FBIS3-41071 "jptdd005__l94008"
JPRS-TDD-94-005-L Document Type:JPRS Document Title:Narcotics 1 February 1994
LATIN AMERICA BRAZIL

Federal Police Seeking `External' Funds For Operations in Amazon Region

94WD0164B Brasilia CORREIO BRAZILIENSE in Portuguese 25 Dec 93 p 5 94WD0164B Brasilia CORREIO BRAZILIENSE Language: Portuguese Article Type:CSO [Article by Carlos MacArthur: "PF Lacks Money for Monitoring Amazon Region"] [Text] The Federal Police [PF] need $248 million with which to carry out protective actions and stimulate sustainable development in the Amazon Region. The program's objectives include combating conflicts with Indians, land conflicts, the drug traffic, smuggling, and illegal mining. Since repression of those crimes is the exclusive duty of the Federal Police, that force's leadership is seeking external funds. The Amazon Region is currently a genuine open border, according to Superintendent Mauro Sposito, because the PF's activity in the region is totally impaired by the lack of a surveillance, inspection, and monitoring system. For that reason, the superintendent points out, agents are being trained to work with experts from the Ministry of Communications in operating mobile radio stations that can trace conversations taking place in the region's isolated locations between the Colombian and Bolivian drug cartels. The Federal Police are aware that the Amazon Region is currently the gateway through which drugs enter Brazil. The fact is that since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1990, Brazil has become the preferred route for traffickers who once used the "Caribbean route." The lack of suitable equipment puts the PF at a disadvantage, and seizures do not exceed 5 percent of the total volume moving through the country. Sposito points out that in a survey by Interpol, it is estimated that the drug traffickers have annual revenues of $500 billion just from the sale of cocaine all over the world. Because of the high prices generated by cocaine, the product has created a real chain of crime all around it, the superintendent explains. It is money from drug trafficking that finances kidnappings, auto thefts, smuggling, and even bank holdups. On that subject, the Federal Police draw a parallel by emphasizing that when an operation to repress key points in the drug traffic is intensified, the response by the gangs is almost immediate in the form of an increased number of bank holdups. "All one need do is remember that case in Rio de Janeiro where a joint operation was mounted by the PF and the Army. News of those operations and two raids by the Army in one of the shantytowns harmed the drug traffic, and two banks were held up right after that." Federal Police officials say that the PF now has a wealth of information and maps concerning the activity of drug traffickers in the Amazon Region and even of illegal gold mines and other mines.
Tracking Crime
Mapping work has made it possible to identify operators of illegal mines who join with drug traffickers to invade Indian lands. Once the Indians are evicted, both sides profit from the mining of minerals and the construction of clandestine landing strips. Approximately 90 percent of the gold produced in Brazil is smuggled out. Pro-Amazon Region: By implementing the project scheduled for the start of 1994, Federal Police hope to reduce those crime levels considerably. The project calls for opening 54 police stations in the region over the next four years, hiring new agents, and providing the units with suitable equipment, as well as cooperating with international scientific communities in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, botany, and animal husbandry. Beginning in January, the Advanced Training, Study, and Research Center in Manaus will receive 160 agents for training. To speed up and debureaucratize its activities, the PF is going to divide the Amazon Region into three sections. One of the operational centers--in Manaus--will cover the states of Amazonas and Roraima. The center in Belem will be responsible for the states of Amapa and Maranhao, and the third center, in Porto Velho, will take care of Acre, Mato Grosso, and Rondonia. The PF's operations will also involve Ibama [Brazilian Institute for the Environment], Funai [National Indian Foundation], and Incra [National Land Reform and Settlement Institute].