President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Saturday urged Rio de Janeiro interim governor Ricardo Couto to arrest thieves and militiamen who ran the state. The remarks came during the inauguration of a Fiocruz center.
Lula spoke at the inauguration of the new facilities of the Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Saúde at Fiocruz in the state capital. He stated that if the state assembly had chosen Castro’s successor, the pick would have been linked to the militia.
The president told Couto: “Work to arrest all the thieves who governed this state and the deputies who are part of an organized militia”. Couto took office in March after Castro’s resignation and remains in post by Supreme Court order.
The Rio de Janeiro state assembly responded with a note calling for institutional respect and balance. The text criticized the lack of federal policies against arms trafficking and the expansion of criminal factions.
