Bolsonaro Says in Interview, “Criminals Should Die on the Streets Like Cockroaches”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – When asked about what to do in order to solve violence in Rio and Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro told Leda Nagle’s YouTube channel, broadcast on Monday, that he will be submitting a bill to Congress with the goal of providing “legal backing” so that police may use firearms in their operations without being prosecuted.

In his view, “violence will drop dramatically if the law preventing the police from using their weapons for the protection of life, property, and assets is ultimately overturned.”

“They will die on the street just like cockroaches,” he said. “And it must be that way,” said Bolsonaro. The interview was granted last Thursday and released Monday morning, August 5th.

The president said that violence could not be easily stopped, but he pointed out that his presence and that of the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Sérgio Moro, “setting an example,” has already reduced these rates “by about 24 percent”.

According to the “Violence Monitor” developed by news site G1, based on official data from 26 states and the Federal District, the number of violent deaths fell by 24 percent in Brazil in the first quarter of this year over the same period in 2018.

“How else can it fall? It is unjust; the gangster is more entitled than the good citizen. I am submitting a bill, which will be difficult to approve, but there is no other alternative. We have to provide legal backing to security personnel: civil, state, federal, highway police. During operations, they need to use that machine at their waist, go home and be decorated the following day, not prosecuted,” he said.