Marcelo Benchimol, 67 years old, was walking down the street when he saw a lady being robbed, decided to intervene and ended up not only robbed but also thrown to the ground, in shocking footage documented by security cameras and broadcast across Brazil. Because it was in Copacabana, one of the most famous neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, the country and even the world, the political consequences are far-reaching: they reach the Palácio do Planalto in Brasilia. Public security, or lack thereof, is the biggest Achilles heel of Lula da Silva’s government.
After the case involving Benchimol and many others, groups of “judges” began chasing the robbers, causing chaos in Rio’s southern zone. Business owners in those neighborhoods increased security measures and residents started using cell phones for a day. with the essential data, to stay at home, away from thieves. Thefts in Copacabana increased by 56% between January and October 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
“I will never defend the formation of vigilante groups, but does anyone think that the population will simply remain passive and watch neighbors, friends and relatives who are victims of violent crimes without doing anything, while the state neglects its most fundamental task? ‘ he wondered. the economist Joel Pinheiro da Fonseca, columnist for the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
However, Rio is just the tip of a media iceberg: according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP), reports of violations across the country increased by an average of 16.3% in the first half of 2023, which amounts to that every In eight minutes, a woman is raped, the highest rate since 2019. In the state of São Paulo, the most populous state in the country, the number of femicides has increased by 33.7% this year, and in Minas Gerais, the second most populated, with 25.6%.
In response, police, especially those in Rio and Bahia, have been in the news for massacres in favelas “looking for suspects”. But it is in Mato Grosso, where police killed 66 people this year compared to 15 in 2022, that the 340% increase in police crime was most striking. In the Federal District, Santa Catarina and Roraima, the number of police casualties doubled.
In the Legal Amazon, a group of states that is home to the tropical forest, a November FBSP study indicates that the number of violent deaths in the region is now 45% higher than the national average due to the war between Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, Brazil’s two largest criminal organizations, started there seven years ago.
The police and politics
These figures generate others: according to a survey carried out in recent days by the Atlas Intel Institute, 60.8% of Brazilians see “crime and drug trafficking as the main problem in the country” and 41% of them consider the performance of the government in this area as bad. “horrible”. . According to the survey, six in ten Brazilians are afraid to walk on the street. Another survey two months earlier found that health-related violence was Brazilians’ top concern, according to the Datafolha Institute.
Therefore, a third survey, by the Ipec Institute, on the 8th, showed that, despite the economy showing positive signs, a drop in Lula’s approval by two percentage points – to 38% – and an increase in rejections by five – to 30%, was recorded. .
The warning was sounded in Planalto because the Public Security portfolio, linked to Justice in the same ministry, has virtually no owner. Flávio Dino, the still sitting president, was appointed by Lula to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and has already taken an “oral test” in the Senate this week, the last procedure before he ends up in court.
However, Dino’s actions at the Ministry of Justice and Public Security were considered negative: with spectacular slogans and a press conference, he announced the deployment of the National Armed Forces to Rio for 45 days after the militia set fire to buses, but according to the magazine Veja Not only did the special forces not seize any weapons or drugs, but they also saw the wave of robberies in Copacabana begin right under their noses. The operation cost 10 million reais (almost two million euros).
According to observers, the minister’s biggest political mistake with these festive announcements was that he had placed a problem on the federal government, namely Public Security, which is mainly the local responsibility of the states and town halls.
“On the right, the easiest answer is to blame Lula. A speech that forgets that those who ensure public security are mainly the state government and the city hall,” continues Pinheiro da Fonseca. “However, the accusation has a grain of truth: the left has no proposals in the field of security,” the economist concludes.
Because violence affects the government’s approval, the president hesitates in choosing Dino’s replacement. Hypotheses have already been mentioned: Ricardo Capelli, the minister’s right-hand man, Ricardo Lewandowski, former STF judge, Gleisi Hoffmann, the current president of the PT, Jorge Messias, Attorney General of the Union, or Simone Tebet, the former presidential candidate who occupied the Development portfolio. The breakup of the ministry, Justice on the one hand and Public Security on the other, is also a possibility for 2024.
Source: DN
