Brazil’s next defence minister wants snipers to take down criminal suspects
- Ex-general supports proposal of Rio de Janeiro’s governor-elect to deploy police snipers to shoot suspects
- Many Brazilians are fed up with violent crime – a big factor in President-elect Jair Bolsonaro’s victory
The army general tapped by Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro to be defence minister said that snipers should be deployed to take down armed criminal suspects.
His comments came after the far-right governor-elect of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, met with criticism after announcing he would deploy police snipers to shoot suspects even if officers’ lives are not in danger.
“It’s a necessary reaction to the ostentatious display of weapons of war, often in the hands of young people,” retired general Augusto Heleno told Radio Nacional.
“It’s not about killing indiscriminately. You need well-established criteria,” he added.
“Police in Rio are very brave … but they need another kind of support.”
Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished “favela” neighbourhoods are regular scenes of combat-style confrontations between heavily armed drug traffickers and security forces.