Castro calls Boulos a “jerk” after criticizing the operation in Rio
The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), reacted with irony to the criticisms of the minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), calling him a “jerk”. The statement was made on Saturday night (8), during the 56th Convention of the Brazilian Israeli Confederation (Conib), in São Paulo.
“Who? That’s a jerk. Come on, next time”, replied Castro, when asked about the minister’s speeches during a visit to Morro da Lua, in Rio.
The information is from the newspaper State of S. Paulo.
At the time, Boulos had criticized the Bolsonarian governors — including Castro and Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), from São Paulo — for, according to him, “performing bloody demagoguery” by treating entire communities as criminals.
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The minister stated that the federal government has adopted a different model for combating crime, focusing on structured investigations, citing the Public Security PEC and the Antifaction PL, currently being processed in Congress.
“The fight against crime has to be done correctly, like in the Federal Police’s Operation Hidden Carbon, which catches the big fish, not the small fish. The big fish is in Faria Lima, not in the favela,” said Boulos.
The exchange of barbs comes after the mega-operation on October 28th, in the Penha and Alemão complexes, which left at least 121 people dead, including four police officers. The action was the deadliest in the country’s history and drew criticism from human rights organizations.
Castro once again defended the security forces’ offensive, classifying it not as a one-off action, but as the beginning of a permanent reaction.
“What happened in Rio was not an operation. It was the beginning of a movement. Citizens can no longer tolerate this crime,” said the governor.
The escalation of statements exposes the clash between Planalto and right-wing governors, amid the debate on public security policy and the advancement of PL Antifaction, a project that the Lula government is trying to implement as an institutional response to organized violence.
