Brazilian President Michel Temer has announced the creation of a public security ministry after giving the military full control over security in crime-plagued Rio de Janeiro. Temer came to the city to meet Governor Luiz Fernando Pezao, several ministers and General Walter Souza Braga Netto, who will lead the operation and who was in charge of coordinating security when the city hosted the 2016 Olympic Games.
"From next week or the next, I want to create a Ministry of Public Security to coordinate all efforts," said Temer Saturday after leaving the meeting. The new ministry would have a similar portfolio to the interior ministry. Army patrols were already used in Rio's gang-ruled favelas, but a decree signed on Friday by Temer now gives the military overall control of security operations in Rio state, which the president said had been virtually seized by organized crime gangs. Brazilian police are normally under state supervision.
Temer's order for "federal intervention" places command in Netto, who will report directly to the president and not to authorities in Rio, the country's most populous state with around 16 million inhabitants - 6.5 million of them living in Rio de Janeiro. The decree is already in force but must still be validated by Congress, which has scheduled a vote for Monday evening. The army's mission will last until the end of Temer's term as president on December 31.
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