Rio Civil Police Chief Resigns Following Operation Targeting Governor

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio’s Civil Police Secretary, Chief Detective Marcus Vinicius de Almeida Braga, resigned his post. Days after Operation Placebo, launched by the Federal Police targeting the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, Braga sent a letter in which he asked to be discharged, offering no explanation for his decision and expressing his gratitude for the “progress” achieved in a year and a half at the head of the department.

The delegate’s resignation occurs amid a succession of positions changed in the Rio de Janeiro Executive. On Thursday night, Governor Witzel dismissed the Chief of Staff André Moura and his Finance Secretary, Luiz Cláudio Rodrigues de Carvalho.

The decision signaled a nod from the governor to the Secretary of Economic Development, Lucas Tristão, regarded as an opponent of the dismissed personnel Tristão, like the first lady, Helena Witzel, is a key player in the Prosecutor’s Office investigation into corruption schemes in Health.

By dismissing the two secretaries, Witzel also prompted resignations in the Rio Legislative Assembly (ALERJ). The leader and deputy leader of the government in the Assembly announced that they will no longer serve. The friction with the ALERJ occurs amid three petitions for impeachment lodged after the operation – the first by Social Democratic Party deputies, the second by Bolsonarists, and the third by Novo deputies, who also call for Tristão to be removed.

In the letter sent to Witzel, delegate Braga stresses the Secretariat status granted to the Civil Police after the disbanding of the Secretariat of Public Safety, which has led criminal investigations to “unprecedented levels in history, being ensured complete independence, both in the conduction of investigations and in the selection of those in leadership and management positions”.

The new Civil Police chief has not yet been announced.