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Brazil militarizes its war on crime

Even if expanding the use of military operations to combat crime has shown little success in the past, the current Brazilian government has decided to carry on. Español

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The Armed Forces occupy the Complejo del Alemán, in Rio de Janeiro, to ensure security during the municipal elections in 2008. Image: Wilson Dias/ABr, CC BY-3.0 BR.

President Michel Temer met with politicians and members of his cabinet on February 19 to discuss an executive decree he signed on February 16 allowing the military to assume control of security operations in Rio de Janeiro.

Following that meeting, Wellington Moreira Franco, a close advisor to Temer, told the Associated Press that he hoped to see the model of federal military deployments “spread throughout Brazil.”