Bolsonaro's Son Vows Crackdown on 'Narco-Terrorists' at Rio Rallies

Presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro brought his campaign to Rio de Janeiro's metropolitan region on Friday, holding rallies in Nova Iguaçu and Duque de Caxias alongside Douglas Ruas, his party's candidate for state governor.

Speaking from a sound truck to supporters waving flags, Bolsonaro issued a stark warning to criminal groups. "From January next year, they know I'll declare war on narco-terrorists in Brazil," he said. "A message for you all: go away before the end of the year while you have a president that goes easy on you. Because starting from next year, you'll either be arrested or neutralized by our police forces."

The senator, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, also outlined punitive measures for sex crimes. "Women rapists and child abusers will be arrested and suffer mandatory chemical castration," he stated. "Because he won't be able to do any more harm to women and children. That's how we'll run Brazil."

Bolsonaro's public security platform for the October election includes classifying major criminal organizations as "narcoterrorists," building maximum-security prisons modeled on El Salvador's facilities, lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 16, and introducing chemical castration for convicted rapists and child abusers.

Recent polling by data firm Quaest indicates violence is the top concern among Brazilian voters, cited by 33% of respondents, followed by the economy at 15%, healthcare and corruption at 14% each, and social issues at 7%.

Brazil's presidential election, which also includes races for governors, senators, and federal and state legislators, is scheduled for October 4.