Dino: The targeted GLO operation in Rio could be extended and even expanded.

A meeting held yesterday between Ministers José Múcio (Defense), Flavio Dino (Justice Minister and future Supreme Court Justice), and the commanders of the Armed Forces, assessed the results of the GLO (Operation to Guarantee Law and Order), decreed by President Lula, as positive. The operation was initially limited to the ports and airports of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. They will recommend its extension for another six months, and even the application of the mechanism in some port in the Northeast region, as criminal organizations, facing the siege in the Southeast, are changing their operational routes.

In response to the increase in violence, last November the president authorized a specific GLO (Guarantee of Law and Order) operation for ports and airports in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, as well as the deployment of the Armed Forces to reinforce border control in the states of Paraná, São Paulo, and Mato Grosso do Sul. These special operations, involving the Armed Forces, are scheduled to conclude next May.

In an interview yesterday with Globonews, Dino stated that the operations in Rio and São Paulo, bringing together the Armed Forces, Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, and National Security Force, are producing remarkable results in the strategy of suffocating and dismantling criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking and related crimes. Significant sums of money have been confiscated, high-value assets blocked, large cargo shipments seized, and numerous arrests made. "These are actions of repression and also of deterrence, which are forcing the organizations to alter their operational schemes," said Dino.

The extension of the GLO (Guarantee of Law and Order operation), however, should only be decided by Lula after the inauguration of the new Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, on February 1st.