to be the country’s main problem”, more serious than corruption or the economy.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***