MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Federal intervention decreed on Brasilia's public security secretariat

“All the people who did this will be found and punished,” said Lula about the demonstrators

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva Sunday issued a decree providing for federal intervention in the public security area of the Federal District (GDF) until January 31, 2023.

“This intervention is limited to the area of public security, to contain the serious impairment of public order in the Federal District, marked by violence against public buildings,” said Lula from the town of Araraquara. The town in the state of São Paulo had been declared under federal emergency following heavy rainstorms that killed various people.

Read also: Brazil's Federal Gov't recognizes emergency in inner São Paulo state

Heading the intervention will be Ricardo Cappelli, executive secretary of the federal Justice Ministry, reporting straight to President Lula. “The intervenor will be able to request financial, technological, and structural resources necessary to any agency,” the head of state pointed out. According to the decree, laws not related to public security remain under the responsibility of the local government.

Before signing the decree, the president condemned the antidemocratic acts that took over the Praça dos Três Poderes and said there had been a security failure. “We think there was a lack of security. I wanted to tell you that all the people who did this will be found and punished. They will realize that democracy guarantees the right to freedom, to free communication and expression,” but he insisted that “the institutions created to strengthen democracy” needed to be respected.

“It is important to remember that the Brazilian left has had people tortured, killed, disappeared... You have never read news of leftist people invading Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Planalto Palace,” Lula went on.

“These people have to be punished, and we are going to find out who financed these vandals that went to Brasilia, and they will all pay with the force of the law for this irresponsible gesture, this anti-democratic gesture, this gesture of vandals and fascists,” the president also pointed out.

Local Military Police in Brasilia said it followed guidelines from the Brasilia Government and blamed any failures on Security Secretary Anderson Torres, who was later dismissed by Governor Ibaneis Rocha.

Federal Justice and Public Safety Minister Flávio Dino said Cappelli had already taken up his new functions while “we continue with the appropriate operations aimed at restoring public order.”

Cappelli is a journalist, a specialist in public administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), and has worked for 22 years in public administration. He has already been municipal secretary, state secretary, and national secretary in diverse areas in the state of Maranhão.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)