The Brazilian government has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to its heavily narco-trafficked border with Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, following the release of recent data that maintained Bolivia was the second largest producer of cocaine behind Perú.
In an operation expected to last about 30 days, troops arrived with helicopters, patrol boats, F-5 fighter jets and tanks, in order to combat crimes such as smuggling, embezzlement and drug trafficking along the border.
According to Infobae, Brazilian Minister of Defense Celso Amorim said, “To secure peace and protect our resources we need to ensure deterrence against potential external threats. You cannot be among the seven major economies in the world and think that nobody is interested in your resources: in our case, energy, oil, Amazon, biodiversity, food production capacity, which all requires a deterrent not to jeopardize it.¨
Operación Agata, an initiative aimed at defending the porous borders of Brazil, has the support of thirty government agencies including the Federal Police. Troops will be sent to an area that covers nearly 3,900 kilometres.
