[ad_1]
Bolsonaro receives boost from military allies
Malcolm Beith
Brazilian President Jai Bolsonaro's reverence for the armed forces is well known, but he is unlikely to bring Brazil back to a military dictatorship after taking office on 1 January. How it tackles crime and corruption issues in the country is another issue. There have been more than 63,000 homicides in Brazil in 2017 and the military has become the main force against the gang problem.
General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, former commander of the UN mission whose friendship with Bolsonaro dates back to the 1970s, while they were training together at the country's military academy, has high hopes for the new president . "He is honest. He will respect the law 100%, "he said by phone from Brasilia.
There are good reasons to be skeptical about the prospects of Dos Santos Cruz. Bolsonaro became known as a stimulant of military power, torture of political prisoners, and publicly displayed his homophobia. He stated that the criminals were "not normal human beings" and had no rights. At a time when activists and investors are wary of the rise of right-wing governments around the world, Bolsonaro is another big question mark.
"Bolsonaro said that he was going to" clean up "- that's how he said – homosexuals, poor people and black people," said Anielle Franco, an activist and sister Marielle Franco's assassinated adviser, Marielle Franco, at the World Summit on Human Rights, according to "I'm afraid of him," she said.
Dos Santos Cruz, who led the UN missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti during his career, before becoming National Secretary for Public Security of Brazil until his resignation in July, rejected fears of authoritarian repression. "Why are you calling [Bolsonaro] of right? He said about foreign media. "[He is] a socialist. It is one thing to be socialist in Europe, another to be socialist in Latin America. "
Dos Santos Cruz has no doubt that Bolsonaro will respect human rights concerns while suppressing gangs and organized crime, which have undermined the largest nation in Latin America – and the strongest economy – in recent years. President Michel Temer deployed 30,000 troops in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro in early 2018, after recognizing that organized crime had "taken control of Rio de Janeiro". According to an official of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the region, who requested anonymity Because he is not allowed to talk about the issue, Brazilian gangs, mainly in Rio and in Sao Paulo, are increasingly linked to international organized crime syndicates in the region and even to Europe. In Rio and Sao Paulo, gangs of prisoners have wreaked havoc on business, while local militias – paramilitary forces largely composed of former police officers – have mobilized to fight gangs. Rio's city councilor, Franco, a fierce critic of militias, was killed during a March shootout, attributed to militias, shortly before the army took over police operations in the city .
US admiral Jim Stavridis, who led US Southern Command between 2006 and 2009 and traveled to Brazil often, wrote a column for Bloomberg, saying that "while I was working for Southcom, Brazil also relied on as far as possible from the US Army … there were real barriers separating us. "
Under Bolsonaro, he wrote, "expects the Brazilian army to invest more in American defense systems; work with us during training exercises, especially at sea and in the air; participate more fully in counter-narcotics efforts with the Drug Enforcement Agency and Pentagon teams [and] participate in counter-terrorism exercises with the United States "
"Bolsonaro will not slow down at all for human rights reasons, but will instead accelerate the firm approach that he promised to the campaign," he said in a letter. that Bolsonaro would probably not "get strong reactions from the army … he's going to make them responsible after all."
Dos Santos Cruz was categorical: Bolsonaro would not rock the boat too much. "I am 100% sure that human rights will be respected more [under Bolsonaro]"One of the reasons is that Brazil will be subject to more scrutiny than ever before from foreign investors and lenders," he said. "We will have much more respect for human rights," he said. l & # 39; man. "
Stavridis noted in his e-mail that "the situation in Venezuela [Bolsonaro] put pressure on the international community because it can be part of the solution. " In Bloomberg, he claimed that Bolsonaro "completed an American scan of South America …. Other than Venezuela … the continent is now favorable to the United States, "he wrote.
The real test of Bolsonaro will of course be to fight against corruption. Operation Car Wash, launched by Judge Sergio Moro in 2014 against Petrobras and senior officials, including the then President, Ignacio Lula da Silva, who is serving a 12-year sentence of imprisonment , proved that corruption could be controlled. But Bolsonaro's appointment of Moro as Minister of Justice on November 1 raised eyebrows and gave early ammunition to critics.
Moro, a strong supporter of Law No. 12,850, a Brazilian law approved in 2013 that helps law enforcement agencies and prosecutors prosecute criminal organizations through phone tapping and plea bargaining , said in previous interviews that it was not political. But as soon as he was appointed, Gleisi Hoffman, chairman of the Lula Workers Party, tweeted to denounce him for the "fraud of the century".
"Judge Sergio Moro will be the Justice Minister of Jair Bolsonaro's government, who was elected only because Lula was unjustly sentenced and prevented from participating in the elections … by Judge Sergio Moro", she tweeted. "Helped to elect, helping to govern …"
Brazilian journalist Eliane Brum called the appointment "obscenity", while Michael Reid, Latin American economist's expert, wrote that "Lula's imprisonment by Moro now looks like a political act".
Dos Santos Cruz defended Bolsonaro against corruption, saying he knew it was in his interest to tackle corruption. "Corruption is the worst thing in Brazil," he said. "By fighting corruption, [Bolsonaro] can change the budget. Public money will go where it is supposed to go. This change makes Brazil much more serious to receive [foreign] investment."
