Governor Witzel Suggests Closing Access to Rio’s Favelas to Counter Cargo Theft

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The proposal is part of a plan to counter cargo theft announced on Wednesday, October 16th, by Governor Wilson Witzel. The initiative, scheduled for early 2020, would feature in a Present Safety project and would act in “stretches of roads and accesses where there is access to cargo theft in [favela] communities,” said Witzel.

It “[will] virtually eliminate and greatly reduce the money that finances arms and drug trafficking in our state,” he continued.

The governor, who was elected on the back of Bolsonarism and is now in a covert dispute with President Jair Bolsonaro over the 2022 election, did not detail how this control would be carried out.

But when asked about the plan he had presented at an event in Copacabana, he said that “there will be no violation of the freedom to come and go of any citizen” living in those places.

The state would “control suspicious vehicles” and, only if favela residents would agree, would it carry out more direct surveillance. The community has to talk to us and say, “Oh, we want control,” he told reporters when leaving another appointment on the same day.

This would be a “very important” step, according to Witzel, who compared the scenario with inspections carried out in private condominiums and in many places,” he said.

The governor further said the program could rely on the use of helicopters and high-speed motorcycles to reduce cargo theft which, according to him, generates a loss of more than R$5 billion (US$1,250 billion) annually.

Data from the ISP (Public Safety Institute) show that, from January to August, the state suffered 5,277 crimes of this nature. Throughout 2018, 9,182 shipments were stolen.

A study by FIRJAN (Rio Federation of Industries) showed that, between 2011 and 2016, there were more than 97,000 such crimes throughout the country, with an impact of more than R$6.1 billion.

It was aboard a helicopter used by the Civil Police that Witzel witnessed officers machine-gunning a prayer tent in Angra dos Reis (RJ) in May. They confused it with a spot where criminals would meet, which the leader of the Rio de Janeiro government had pledged to “end”.

The use of these aircraft to fire rounds is contrary to a regulation published in October by the state’s former Secretariat of Public Safety.

Three months later, the governor challenged the authenticity of letters written by children in Complexo da Maré who said they were terrified of police violence in the area. Many of them asked the helicopters to stop shooting from above.

Witzel reiterated his support for the use of aircraft. “These criminals are desperate because, by helicopter, we quickly get to where drugs and weapons are stored.”

Still in the midst of controversies in the field of public safety: the elected governor and former judge said the police should aim “at the head and … fire” against criminals who carried automatic rifles, even if they did not pose an immediate threat of opening fire on someone.

The opposition to his government reacted to the concept of controlling access to favela communities.

State Deputy Renata Souza was among the critical voices: in her opinion, the program imposes an “apartheid in Rio” by “further reducing the terrible mobility of those living in shantytowns”.

Source: Folhapress