Allies of the president () criticized, this Wednesday (29), the governor of , Claudio Castro (), and the other opposition governors of the state that left more than a hundred people dead in the state and became .
Politicians from the PT camp say that Castro and the other governors use police action for electoral purposes and classify what happened as a massacre.
After remaining silent about the case this Wednesday, he addressed the issue in a post on a social network.
“I met this morning with ministers from my government and ordered the Minister of Justice and the director general of the Federal Police to go to Rio to meet with the governor. We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents and spread drugs throughout the cities,” he wrote.
Two of Lula’s interlocutors said they saw the ceremony at Palácio do Planalto as an opportunity for the president to address the issue, at a time when the opposition is using the operation to attack the federal administration and — the PT member is.
Earlier, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, stated that the head of the Executive was “appalled” by the number of deaths and “was surprised that an operation of this scale was launched without the knowledge of the federal government”.
The governor carried out the operation for public security, while members of the Planalto saw Castro’s opportunistic and electoral motivation. There is an assessment among Lula’s allies that the governor of Rio de Janeiro is trying to transfer responsibility for his management of the mega-operation to the Executive.
They also see it as an attempt to damage the image of the PT government in public security — an area in which the Lula 3 administration has not yet shown great results and which is the target of criticism from PT opponents. The topic of public security should be one of the main ones to be explored in the 2026 elections.
The president of the PT, Edinho Silva, classified the governors’ stance as “regrettable”, saying it was “politicking”.
“It is regrettable that governors, in the saga of attacking President Lula, set up a platform over the bodies of hundreds of dead people, that they hold a rally over the tears of hundreds of mothers who have not yet buried their children. It will not be with politics that we will defeat organized crime, but rather with competence, as was done in Operation Hidden Carbon”, he stated in a post on social media.
As shown by Sheetthis morning to provide support to Castro. A new in-person meeting should take place in Rio this Thursday (30). The meeting was attended by the governors of , (Republicans); from Minas Gerais, (New); from Goiás, (); from Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello (); and from Mato Grosso, Mauro Mendes (União Brasil).
Marcelo Freixo, president of Embratur, stated that the police action is an “electoral massacre” that was “politically planned”.
“The number of massacres in the pre-election period is no coincidence. This is a massacre that has a very strong electoral bias. The governor lies when he says that the federal government does not help him. GLO was not requested [Garantia da Lei e da Ordem]no assistance was requested. Fighting organized crime means fighting financial crime,” he told reporters.
These allies also compare the operation in the Alemão and Penha complexes with the counter-money laundering of organized crime, launched by the Federal Revenue Service, the Public Ministry of São Paulo and other bodies of the São Paulo government.
In his speech at this Wednesday’s ceremony, when he said that Lula is a president who “knows that the head of organized crime in this country is not in a shack in a favela, he is often involved in money laundering there in the [avenida] Faria Lima, as we saw in the Hidden Carbon operation.”
The PT leader in the Chamber, deputy (RJ), stated that the federal government’s action in Rio will be the opposite of Castro’s. “It’s an intelligence, investigation task force. Let’s do as was done in , where the entire criminal scheme was disrupted, people linked to the financial market were affected.”
In an interview with the press in the Chamber, deputy Talíria Petrone (PSOL-RJ) called Castro incompetent and cowardly, while deputy Benedita da Silva (PT-RJ) stated that he is “untrustworthy to deal with the issue of security” and that he is responsible, despite trying to transfer responsibility to the federal government.
“Rio’s security policy is the policy of slaughter. A government with low popularity, which wants to create a fact that appeals to common sense. What is happening is using fear, pain, death to carry out electoral politics”, said Jandira Feghali (PC of B-RJ).
Seven trade unions released a statement to the press on Wednesday night criticizing the mega-operation and classifying it as a “barbaric spectacle”. In the document, the presidents of the centrals say that the episode “hurts national conscience and embarrasses Brazil before the world” and say that the action was “disastrously commanded” by governor Cláudio Castro. Representatives of unions such as CUT, Força Sindical, UGT and CTB signed the note.
Early Wednesday evening, however, the tone between the state and federal governments changed and became more cooperative. The Minister (Justice and Public Security) met with Castro in Rio to discuss the developments of the operation. The authorities.
The new body will be jointly coordinated by the Secretary of Public Security of Rio de Janeiro, Victor Cesar Santos, and the National Secretary of Public Security, Mario Sarrubbo. “The idea is that our actions are 100% integrated from now on, including to overcome possible bureaucracy”, stated Castro.
Lewandowski announced that the federal government will be able to reinforce the actions of the National Force, Federal Highway Police, Federal Police and forensic investigations in the state, in response to the escalation of violence. The minister reinforced that the Security PEC, currently under analysis in the Chamber, aims precisely to integrate the actions of the federal government, states and municipalities in combating crime.
Another project mentioned by the minister is the so-called anti-faction, sent last week to the Civil House and still under analysis. According to sources heard by the report, the proposal should be sent to Congress soon, given what happened in Rio. The president of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), declared that he will give priority to the matter.
The project seeks to update the Criminal Organizations Law, in addition to promoting changes to the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Heinous Crimes Law, the Temporary Prison Law and the Criminal Execution Law.
