The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), defended, this Tuesday (11), the rapporteur of the Anti-Faction Bill (PL), deputy Guilherme Derrite (PP-SP), appointed by him to lead the modifications in the PL sent by the Executive to combat criminal organizations.
Upon arriving at the Chamber, Motta countered criticism that the rapporteur’s replacement would remove the powers of the Federal Police (PF) by submitting joint operations with state forces to a request from the governor.
“The Chamber will not, at any time, allow the Federal Police to lose its prerogatives. This is a non-negotiable condition for us, so much so that the rapporteur himself, since yesterday, through us, spoke with the director general of the Federal Police”, said Motta.
For the President of the House, the issue has already been “resolved”. Derrite went back on Monday (10) and modified the text, allowing PF actions without prior provocation from the head of the state Executive.
Experts, the government and the Federal Police (PF) themselves argued that the rapporteur’s first text was unconstitutionalfor conditioning joint PF operations with state forces to a provocation by the governor, removing duties from the organization, linked to the Union.
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Distorted debate
According to the president of the Chamber, they are trying to “distort” the debate on the PL 5,582 of 2025by stating that the House wants to take away the PF’s powers.
“That’s not true. We’re going for the opposite, which is to strengthen the means so that both the Federal Police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the state Public Prosecutor’s Offices, the Federal Public Ministry and the state police can have more instruments to combat organized crime”, he added.
The Minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, even stated that the changes made by the rapporteur would be a “gift for organized crime”.
“In practice, the changes that Secretary Tarcísio de Freitas proposes will protect banditry and factions, completely subverting the project sent by President Lula’s government,” stated the minister on a social network.
Deputy Derrite took leave from his position as São Paulo’s security secretary just to report on this project. The PL is scheduled to be voted on in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies this Tuesday (11), while the government asks for more time to discuss changes in the rapporteur’s replacement.
Guilherme Derrite in debate on the Public Security PEC in the Chamber Photo: Lula Marques/Agência Brasil
Support for Derrite
The president of the Chamber had been expressing support for Derrite’s opinion before the new version of the PL that excluded the governor’s provocation requirement for joint operations.
Still on Saturday (8), on a social network, Motta said that he read “deputy Derrite’s report, which preserves progress in the Federal Government’s project and toughens penalties against crime”.
The decision to nominate him was interpreted by government officials as a provocationsince the parliamentarian represents governor Tarcísio de Freitas.
Terrorism and Sovereignty
Asked whether equating the actions of criminal factions and militias with terrorism could not justify the interference of foreign countries in Brazil, the president of the Chamber Hugo Motta replied that the text preserves the country’s sovereignty.
“We will not allow any proposal to put national sovereignty at risk. We are based on a precept that we do need to toughen penalties, we do need to classify the most current, most modern crimes, we do need to be tougher and more energetic with the heads of criminal factions, but without allowing any questioning of sovereignty”, said Motta.
On the other hand, The government still understands that the project allows foreign nations to accuse Brazil of harboring terrorist groups, which could have negative geopolitical repercussions for the country.
Minister Gleisi Hoffmann argues that the rapporteur maintains “under another name, the idea of classifying factions as terrorists, which solves nothing, but is a serious threat to the country’s sovereignty and our companies”.
The chief minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, during a speech after presenting the new version of the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of Public Security Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil
New version
Motta added that new changes could be presented after conversations with the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandovisk, this Tuesday (11).
“The stitching of the text has to be very well done. The rapporteur is already in Brasília talking. We want to be able, by the end of the day, to have a more refined proposal, to present to society the total willingness of the Chamber, of the rapporteur, to construct the best possible proposal, so that it can progress well, not only in the Chamber, but also in the Senate, and provide conditions for the Executive Branch to analyze the possible sanction”, he concluded.
