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].