Military personnel from the Air Force, Army and Navy will carry out inspections until May 2024; objective is to combat organized crime
Starting this Monday (6.Nov.2023), 3,700 military personnel from the Air Force, Army and Navy will work in an operation to combat organized crime in ports and airports in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In total, 3 ports and 2 airports will have military operations.
The operation was decreed by the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on November 1st in response to the wave of violence that hit Rio de Janeiro and to combat gangs that use logistics terminals to traffic drugs and weapons. The ordinance approving the GLO (Guarantee of law and order) was published in the 2nd edition (6.nov) of GIVE (Official Diary of the Union). Here’s the complete of the document (PDF – 86 kB).
The Armed Forces will operate until May 3, 2024. The entire mission will be carried out in conjunction with public security bodies, such as the PF (Federal Police) and the PRF (Federal Highway Police).
In border areas – where weapons and drugs from neighboring countries also enter – the government intends to reinforce the actions of the Army and Air Force, with an emphasis on Paraná, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.
The Navy will act specifically in places with access to the sea, such as the Guanabara and Sepetiba bays and the Itaipu lake, all in Rio de Janeiro, and in the accesses to the port of Santos (SP).
WHAT IS A GLO?
Provided for in the Federal ConstitutionGLOs grant the Armed Forces the necessary autonomy to act with police powers, for a predetermined period of time, in a previously defined area.
The Magna Carta established, in its article 142, that the Air Force, Army and Navy must ensure the maintenance of law and order, in any part of Brazilian territory, when activated by any of the constitutional powers (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary).
However, in August 2001, the then President of the Republic Fernando Henrique Cardoso regulated the GLOs mechanismestablishing its guidelines through Decree No. 3,897.
From then on, the decision on the use of military personnel in this type of action became the exclusive responsibility of the Presidents of the Republic in office – who can decide on their own initiative or in response to requests from governors or the presidents of the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies or the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
The same 2001 presidential decree also establishes that missions must only be authorized “in serious situations of disturbance of order” and if state and federal public security forces have “sold off” the instruments and means available to “preserve public order and the safety of people and property”.
HOW MANY GLOs HAS BRAZIL ALREADY HAD?
One survey by the Ministry of Defense shows that, from 1992 to 2022, 145 Law and Order Guarantee missions were authorized in the country:
- 11 occurred in 2000, the year in which the highest number of operations was recorded;
- 26 GLOs (17.9%) were motivated by military police strikes;
- 39 missions (27%) reinforced security during major events in the country: 2016 Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro; United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio + 20), in 2012; in the visit of Pope Francis during World Youth Day, in 2013; and in the Football World Cup, in 2014;
- GLOs are often authorized to ensure the tranquility and smoothness of electoral processes in municipalities at risk of disruption of order.
With information from Brazil Agency
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