BRASILIA - The Director-General of the Federal Police (PF), Andrei Rodrigues, stated this Wednesday, the 29th, that the Regional Superintendence of the Federal Police in Rio de Janeiro was questioned about the participation of local police forces in the operation that left at least 119 dead on Tuesday, the 28th. However, according to Andrei, the corporation was unaware that the operation would be launched at this time.
“We were not informed that it would be launched at this time. There was prior contact between the Military Police intelligence personnel and our unit in Rio to see if there was any possibility of us acting at some point in this context. Based on the analysis of the operational plan, our team understood that it was not a reasonable operation for us to participate in,” said Andrei Rodrigues in a statement to the press, after participating in an emergency meeting convened by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) at the Alvorada Palace.
According to Andrei, the representative from the Rio Regional Superintendency said that the Federal Police could not collaborate because they do not carry out visible operations in Rio's favelas and that they would continue conducting intelligence operations.
“The Rio de Janeiro team understood, from the overall analysis of the plan, that this was not how the Federal Police operates. The colleague from Rio informed his operational contact that the Federal Police continues its investigative work, its judicial police work, carrying out its intelligence work,” said Andrei.
The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, told the press that the Federal Police were informed of"some details" of the operation at the local level, but the government still does not have all the data from the mega-operation carried out in the Penha and Alemão complexes.
According to the minister, if the operation required the participation of the federal government, President Lula should have been notified. Lewandowski also stated that the negotiations could not be limited to the"second or third tier," but rather involved conversations between the governor of Rio, Cláudio Castro, and the Presidency of the Republic.
“Communication between governors must occur at the level of the highest-ranking authorities. An operation of this magnitude cannot be agreed upon at a second or third level. If it were an operation that required the intervention of the federal government, the President of the Republic should have been notified, or the Vice-President who was acting as President, or the Minister of Justice and Public Security, or the Director-General of the Federal Police,” he stated.
By 1 p.m., the Rio de Janeiro state government had counted 119 deaths in the operation, including 4 police officers. However, according to the State Public Defender's Office, the death toll is 132.
