Brazil’s National Security Force to Patrol Brasilia Ahead of Protests

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Justice Minister, Sergio Moro, has signed a measure that will send soldiers from the National Security Force to secure landmarks in the country’s capital, Brasilia, expected to be the stage of large demonstrations in the days to come. Critics say the force will be used curtail the population’s right to demonstrate.

According to Minister Moro the deployment of the security force was authorized to guarantee the
‘preservation of public order and the safety of people and property, in defense of the assets and individuals who work the Union, in the Esplanada dos Ministérios (Ministry Row), in Brasilia’.

The request for the extra security came from the Institutional Security Office (GSI), linked directly to President Jair Bolsonaro and led by Army General, Augusto Heleno. The GSI office fears that large demonstrations against the social security reform as well as protests that may arise during the Terra Livre Camp next week may get out of hand, producing turmoil and even violence.

The Terra Livre Camp, the world’s largest annual indigenous assembly, gathers every year in Brasilia to bring awareness to the plight of the indigenous communities. This year, the event occurs between April 24-26.

According to the GSI the request is a preventive measure with the objective of guaranteeing security. “We note that this procedure is part of the definition of attributions contained in the Integrated Security Protocol of the Ministry of the Ministries of the Government of the Federal District,” stated the note sent to the media.

The National Force was created in 2004 to help states during episodes of public disorder, in emergency situations and during public calamities.

Headquartered in Brasília, the troop is composed of military and civilian police officers, as well as firefighters and other security trained personnel.

According to the latest measure signed by Moro, the Federal Force will remain in Brasilia for thirty-three days, but that period may be extended.

“The publication [of the ordinance] happens at a time of great popular demonstrations in the capital, such as Camp Terra Livre, Labor Day (May Day) and acts against the pension reform,” says left-wing political party PSOL. The party calls the measure a ‘clear attempt to curtail freedom of demonstration’ and a ‘grave attack on democracy’.

“It is not for the National Force, in a democratic state, the function of repressing popular demonstrations,” maintains the PSOL. According to PSOL leaders the measure is a ‘serious violation of the Constitution and the International Human Rights Treaties’.

“This National Congress can not tolerate an authoritarian measure like this, which aims at curtailing the sacred right of manifestation and aims to attack the rights of Indigenous peoples,” concludes the left-wing party.