Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema (Novo) criticized President Lula’s statements regarding the large-scale police operation in Rio de Janeiro that left 121 people dead. In an interview with Column this Wednesday (12/11), Zema said that the president should also have deplored the death of the security personnel.
“The president should have mourned the loss of the four public safety professionals who lost their lives. These professionals and good Brazilians, who had families and were defending the country and the rule of law, had their lives cut short,” the governor said.
Zema also said that he considered the police’s actions to be efficient. “Now the president (Lula) has voiced his support for the hundred-odd people there (another 117 people were killed in the big police operation in Rio de Janeiro)…To me, that was an efficient police action. Who killed? Who was shot by the police?”
The governor defended the actions of security forces. “The police had warrants for their arrest, they shot at them, how are they going to react? Are they going to walk around and get shot? They’re not going to do that. They’re going to fight back, that’s what happened. Everyone had a chance to turn themselves in. Many people are alive and in custody today because they turned themselves in. The only people who lost their lives were those who fought back,” he said.
Zema concluded by saying that he considers “such a statement from a major Brazilian authority to be regrettable.”
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