The National Secretariat of Public Security, of the Ministry of Justice, blamed the Pantanal region's states and the STF (Supreme Federal Court) for the delay in using the National Force to combat the fires that devastate the biome.
During a hearing with the Chamber of Deputies committee on Tuesday (6), the assistant secretary of national public security, Rooney Matsui, said that it was only at the end of September that it was possible to plan the use of the National Force with firefighters and military police.
"There is a judicial issue that ended up making the issue not so immediate, a decision of September 24, from the plenary session of the STF, which prevented the unilateral action of the National Force, that is, without the request or consent of the State", said the assistant secretary.
The deputy secretary said that requests for intervention by the National Force came only on the 21st and 28th, on the part of the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso, respectively.
"From then on, we made an approximation seeking to carry out a diagnosis. The states, because of the beginning of the rains, believed that this would alleviate the fires", said Matsui.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon