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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro made another harsh criticism of the country’s press this Friday, calling it “an embarrassment to the world”, during a speech in defense of the Rio de Janeiro Police.
“Let’s not expect the truth from the press”, declared the president when he spoke at a graduation ceremony of 485 new agents of the Fluminense Military Police.
Bolsonaro seemed to allude to these criticisms, which are echoed by the press, and warned the graduates that “never” the media “will be on the side of truth and law” and added: “they will always be against you.”
The president maintained that the work of the police “is one of the most sublime in Brazil”, since the agents “offer their lives for others and for their patrimony” and “many times they are alone, only with God at their side.”
Bolsonaro’s speech coincided with the release of a report by the Secretariat of Security of the State of Rio de Janeiro, according to which 1,160 people died “due to the intervention of a State agent” in the first eleven months of this year.
In November, 80 of these deaths occurred, representing the lowest death rate caused by state agents for this month since 1998, according to the official report released shortly before the graduation ceremony of the new members of the Military Police.
“We will always be by the side of truth and law,” declared the Governor, pointing out: “Let’s not wait for gentle words or gestures of friendship to defeat the enemy. We are winning and we will win”.
Bolsonaro, a fervent defender of a hard line against crime, maintained that “a policeman has to fulfill his mission and then go home to rest, without having to wait to get news from an officer of law”.
The so-called “exclusion of illegality” for the Police was one of several measures proposed by Bolsonaro in terms of security in the fight against crime that was not approved by Parliament or was later moderated by the Ministry of Justice.
Last week, as part of its strategy to encourage the sale of weapons to civilians and to promote “self-defense” against crime, the government issued a measure that abolished the 20% tax on the importation of pistols and revolvers.
