Key facts
- Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro unveiled a public safety plan to boost his presidential campaign.
- The plan designates Brazil's most powerful criminal networks as terrorist organizations.
- It also proposes reducing the penal age to 16 and constructing five new maximum-security prisons.
- Bolsonaro aims to win over independent voters and close the gap with incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
- The plan follows President Donald Trump's designation of two Brazilian criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has launched a comprehensive public safety plan, centered on a hard-line approach to crime, as a key strategy to bolster his presidential bid ahead of the October election. The plan, presented in Sao Paulo, includes 12 priority measures aimed at combating the country's powerful criminal factions.
Key proposals include treating Brazil's most notorious criminal networks, Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital, as terrorist organizations. Bolsonaro stated that armed criminals would be aggressively confronted by security forces. He also advocates for reducing the penal age from 18 to 16, deploying elite forces along the country's borders, and constructing five new maximum-security prisons, which he has named 'Treva' (darkness).
This initiative seeks to appeal to independent voters and consolidate his base, as Bolsonaro trails incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in recent polls. The plan's emphasis on designating criminal groups as terrorist organizations echoes a recent move by U.S. President Donald Trump, who designated the same two Brazilian groups as foreign terrorist organizations last month. This U.S. action, however, drew criticism from Lula and concerns from legal experts regarding potential business impacts.
Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration also pursued a tough-on-crime agenda that coincided with a decline in homicide rates, is banking on security as a top voter concern. Brazil already has one of the world's largest prison populations, grappling with overcrowding and poor infrastructure, making the promise of new, high-security facilities a significant part of his platform.