Ongoing Turmoil In Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro Dispatches Army To Neutralize Police Strikes In Ceara

The army and national guard troops have been dispatched to the north-eastern state of Ceará, by Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, in order to put a stop to the violence triggered by the strike of police officers.

Leftwing governor, Camilo Santana, was the one to make the request for troops after a local senator Cid Gomes was shot and wounded when he drove a digger at a police picket line manned by masked police officers in the city of Sobral.

“You think a boy in his 20s would have the courage to shoot a senator if he didn’t think he was in the service of the president?” said Gomes’s politician brother Ciro, blaming the president for the shooting. But allies of Bolsonaro are strongly supporting the incident as an instance of self-defense.

“To the people who are committing crimes,” Bolsonaro said, “they have to understand that the men in green are coming, and it’s going to get ugly.” Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has always been on the receiving end of major criticism for supporting the violent acts of Brazil’s police and has made controversial statements like hoping criminals would “die in the streets like cockroaches.”

The military police went on a strike in Ceara to ensure that their demands for higher salaries are met

The strikes are proof of the dissatisfaction felt amongst cops in the country. “The governor has made a lot of empty promises to the military police. At some point, that bomb can explode,” said lawmaker Davi Maia. In different parts of the country, the police forces have been airing their grievances in their own way like in Paraiba, military police organized a 12-hour strike on February 19. This has worked in some states like in Minas Gerais where a 42 percent salary spike was observed after the police threatened to go on a strike.

The strikes have triggered major violence across the state of Ceara, where at least 88 people killed over three days. The strike is only expected to spread further as Bolsanaro continues to promise harsh policing policies.

“We have to separate what are legitimate demands from projects of political power,” said Renato Sérgio de Lima, chief executive officer of the Brazilian Forum of Public Security.