Days after Rio’s deadliest police operation in which 121 people were killed, including four police officers, and in response to escalating political tensions between Governor Claudio Castro and the federal government, Mayor Eduardo Paes and Deputy Mayor Eduardo Paes e Cavaliere departed for Rome, Italy, this Monday. According to the official itinerary released by City Hall, the visit will focus on meetings on public security, international cooperation and the fight against organized crime.
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The commitments also include meetings with the federal agencies fighting organized crime: SCIP, the Central Directorate of Criminal Police, and the Italian Ministry of Interior. His schedule also includes an audience with Pope Leo XIV next Wednesday.
During this period, the city administration will be under the responsibility of Luis Antonio Guarana, president of the Municipal Fiscal Court (TCM-RJ), who will temporarily take command of City Hall. In theory, the position would be taken over by the temporarily removed city council president, Carlo Caiado.
According to a publication in the Diario da Cámara municipal newspaper (DCM) last Thursday, Caiado announced that he would be temporarily removed from office from November 6 to 15. However, the document does not state the reason for the absence. As a result, management succession was passed to the president of TCM, who took over on an interim basis.
Luis Antonio Guaranar was deputy mayor of Barra da Tijuca in the 1990s and a member of the city council from 2000 to 2012. He was elected as an advisor to the Board of Audit in 2014 and became president in 2021. According to the city’s basic law, he is fourth and last in line to take over the city.
The first successor is Deputy Mayor Cavaliere, who is traveling with Mr. Paes on a business trip. The law then stipulates that Carlo Caiado, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PSD), should succeed him, but he cannot assume the position.
According to the order of succession, Vice President Willian Coelho (DC) was supposed to become chairman, but he is also absent. Finally, the law provides that the mayor shall be the president of the City Audit Court.
The House of Councilors has not yet disclosed the reasons for the dismissal of Kaiad and the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.
The trip came at a time of high political tension in the state. The so-called large-scale operation carried out in Complex do Alemão and Peña on October 28 was classified as a “genocide” by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In an interview with an international correspondent on November 4, PT members defended the investigation into the circumstances of the death, calling the action “appalling.”
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- Castro classified the operation, which left more than 120 people dead, as a “success.” “As for the victim, the only one was the police.”
On October 29, the day after the operation, Governor Claudio Castro called the operation a “success” and said, “The only victims were police officers.” Differences in the stories exposed friction between the Guanabara Palace and Planalto, culminating in a public exchange of abuse over the weekend between Castro and Guillerme Boulos (PSOL), minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidential Secretariat.
During a discussion in São Paulo this weekend, Boulos accused Castro and other governors of committing “bloody incitement” while celebrating the operation. When asked about the remarks, the governor called the minister a “bastard.” In response, Boulos joked on social media:
“We will give him a discount. He must be very distressed by the developments in the investigation following the arrest of his partner, TH Joyas,” Boulos said, referring to state deputy TH Joyas (MDB), who was arrested by federal police on suspicion of links to the Red Army Command.
Despite the back-and-forth, the federal government and the states last week announced the creation of a joint office to combat organized crime to integrate investigative and intelligence efforts between state and federal forces.
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