Thaindian News

Sao Paulo, May 6 (IANS/EFE) Actor Wagner Moura, star of the “Tropa de Elite” film series, is lending his voice to a new campaign to disarm the civilian population, Brazilian media reported.

Moura, well known for playing a top official in the police special forces during raids on drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro’s “favelas”, or shantytowns, provides the audio track for a 30-second video that will be released on television, as well as played on radio.

In the campaign, which will run under the slogan “Take away a weapon from Brazil’s future”, the actor says: “Bullets are not the way to resolve things.”

The cooperation of Moura, who received no compensation for participating, is a valuable contribution since the actor enjoys credibility and charisma among a wide swath of the public, Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo told the Estado news agency.

The campaign will be the third of its kind launched by the government after those organised in 2004 and 2008, when authorities managed to remove about 500,000 firearms from circulation.

One of the new things about this year’s campaign is the increase in the number of sites where weapons can be turned in, including churches and the offices of some non-governmental organisations.

Citizens who turn in their weapons will be compensated with a bounty that will vary between 100 and 300 reais ($62.50 to $187) and they will not have to identify themselves during the process, in contrast to earlier campaigns.

More than 70 percent of the murders in Brazil, according to official figures, are committed with locally-made firearms.

–IANS/EFE
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