By Raymond Colitt BRASILIA, April 13 (Reuters) - As Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva mulls sending federal troops to quell violence in Rio de Janeiro, residents are cheering but critics warn they have no mandate or training to police cities. Waves of violent crime in recent months have rocked this seaside city as it prepares to host the Pan American Games in July. Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Sergio Cabral this week requested that thousands of soldiers be dispatched to patrol the city, prompting military commanders and some Cabinet members to warn that the army is not suited for such an operation. "They intervene with a war-like mentality, they're not apt for policing," Justice Minister Tarso Genro said this week, adding that such a deployment could exceed the army's role under the constitution. Military commanders also appear reluctant to go into Rio. "If we are patrolling (the streets) and are attacked by organized crime, what do we do? Shoot back?" Estado de Sao Paulo daily quoted a general as saying. A cartoon video clip on UOL, the country's biggest Web portal, shows a soldier singing that he doesn't want to go to Rio because he lacks the firepower of drug-financed gangs. SHADOW OF DICTATORSHIP Presidential aides say Lula wants to send troops. But the army is unwilling to operate under the command of Rio state officials, raising coordination problems, they say. There also are worries about how the public may react to soldiers patrolling in full combat gear alongside scantily clad beachgoers. Human rights groups still denounce the armed forces for trying to cover up repression during the 1964-85 military dictatorship. Then, the military killed armed insurgents and locked up political prisoners, including then labor leader Lula. Almost three decades later Lula may end up relying on the armed forces to showcase a tough stance on crime. "We can't have (Rio) state appearing in the national media only on the crime pages," Lula said this week. Many Rio residents dismiss concerns over an army deployment. "Order and action, that's what is needed, governor. Long live the military!" a reader wrote in O Globo newspaper. Another ridiculed the argument that the armed forces were trained only for war. "That's laughable. (Our last war) was in 1945 in Italy. How many more people have to die in (our) streets?" Brazil is the fourth most violent country in the world, with around 30 homicides per 100,000 people each year, according to the Organization of Ibero-American States. "I'm not going to spend four years at the funerals of police and civilians. The people are in a state of panic, it's time to join forces," Cabral said.
