Brazil militarises key ports and borders to 'suffocate' organised crime

By Diane Jeantet
November 2, 2023 — 11.55am

Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he is sending the armed forces to boost security at some of the country’s most important airports, ports and international borders as part of an urgent renewed effort to tackle organised crime.

The decision comes days after members of a criminal gang set fire to dozens of buses in Rio de Janeiro, apparently in retaliation for the police slaying their leader’s nephew.

“We have reached a very serious situation,” Lula said at a press conference in Brasilia after signing the decree. “So we have made the decision to have the federal government participate actively, with all its potential, to help state governments, and Brazil itself, to get rid of organised crime.”

The country will mobilise 3600 members of the army, navy and air force to increase patrols and monitor the international airports in Rio and Sao Paulo, as well as two maritime ports in Rio and Sao Paulo’s Santos port, the busiest in Latin America — and a major export hub for cocaine.

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The latest wave of unrest in Rio began October 5, when assassins killed three doctors in a beachside bar, mistaking one of them for a member of a militia. The doctors had been attending an international conference at a hotel across the road. The city’s powerful militias emerged in the 1990s and were originally comprised mainly former police officers, firefighters and military men who wanted to combat lawlessness in their neighbourhoods. They charged residents for protection and other services, but more recently moved into drug trafficking themselves.

More:
https://www.watoday.com.au/world/south-america/brazil-militarises-key-ports-and-borders-to-suffocate-organised-crime-20231102-p5eh48.html