The Brazilian government will use the military to try to end a frightening wave of violence in the state of Bahia, one of the most popular among Portuguese tourists, where rival groups of drug traffickers are waging an armed war for control. drug trafficking and clashed with each other and the local police. The information was provided by the Chief Minister of the Civil Chamber, Rui Costa, who has been the governor of this Brazilian state for the last eight years.
Costa said he was in talks with other ministers, namely Justice and Public Security Minister Flávio Dino and Defense Minister José Mucio Monteiro, to create a joint military and federal police force to strengthen security in the state, which has ruled since 2015. and 2022. For emergency action, the Federal Police already has 400 elite agents operating in Bahia, mainly in Salvador, the state capital, and last Friday, the 22nd, it received three armored vehicles that were in use in other regions of the state . Brazil.
Since 2022, when Rui Costa was still governor and in command of the state-level security forces in Brazil, Bahia has been the region in Brazil with the highest number of intentional killings. The wave of violence, which until this year was most felt in the outlying outskirts, reached the center of El Salvador and the most prestigious areas in 2023, where criminals armed with military rifles confronted rival drug dealers or local police in the center. street at any time of the day.
In September alone, which is not even over yet, clashes between suspected drug traffickers and police have already killed 46 people, including 45 suspects and a federal police agent sent to Bahia to assist state security forces. Since the beginning of this year, police have seized 48 rifles – powerful weapons of war previously used only by the armed forces but now the weapons of choice for criminals linked to organized crime – more than double the 22 rifles seized so far. all of 2022.
In several areas of El Salvador, such as Calabar, Alto das Pombas, Federacion, San Marcos and Valeria, the latter located in the suburbs, thousands of students do not attend classes for days, shops spend most days without opening their doors. and even churches had to suspend masses due to insecurity. In a clear demonstration that no one is safe, a rifle bullet shattered the window of an apartment located on the 13th floor of a residential building in the Graça neighborhood, one of the noblest in El Salvador, narrowly missing the residents who had just left the room.