Lula’s public security plan uses distorted NGO data

The controversial visit by the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, to Complexo da Maré on the 13th had as its official objective, informed by the ministry, the participation of the minister in the launch of a report by an NGO with data on armed violence in the Complexo da Maré, in Rio de Janeiro.

The day after the visit, when several questions had already arisen about the conditions under which Dino’s safe entry into the place took place, whose power is disputed by the two largest factions in the state, the minister said that the content of the report by the NGO, called Redes da Maré, would have been used in the elaboration of the National Program for Public Security with Citizenship (Pronasci). The federal government program was launched that same day.

“We believe that this bulletin is an important element, a kind of road map that will help us to combat violence in Brazil and implant a full culture of peace”, said Flávio Dino about the report.

Using data presented by the NGO, Pronasci did not bring any strategy to face organized crime. In addition, the opening of the event that launched the program featured a presentation by activists from Redes da Maré with heavy criticism of the security forces and, following the tone of the report, without mentioning the criminal factions, motivators of the frightening crime rates in Rio. of January.

The NGO’s thesis is that in 2022 there were more police operations in Complexo da Maré than in the previous year, which would have increased the number of violent deaths. The problem is that most of the data mentioned in the bulletin are not official. The document says that the NGO has collaborators and collects data from residents and other organizations active in the favelas of Maré. Surveys in communication vehicles and even on social networks are also taken into account.

There is also another problem related to the “filter” given to the information. Even if this and other NGOs come to collect data that show that violence in the hills is a direct consequence of organized crime, such information could never be published, since the NGOs work in these places with the authorization of the drug trafficking leaders themselves.

For public security authorities in Rio de Janeiro heard by People’s Gazette, the report used by the Lula government brings data dissociated from the reality of areas dominated by criminal factions and omits a series of questions in order to blame the security forces for armed violence within communities. The narrative is similar to that of several other NGOs and political parties such as PT and PSB, Flávio Dino’s party, which are part of the action in the STF that culminated in various restrictions on police operations in the Rio de Janeiro hills.

Bulletin “juggles” not to cite factions as the origin of armed violence

In the report received by Dino, the NGO argues that armed violence in Complexo da Maré, made up of 16 favelas that are home to around 140,000 residents, has a name: police operations. In the document, there is intense criticism of the security forces at the same time that the broad dominance of groups linked to drug trafficking in peripheral communities is practically ignored, which dictate the rules to residents, create informal courts for executions and torture and resort to used weapons. only by the armed forces to protect their territories from rival factions and police forces.

The two factions vying for control of Maré – Comando Vermelho and Terceira Comando Puro – are not even mentioned. The NGO goes so far as to say that 89% of the deaths resulting from confrontations between police and criminals in Maré had evidence of execution and that in 60% of the operations there were reports of violation of homes.

With regard to the so-called “armed civilian groups” – the name given to criminal factions – only eight clashes between rival groups occurred, with only seven records of shootings with victims. The entity goes so far as to say that in the event of deaths, “the record of shooting with a victim is not always related to the confrontation between the groups”. Clashes between factions would therefore only be a secondary public security problem according to the report.

“There is this question that if the NGO is inside the territory dominated by the faction, it will not go against the interests of the crime. But starting from that, how can a public body receive a report from this organization treating it as impartial?”, asks a police officer from the top of the Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro (PCERJ), who spoke to the report under the condition of secrecy. . “If the organization cannot talk about the violence that exists there, why is a document like this going to be used by the government in a public security plan?”, he continues.

The practical result of this omission of information is that the bulletin does not mention, for example, the limitation of Maré residents’ right to come and go; torture of residents as “discipline”; the incessant “rounds” made by traffickers armed with rifles in the streets of the communities; the sale of drugs and armed restraint at school gates; the installation of dozens of barricades that prevent not only the advance of vehicles, but even ambulances.

“We have a reality of murdered residents, expelled from their homes, teenagers taken from their parents to become girlfriends of drug dealers. There is no mention of any of that. According to the document, the whole problem in Rio de Janeiro is the police, which is not true”, says the PCERJ member.

“Historical milestone”, says Redes da Maré about the creation of obstacles to police operations

In an operation carried out in November last year, police officers encountered strong resistance and clashed with criminals. On that occasion, one of Maré’s most wanted drug dealers, Mário Bigode, was killed. Two of his “security guards” were also shot.

Known for dismembering his victims, the criminal was facing 30 lawsuits, the most recent for having kidnapped and murdered a young woman who had ended her relationship with one of the crime leaders. In the same operation, three tons of drugs, stolen vehicles, weapons and grenades were seized.

Two months earlier, a drug lord from Vila Velha, in Espírito Santo, was one of 26 arrested during another police operation. “Luanzinho”, as he is known, was sheltered in Complexo da Maré and from there he commanded crimes in the neighboring state.

Cases like these are not rare: only this Thursday (23rd) did the state police arrest a leader of Sergipe’s drug traffic who was sheltering in Complexo da Maré. On the same day, in a confrontation with the police, a head of the Comando Vermelho do Pará was killed, who, hiding in Rio de Janeiro, had led robberies and attacks on police officers in his state.

However, the vision employed by Redes da Maré and other NGOs and leftist parties that actively participate in the action that is being processed by the STF known as “ADPF das Favelas” seeks to make the occurrence of these operations as difficult as possible. Such a measure is of broad interest to organized crime, which greatly benefited from the STF orders, which began in June 2020, to restrict police operations.

In the report, Redes da Maré even describes the “ADPF das Favelas” as a “historic milestone in the struggle to reduce lethality in police actions that take place in the favelas”.

Supported by the PT, restrictions on security forces reduced arrests of drug dealers in RJ

The spotlight that the Lula government gave to the NGO report, by sending a Minister of State to launch the bulletin and inviting activists to open the launch of Pronasci, is symbolic and seems to represent an attempt to reinforce the increasingly frequent requests for new restrictions on police operations through the ADPF das Favelas.

The risks of this measure, however, are quite significant. Although operations have decreased since STF ministers began to accept the requests of NGOs and leftist parties, clashes between police and drug traffickers have become much more violent. With more barricades and weapons and a greater occurrence of paramilitary training for criminals, factions challenge police with double aggression.

The result is more deaths and injuries on both sides and even innocent residents – the three operations with the highest number of deaths occurred in the last two years: in Jacarezinho, in 2021 (28 deaths), and in Vila Cruzeiro (25) and in Complexo do Alemão (17), both last year.

In parallel, since the beginning of the restrictions, the enforcement of arrest warrants has dropped dramatically, which means more criminals on the streets. Official data from the Public Security Institute (ISP-RJ), linked to the state government, show that between 2020 (the first year of the restrictions being in force) there was a 41% reduction in the execution of arrest warrants in the capital and metropolitan region, where they are located. the areas with the greatest domination of drug trafficking. The drop continued to grow, with -10% in 2021 and -4% last year.

A significant reduction also occurred in the fulfillment of search and seizure warrants within the favelas. There was a 71% drop in the fulfillment of warrants in 2020. The drop continued the following year, with a slight recovery from 2022. Even so, the fulfillment of warrants represents only 20% compared to 2019 numbers.

In parallel, the record of occurrences (in the sum of all crimes) is already back to 2019 levels. There were occasional reductions during the most critical moment of social isolation, which were not maintained. While in 2019 635 thousand occurrences were registered, the year 2022 registered 615 thousand.

Foundation that supports mass extrication and drug decriminalization funds Redes da Maré

The skewed bulletin of Redes da Maré lists the support of two foreign entities that finance organizations dedicated to left-wing political activism in several countries – the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundationby leftist billionaire George Soros.

On Dino’s visit to Maré, the minister met representatives of the open societywhich contributes millions of dollars to organizations that defend measures that negatively impact public safety, such as the decriminalization of drugs and mass extrication.

Between 2016 and 2021, Redes da Maré received at least US$1.1 million (at current prices, almost R$6 million) from the Soros foundation. According to the NGO’s latest financial report, with data referring to 2021, 57% of the resources that maintain it are foreign. The activism entity has 350 employees and raised R$15.2 million that year.

In addition to Redes da Maré, other NGOs financed by the Open Society Foundation are part of the “ADPF das Favelas” in an attempt to reduce police operations in Rio de Janeiro. Although it is not illegal, the transfer of funds raises questions about the potential for a foreign organization to have undue influence over the course of public debate in other countries.