Brazil’s government on Tuesday launched an anti-organized crime program it says will reshape public security in the run-up to the October election, setting out new spending for policing, investigations and prisons aimed at major criminal groups.
The plan, announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, provides for 11 billion reais, or about $2 billion, in spending on public security, a policy area that Brazilian politicians have repeatedly disputed as the campaign season heats up. Some opposition figures view the initiative as an effort by Lula to strengthen his public-safety credentials ahead of his bid for a fourth term.
At the presidential palace in Brasilia, Lula said he had discussed elements of the approach with U.S. President Donald Trump during Trump’s visit to Washington last week. Lula said, “I told him we had proposals on financial asphyxiation (of crime gangs), fighting money laundering. Some of the weapons (used in Brazil) come from the United States.” He added, “I told him that, if he wants to be a part of this, there’s space. But he will have to work in agreement with what are decisions of Brazil’s government and Brazil’s police.”
The program is designed to bolster the fight against arms trafficking, according to the government’s description, and to target the finances of criminal organizations. It also calls for raising the quality of homicide investigations and for investing in the country’s prison system as part of efforts to disrupt the networks that support major gangs.
Officials said the program would allow the purchase of a broad range of equipment, including drones, body scanners, metal detectors, cellphone signal blockers, X-ray machines, audio and video systems, radar systems, DNA tracking equipment and vehicles. The government said the initiative’s main targets would be two gangs: the First Command of the Capital, known as PCC, and the Red Command, known as CV.
Brazil’s government said about 1 billion reais, or about $190 million, of the initiative will be invested until December. Lawmakers aligned with Lula said opposition governors—who control local police—were reticent about using funds from the program launched on Tuesday, according to the report.
In Congress, some longtime rivals of Lula and his Workers’ Party have campaigned on tougher on-crime stances, including criticism of the Workers’ Party as allegedly too soft on public security. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro and former Goias state Gov. Ronaldo Caiado have both backed that approach for years.
During the launch, Lula did not respond directly to the criticism. Vice President Geraldo Alckmin instead attacked Jair Bolsonaro, saying the previous presidency’s security approach was focused on supplying weapons. Alckmin said, “The only security policy in the previous presidency was to distribute weapons, allow weapons,” adding that “those end up with criminals, with organized crime,” and concluding that “it is police who should be able to bear arms.”