Federal program to combat criminal organizations announced

Brasilia DF) – The Ministry of Justice and Public Security announced, this Monday (2), a series of measures to combat criminal organizations. The actions are part of the National Program to Combat Criminal Organizations (Enfoc), an offshoot of the Security Action Program (PAS), established in July this year.

According to minister Flávio Dino, the federal government will allocate R$900 million to cover part of the initiatives to be carried out under the program, until 2026. Divided into five axes, Enfoc foresees actions to strengthen integration between federal and state bodies of public security; as well as to improve the efficiency of police agencies.

“What is characteristic of Enfoc, what distinguishes it, is exactly this dimension of work [conjunto] of the police [dos estados] and federal”,

said the minister, detailing the other three axes of the program: surveillance at ports, airports, borders and currency exchanges; improving the efficiency of the Criminal Justice system and greater cooperation between states and the federal government in combating organized crime.

Some actions already underway were incorporated into Enfoc, such as integrated operations and training measures for public servants who work to combat criminal organizations.

According to Dino, the program is the result of months of debates with different bodies and entities, including the Armed Forces, and is not a one-off response to recent cases. According to the minister, there are currently around 60 groups classified as criminal organizations operating in Brazilian territory. And one of the most effective ways to face them is to decapitalize them.

“This is fundamental because it reduces the financial and military power of organizations”, explained Dino, anticipating that, next week, the federal government will announce a program on asset recovery.

According to the minister, since the beginning of the year, the Federal Police (PF) has already seized or blocked around R$2.2 billion in assets belonging to national and transnational groups dedicated to crime – an amount almost seven times higher than the R$ $330 million seized or blocked throughout last year.

Emergencies

In addition to the ministerial decree that deals with the National Program to Combat Criminal Organizations, Dino signed two terms of authorization and a second decree that add to the actions to combat violence.

One of the terms makes it possible to transfer R$20 million from the National Public Security Fund to the government of Bahia, which should use the amount to strengthen the state’s public security and defense institutions.

The other authorization term deals with the sending of personnel from the National Public Security Force to Rio de Janeiro, where the agents will work “to combat criminal activities that impact public security and indicators of violent deaths”.

In recent weeks, both states have recorded an increase in the number of violent deaths, including deaths recorded as resulting from clashes with the police.

“In Bahia, there is, unfortunately, an armed power installed in criminal organizations that offer strong resistance and try to impose territorial dominance, similar to what happened in other states”,

Dino commented when lamenting the deaths of police officers and civilians.

The second ministerial order defines the guidelines for the Amazon Program: Security and Sovereignty (Amas). Launched in February 2023, the program foresees actions to combat illicit activities in the nine states that make up the so-called Legal Amazon (Amazonas, Acre, Amapá, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Roraima, Rondônia and Tocantins), mainly human trafficking and drugs, child prostitution, mining and illegal hunting and fishing. The ministry’s initial forecast is to allocate around R$2 billion to the initiative.

“This ordinance aims to structure, state by state, the integrated strategic and tactical plan”, explained Dino. “We will work together with the nine states of the Legal Amazon providing equipment – ​​helicopters, vehicles and weapons – providing education and training and [participando de] joint operations.”

*With information from Agência Brasil

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