What Lula expects from the new DF security secretary, Sandro Avelar

This Tuesday (31) ends the federal government’s intervention in public safety in the Federal District, decreed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) after the acts of vandalism on January 8, in Brasília. With this, the Lula government plans to establish a new relationship with the Federal District government and with the future Secretary of Public Security, Sandro Avelar.

Avelar’s choice was made last week after a meeting of members of the Lula government with the acting governor of the DF, Celina Leão (PP). Delegate of the Federal Police, Avelar was already in charge of the Secretariat of Security between 2011 and 2014, period of the administration of the PT Agnelo Queiroz in the government of the DF.

“The moment requires a spirit of collaboration between the district government and the federal government. Since the first day there has been a spirit of collaboration”, said Celina when confirming Avelar’s name for the post.

Interlocutors from the Planalto consider that the name of the delegate pleases and indicate that his work with the Military Police of the DF (PM-DF) was decisive during the demonstrations against former president Dilma Rousseff (PT) and against the holding of the Confederations Cup in federal capital in 2013.

Upon being confirmed for the position, Avelar stated that new acts of vandalism will not happen in the capital during his term. “I will try to contribute with the knowledge that I have in this area within the Federal District and the federal government plan, where I had the opportunity to work. I will bring this collaborative spirit, of integration. Join efforts to help the DF and the country at this moment” , said the new secretary.

Lula government wants to punish police officers who “collaborated” with acts of vandalism

Allies of the Lula government indicate that they will keep up the pressure with the government of the DF so that military police officers who have collaborated with the acts of vandalism in Praça dos Três Poderes are punished. Last week, a report released by the DF security intervenor, Ricardo Cappelli, alleged that “it was clear that there was an operational failure” of the DF security forces during the attacks.

According to the report, there was no operational planning of policing to prevent and stop vandals. In addition, images from the security circuit of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) show police officers inert in the face of vandalism by demonstrators.

“The Internal Affairs of the Military Police will open the 6th Military Police Inquiry to investigate the facts exposed by the images of the STF cameras. The images suggest serious flaws in planning and execution. Everything will be investigated. We will separate the wheat from the chaff. The law will be accomplished”, said the intervenor.

Still during the transition period, Lula’s allies had been putting pressure on Governor Ibaneis Rocha (MDB) because of the appointment of Anderson Torres to head the Public Security Secretariat of the DF. Torres was Minister of Justice in the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and his role during the attempt to invade the headquarters of the Federal Police on December 12, the date of Lula’s diplomacy, was already being questioned by the transitional government.

After the January 8 episode, Torres was fired and Ibaneis ended up removed from office for 90 days by decision of the STF minister, Alexandre de Moraes. In addition, Moraes ordered the arrest of the then commander of the PM-DF, Colonel Fábio Augusto Vieira, and of Torres himself.

“When I arrive, I will assess the working conditions that are being developed. I have absolute confidence in the DF security forces. I arrive calmly, knowing that I will have time to get to know the team that is working”, said Avelar, the new DF Security Secretary .

Now, Lula’s allies assess that with the end of the intervention in public security and given the new composition of the secretariat, the Planalto Palace will have a new relationship with the government of the DF. Since the beginning of the intervention, the acting governor has made several nods to the federal government, among them the announcement of changes in the 6th Battalion of the Military Police, responsible for protecting the Esplanada dos Ministérios region.

“We are seeing the possibility of doubling the staff in this first opportunity. We have 248 men in this battalion ready to respond and we want to have at least 500 immediately. We have another area, of more than 5,000 square meters, to build a new battalion, a medium and long term action”, said Celina Leão.

After her statement, Cappelli released a contest for the PM-DF last week with 700 vacancies. “The measure aims to strengthen public security in the federal capital with the recomposition of the PM’s staff”, she said.

Ibaneis hopes to be reappointed to the DF government with the end of the intervention

Allies of Governor Ibaneis Rocha believe that nods made to the Lula government and the end of intervention in public security in the DF may lead to the return of the emedebist to the Buriti Palace before the 90-day period established by the STF. Ibaneis’s defense has argued that the inaction of the security forces in the vandalism episode was on the part of former secretary Anderson Torres’ team and that he would not have been informed about the contingency actions.

In addition to the removal, Ibaneis was the target of a search and seizure by the Federal Police about two weeks ago, in Brasília. After the episode, the removed governor spontaneously handed over his telephone devices to investigators. One of the defense’s strategies is to ask the STF to end the removal before the 90-day deadline.

“The final report prepared by the federal intervenor reinforces the premise that, although there was planning of integrated actions in order to promote public security actions on January 07, 08 and 09, the protocol was not complied with in terms of execution, being possible to consign […] that there was no evidence of any action or omission by the Governor of the Federal District in order to allow or facilitate the practice of the shocking and irremissible anti-democratic acts of January 8″, says an excerpt from the document signed by lawyers Alberto Toron and Cleber Lopes.

Inside the Planalto Palace, the assessment is that Ibaneis should return with a more “moderate” profile and closer to the Lula government. In the calculations, PT members indicate that the pressure should even attract names from the MDB who are close to Ibaneis and who until then had been resisting supporting the Lula government within the National Congress.

The articulation has the support of emedebists who, at first, defended the expulsion of Ibaneis from the party. However, this wing retreated in the face of the possibility of Celina Leão, who is part of the PP, of the mayor, Arthur Lira (AL), to assume command of the DF government definitively.