Ministry of Justice did not implement Lula’s security program, says former coordinator – 10/02/2023 – Panel

Founder of the PT and one of the party’s main references on public security, Benedito Mariano says that so far the government program for the area promised in Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) campaign has not been implemented.

“The Ministry of Justice has to take into account the program that was approved by the population. Much of what is there I have not seen in these nine months”, says Mariano, who was one of the coordinators of the security part of Lula’s program last year past. He had already performed the same role in 2002, when the PT member won his first presidential election.

Mariano was also an ombudsman for the São Paulo police and is currently Secretary of Security for Diadema, a city administered by the PT that managed to drastically reduce violence rates over the last 30 years.

The first measure, he says, would be to recreate the Ministry of Public Security, removing it from the jurisdiction of Justice, as was promised by Lula himself in the campaign.

“Having a ministry is important because it gives centrality to the issue. Justice has many other important fronts. Security, due to the sensitivity of the issue, deserves an exclusive portfolio”, he states.

This, says Mariano, has nothing to do with the possible move of minister Flávio Dino, against the division, to the STF. “It’s a position that was expressed long before this possibility arose,” he says.

If the Ministry of Security had been implemented, Mariano believes, situations like the one in Bahia would have received greater attention from the federal government. The state, governed by the PT, became a national champion of police lethality, which became a source of wear and tear for the party.

“There has to be a different logic of policing in Bahia. 60 deaths by the police in one month are unacceptable,” says Mariano.

An important focus, he states, would be community policing, which he also does not see in the actions for the area proposed by the ministry. “Security policy must have the issue of anti-racism as its central axis,” he says.

This Monday (2), the ministry will launch a program to combat organized crime. “I hope this plan is consistent. The emphasis on combating money laundering at ports, for example, is positive. But I didn’t see reference to proximity policing, and that is fundamental,” he says.

Mariano criticizes the ministry’s lack of self-criticism, especially that of the ministry’s executive secretary, Ricardo Cappelli, who has blocked the profiles of activists and journalists.

Last week, Cappelli said you can’t fight crime with roses. “His speech is regrettable, it strengthens the right-wing narrative that leads to systematic violence,” he says.

Mariano praises Dino’s possible move to the STF. “Flavio Dino is a great figure, one of the biggest in Brazil. He had a great initiative to reduce the strength of Bolsonarism, but I haven’t seen a public security policy yet,” he says.

He also says that security policy has to be

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