Factions feel freer in left-wing government

Opposition to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is convinced that organized crime has detected a weakness in the federal government in combating gangs and crime. The arrest of suspects of organizing attacks against public agents, such as Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) and the wave of violence that occurred in Rio Grande do Norte suggest to opponents that criminal factions feel free and comfortable to act more radical in a left-wing government.

Federal deputy Alberto Fraga (PL-DF), president of the Parliamentary Front for Public Security, understands that there is no doubt that factions feel more comfortable committing crimes in the current government and that this suggests the government’s perception of weakness in relation to to combating gangs.

The government pointed out that at least 45 days ago its intelligence sectors identified the plan of the PCC (First Command of the Capital) to attack Moro and public security authorities and managed to disarticulate it effectively and without violence. The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, pointed out that the Federal Police (PF) makes no distinction when it comes to protecting society and that Moro may have been saved due to the efficiency and independence of the Federal Police.

During the Sequaz operation, the PF served at least nine out of a total of 11 arrest warrants and carried out searches in 24 locations that may have been used in planning to kill or kidnap public authorities.

The operation took place days after the start of a political discussion about a visit by Dino to the favela of Maré, in Rio de Janeiro, which is controlled by the criminal group Comando Vermelho.

“Just look at what happened during the political campaign, when Lula went to Complexo do Alemão and wasn’t bothered with absolutely nothing. Then, Flávio Dino [ministro da Justiça e Segurança Pública] went to Complexo da Maré to negotiate with NGOs asking that there be no incursions [policiais] in the favela”, accuses Fraga. “We clearly perceive that there is an approximation between the PT and the left with organized crime. Proofs do not yet exist, but soon, we will get there”, adds Fraga.

Dino said at the time that he went to visit a representative of social movements and accused opponents of “hatred of places where the poorest live”.

Moro’s interlocutors, who asked not to have their names revealed, say that Fraga’s analysis is shared among other senators. They said they believe that the environment favors the advancement of bills that toughen the fight against organized crime, such as Bill (PL) 1307/2023 proposed by Moro.

Along the same lines, former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), for example, associated organized crime and the left in a post of solidarity with Moro, who was Minister of Justice and Public Security in his government. He cited the death of former PT mayor Celso Daniel, in 2002, and the attack he suffered in the 2018 elections, in a critical reference to criminal factions.

However, the Civil Police of São Paulo concluded that the murder of Celso Daniel was a common crime and not a political one. But, witnesses were murdered along the way.

“In 2002, Celso Daniel. In, 2018, Jair Bolsonaro, and now Sérgio Moro. Everything cannot be just a coincidence. Absolute power at any price has always been the goal of the left”, he commented. “Our solidarity with Sérgio Moro, [o promotor] Lincoln Gakiya and family. CPMI [do 8 de janeiro] haunts the enemies of democracy,” he declared.

Gakyia is a public prosecutor in São Paulo who has been facing the PCC since his formation in São Paulo prisons in the early 2001s. Since 2009, he has been escorted and says that plans to assassinate him are frequent.

The fact that left-wing politicians and activists defend a Supreme Court ruling that has been limiting police actions against factions in Rio de Janeiro, due to the pandemic, also reinforces the perception of opponents and security analysts that crime is more free. to act.

However, the association between the strengthening of organized crime due to left-wing public policies generates controversy even among analysts.

“One cannot imagine that the bandits are taking advantage of a weakness in a left-wing government. The bandits are more concerned with their survival and profitability,” said retired São Paulo Military Police (PM-SP) Colonel José Vicente da Silva.

“We have about 70 criminal factions in the country and they don’t talk to each other, except for one or another game of criminal convenience of looking for weapons, getting drugs, but they are rivals”, he comments.

On the other hand, he claims that the new National Security with Citizenship Program (Pronasci II) launched by the federal government “does not work”. Without an efficient program, the expert warns that the very allocation of resources for the sector is compromised. “The national public security fund needs to be contained within a national plan, which it doesn’t have,” he says.

Opposition wants agenda of projects and impeachment and CPMI against Lula and crime

The PL proposed by Moro expands the protection of public or procedural agents involved in the fight against organized crime and typifies the conduct of obstructing actions against factions. The perception among opponents in Congress is that the senator’s proposal has a chance of moving forward, being approved and added to the other matters in progress that address the fight against crime.

The Chamber’s Committee on Public Security and Organized Crime, for example, began discussing an agenda of priority agendas to be voted on at the beginning of the legislature. There are a number of projects being processed in the House, such as proposals that toughen penalties and even a project forwarded by the Bolsonaro government that aims to guarantee the payment of compensation to victims of crimes, paid by criminals.

The president of the collegiate, Sanderson (PL-RS), has been discussing the distribution of reports with members. “The conversations began and I answered which projects I would be interested in reporting on. The distribution of reports began”, says deputy Paulo Bilynskyj (PL-SP). One of the measures to combat violence and crime defended by him is a proposal for an Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of his authorship, which guarantees the possession, carrying and ownership of a weapon to citizens.

The parliamentarian endorses the perception that the government has a “preference for criminal conduct” and considers that his analysis is corroborated by Lula’s decree that changes Bolsonaro’s gun policy. “The government preferred efforts to disarm good citizens to efforts to disarm criminals,” says Bilynskyj. He also criticizes Dino’s decision to extinguish the Specialized Operations Commands of the Federal Highway Police (PRF) and assign the corporation to focus only on its core business, that is, inspecting federal highways.

The deputy also considers that the investigation by the Federal Police (PF) against the gang suspected of organizing attacks against public agents will increase an existing link between Lula’s statements and the arrests carried out by the corporation. “Why does the president declare that he wants to f… Moro and, the next day, the PF arrests guys who were acting for that?”, he asks. After Lula’s speech and the investigation against the gang that threatens Moro, Bilynskyj says that “the entire opposition” is mobilized to ask for Lula’s impeachment.

However, the relationship between Lula’s speech on Tuesday and the PF operation on Wednesday was discarded by the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino. He said it was an “outrageously false narrative”. He also recalled that the PF protected Senator Moro.

On another front, federal deputy Bibo Nunes (PL-RS), for example, joined this Wednesday with a request for impeachment against the President of the Republic. For him, Lula violated the immunity assured to Moro with “a clear character of revenge” and committed a crime of impropriety by acting in a way “incompatible” with the “dignity, honor and decorum of the office of president” by “offending” and ” have a feeling of revenge” against the senator.

Another measure articulated by opponents is the request for the opening of a Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) to investigate the plans of the First Command of the Capital (PCC) organization of attacks against Moro and other public agents. That’s what Deputy Coronel Meira (PL-PE) proposed this Wednesday when he asked for the installation of a collegiate with the participation of 15 senators and 15 federal deputies.

Government resistance is a challenge to advance against government and factions

Despite the efforts, opponents fear that the government will do its best to prevent the advancement of strategies that try to associate Lula, the left and organized crime. The government’s attempt to withdraw signatures from the CPMI that proposes the investigation of the acts of vandalism on January 8, in Brasilia, is seen as a practical example by which a CPMI to investigate the PCC can be unsuccessful.

Even bills to tighten the sentence are difficult to pass due to government obstruction, criticizes deputy Alberto Fraga. “The Chamber has several projects to resolve the issue [do combate ao crime organizado]. The problem is that there is a lack of political will. The PT does not let the penalty increase or propose more rigid changes, everything is more difficult with the PT and the PSOL”, he comments.

The president of the Parliamentary Front for Public Security defends the approval of matters such as the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility and the end of “exits” of prison inmates, but reinforces that proposals to advance against crime are difficult without the support of a majority in Congress . “I say again: there are projects, and more. Just today they presented a project increasing the penalty by 80% for someone who commits crimes against public agents. But there is a lack of political will to vote and approve it”, criticizes Fraga.

The deputy points out, however, that it is possible for Dino to be summoned to the Chamber to clarify different questions from parliamentarians, such as his trip to Complexo da Maré and the current government’s projects for public safety. The idea is for the public security bench to decide this Thursday (23) on the appointment of the Minister of Justice. “Yesterday we were received by the minister, he was very sensitive to our demands from the bench, so, if he responds, we give an extended mood”, he comments.

Another resistance by the government concerns the idea of ​​activating the Armed Forces to curb the escalation of violence in Rio Grande do Norte. Federal deputy Sargento Gonçalves (PL-RN) and other parliamentarians asked the presidents of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, (PSD-MG), to ask for the sending of military troops through issue of a law and order guarantee decree (GLO).

So far, Lula and the governor of Rio Grande do Norte, Fátima Bezerra (PT), have resisted the edition of GLO. Gonçalves interprets the objection of the federal and state governments as collusion with organized crime in the state, which, according to the congressman, carried out attacks on more than 50 municipalities in the state.

In addition to defending the approval of legislative measures that toughen the penalties against organized crime and the fight against corruption, Gonçalves points out that an application was presented to the Public Security Commission of the Chamber requesting the installation of an external commission to monitor the situation in loco in the Rio Grande do Norte and that he also filed an impeachment request against the governor.

Despite the association made by opponents between a left-wing government and organized crime, the correlation is rejected by retired Colonel of the São Paulo Military Police (PM-SP), José Vicente da Silva. “One cannot imagine that the bandits are taking advantage of a weakness in a left-wing government. The crooks are more concerned about their survival and profitability. We have about 70 criminal factions in the country and they don’t talk to each other, except for one or another game of criminal convenience of looking for weapons, getting drugs, but they are rivals”, he comments.