Cities are considered strategic territories in the fight against organized crime
The federal government will create two offices, in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiroto help combat organized crime. You National Anti-Faction Offices (ENA) should be implemented later this month and will be coordinated by the National Secretariat of Public Security (Senasp), linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP).
The structure was designed by the folder to expand the Union’s presence in these locations. São Paulo and Rio were the cities chosen because they were considered strategic territories in the fight against organized crime. The two cities are the birthplace of the country’s largest factions: the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho.
In the future, the government plans to create three more offices in strategic regions: Fortaleza, Manaus and Foz do Iguaçu. The choice was made to include all other regions in addition to the Central-West and Southeast.
Cities are considered important due to their location, especially the last two because they are on the Amazon and the Triple Borderrespectively. The idea is that offices focus their work on articulating measures to financial suffocation and combating arms trafficking.
Last month, the federal government launched the program which includes investments of the order of R$ 1 billion to equip the security structures of States. In addition, the government will make available, via the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), R$ 10 billion to make loans available to the federation units.
The regional offices will have the function of articulate the work of institutions involved in combating crimesuch as the police and the Public Ministry. The idea is that ENA promotes integration between bodies from the three spheres of government: municipal, state and federal.
Structure
Federal Police, agents from other forces and partner bodies will be provided to staff the office. The government has not yet detailed how many employees will work in each unit. The office project provides three main structures:
- General coordination: the department will be responsible for promoting institutional coordination between entities involved in combating organized crime.
- Coordination of Operations and Intelligence: the structure will act by promoting the sharing of information for making intelligence decisions.
- Coordination of Institutional Coordination: This coordination will be responsible for taking care of the office’s relationship with bodies that work on public security policies.
In addition to cooperating in the formulation of crime-fighting operations, the office must also assist in other initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Justice, such as the Integrated Financial Investigation and Asset Recovery Committee (Cifra).
The group brings together members of the Financial Activities Control Council (Coaf), the police, the State Finance Departments, among others, with the purpose of financially dismantling criminal organizations.
O focus on the financial arm of the factions It is one of the main strategies highlighted by experts to dismantle organized crime. Recent investigations show that criminals have been using companies such as fintechs to launder money.
Another project that should receive support from the offices created by the MJSP is the Capture programwhich is aimed at identifying and arresting highly dangerous criminals.
In the specific case of the Rio de Janeiro office, the federal government intends to support security actions guided by the ADPF (Argution of Noncompliance with Fundamental Precepts) in the favelas. The action that was processed in the Supreme Court defined rules to combat police lethality during police operations in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
Government
The area of security is one of the most sensitive topics for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government. Datafolha research, released last month, showed that for 16% of the population this is the area of PT management with the worst performance. Followed by health, with 15%.
The Lula government has been having difficulty making a mark on public security. This is because its main bet for the sector, the proposed amendment to the Public Security Constitution (PEC), which strengthens federal forces to combat organized crime and constitutionalizes the Unified Public Security System (SUSP), for example, is stalled in the Senate.
The Anti-Faction Lawin turn, already in force, was modified by parliament, which incorporated demands from the conservative right and diverted the proposal from its original objective. The Brazil Against Organized Crime program was a way of maintaining a project under the control of the Executive Branch, with a signature from President Lula
The Bolsonaro opposition has been trying to drag the Lula government into the area of public security, where they dominate the narrative. In recent days, for example, senator and pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), who could face the president in a possible second round of the election, has celebrated the United States government’s decision to classify the PCC and the CV as narco-terrorist organizations.
The Lula government is against the name, as it understands that the factions do not fit into Brazilian legislation that deals with terrorism and that the decision could lead to interference. Foreigner in the country, in addition to possible economic sanctions. Bolsonaristas, in turn, have exploited Lula’s annoyance to accuse him of benefiting and sympathizing with criminal groups.
