Orlando Zaccone is trying to foster a left-wing movement within Brazilian law enforcement. For a socialist, pro-drug-legalization, Hare Krishna police chief in the polarized and hardly ever reasonable Brazil of Jair Bolsonaro, Orlando Zaccone seems strangely at ease. As our lunch turns into an errand-running mission through downtown Rio de Janeiro to help stage the Second National Congress of Anti-Fascism Police Officers, he is open and patient in spilling his life story. Being prominent in the media, he reveals, makes him feel safer to speak up. “I believe the fear turned bigger after Marielle Franco’s murder [in 2018]. Left-wing activists are afraid to be the next target,” says the 55-year-old, who was born and raised in Rio. But it’s not just activists. Across Brazil in 2018, 343 police officers were killed (nearly one per day), 87 in the line of duty. Their situation helped inspire Zaccone to co-found Policiais Antifascismo (Anti-Fascism Police Officers), a progressive movement of around 400 officers fighting for the demilitarization of public security, more advancement opportunities for military police and the end of the war on drugs. |