Garotinho appointed secretary of public safety in Rio de Janerio

Edelberto Behs, RIO DE JANEIRO, Brasil, April 28, 2003

 Former governor and former presidential candidate Anthony Garotinho was sworn in as secretary of Public Taxi Heathrow Airport Safety in Rio de Janeiro, a city with a high crime rate that is partially dominated by gangs of drug traffickers.

The ceremony, held in the central headquarter of the Military Police was presided over by the current state governor Rosinha Garotinho, the wife of the new secretary on Public Security.

In recent months drug traffickers have forced shopkeepers in some zones of the capital and even some schools to close for several hours, burning busses and blocking highways.

Last Thursday, Garotinho, as future public safety secretary, said he would call on the federal government to help.  He told local radio that police delegations would be restructured, 800 broken down patrol cars would be recovered and the number of police on the streets would be increased.

After meeting with Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos, in Brasilia, Garotinho said that he will not tolerate corrupt police officers. “Anyone breaking the law, including police, will be treated as a criminal,” he said.

The new secretary requested support from civil society to combat organized crime in Rio de Janeiro. “We need to establish peace as a principle. We need to re-establish respect for authority and to gird ourselves to win this war in favor of the population,” he said.  He also promised to create a system of police intelligence.

According to Garotinho, in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo at least 7 percent of the population are involved in drug use, or more than 1.5 million people.

“We need to raise people’s awareness that this is not the best way and we must help them,” he said. Garotinho added that “we are going to separate the user from the trafficker. The user needs support” he said. The trafficker will go to jail.

Last weekend Garotinho lead by of the “Clamor for Peace” act, which brought together more than 150,000 in Quinta Boa Visa in Rio. The act was organized by Radio Melodia and included presentations by artists and Gospel music groups.

Garotinho was a Marxist who became an Evangelical after suffering a car accident during his 1994 political campaign. Currently he and his family attend the Presbyterian Light of the World Church in the Laranjeiras barrio in Rio.