Armed Forces Reaffirm Support for Security Operations in Rio

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Armed Forces reaffirmed their support in maintaining the Law and Order Guarantee (GLO) operations in Rio de Janeiro. In a statement released yesterday (Saturday, September 16th), the Military Command of the East (CML) clarified that there will be no discontinuation of actions.

According to government news sources, the statement clarified that there are funds provided by the Ministry of Defense for the maintenance of joint actions with the Secretary of State for Security.

“The Joint Chiefs of Staff, made up of representatives of the three Armed Forces and of federal and state public security organs, remains in a position to carry out the planning and coordination of integrated actions, at the request of the Secretary of State for Security,” says the notice.

The statement is a response to the announcement that operations of the Armed Forces could be discontinued due to lack of money, which was broadcast in part of the press on Friday (September 15th).

The command stressed that funds to support operations are already being sent from the Ministry of Defense to other military units through normal bureaucratic procedures.

Yesterday, the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FIRJAN) issued a note considering the return of the military to security operations essential.

“[We] come to the public to express that it considers indispensable the return of the federal troops to the operations of combat to the crime in the State of Rio de Janeiro.”

“When federal actions began, at the end of July, there was a promise that they would extend until 2018. The population of Rio de Janeiro counts on the preservation of this commitment,” says the note.

The entity, which represents the industrial segment of the state, has called for a meeting between state and federal security agents to ensure the permanence of troops in Rio.

The announcement by the military was certainly welcome news as tension flares this morning in Rocinha, in the Zona Sul (South Zone) of Rio. According to several reports of residents in social networks, the community woke up under a major firefight.

According to residents’ reports, the violence is because of a war between rival factions. In their account on Twitter, the Military Police asks people to avoid going to the area this morning.

Since July the implementation of the National Security Plan in Rio de Janeiro brought 8,500 members of the Armed Forces, 620 members of the National Security Force and 1,120 of the Federal Highway Police, in an effort to improve security.

However the state announced in August that the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) program in Rio will undergo major structural reforms, cutting its standing force by one third, approximately 3,000 officers.