President Michel Temer authorized on Tuesday (28th) the Armed Forces to send troops in Roraima, a northern Brazilian state facing an immigration crisis with the influx of Venezuelans fleeing the social and political convulsion in their own country.
During a cabinet meeting, Temer signed an order called GLO (Garantia da Lei e Ordem, or Assurance of Law and Order) to send the Army to Roraima's northern and eastern borders and federal highways.
The order is initially valid for two weeks, from Wednesday (29th) to September 12th. GLO is a less drastic measure than a federal intervention, because it doesn't give any civil powers to the Armed Forces.
Interventions allow the military to take over the state's budget and resources, like it is happening in Rio de Janeiro. This won't be Roraima's case. "We didn't consider an intervention. We are using the devices already available, gradually, without crossing over jurisdictions," says the Secretary of Institutional Security Sérgio Etchegoyen.
Temer hinted at a possible use of Armed Forces two weeks ago, when he issued a statement suggesting that Roraima governor Suely Cardoso (PP) should request troops to be sent.
She has been very vocal in her criticism of the federal government, arguing that her state lacks resources to receive more Venezuelan immigrants.
More than 120,000 immigrants crossed the Brazilian border from Venezuela since 2015. They flee from hardships such as lack of food and medicine, as well as an inflation rate that will go over one million percent this year.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV