President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, on Wednesday (9), that the Amazonian countries do not need foreign interventions to combat organized crime in the region. According to him, the “force of the law” will be refunded with the presence of the state with the inauguration of the International Amazon International Police Cooperation Center (CCPI Amazonia), in Manaus (AM).
In operation since June, the unit is focused on facing transnational crimes that affect the Amazon, in a joint articulation between public security forces in Brazil and neighboring countries.
“There are no empty spaces, the crime occupies the places that the state does not fill. Our mission is to restore the strength of the law by the presence of the state. This is what symbolizes this center,” Lula said during the unit’s inauguration ceremony, alongside Colombia President Gustavo Petro, and other national and foreign authorities in the region.
In a speech, the Brazilian referred to the United States government actions to send war ships to the coast of Venezuela, the South Amazonian country in the Caribbean, with the argument of facing threats from Latin American drug cartels. For Lula, this is a pretext to intervene in the countries of the region.
“It is the first time in the history of the Amazon that so many actors gather in the same physical space around the common goal. We do not need foreign interventions, nor of threats to our sovereignty. We are perfectly capable of being protagonists of our own solutions. Keywords are: integrated action and cooperation,” said the president.
For Lula, the preservation of the environment also involves combating organized crime, which has illegal mining and deforestation among its practices. “To combat crime effectively, it is necessary to neutralize their leaders and affix their financing mechanisms,” he said.
He said that by 2024 more than $ 250 million in assets were seized from accused of committing crimes against the environment. In addition, $ 60 million were unusable in illegal mining machinery such as dredges, tractors, backhoes and aircraft.
“We cannot allow residents of the peripheries, indigenous peoples, and riverside communities to have their lives marked by violence while the wealthy are unpunished. The most vulnerable are the ones who suffer the most from crime. Being on the side of the Amazonian people requires firm and decisive action against crime,” he said.
Interests in the region
Present at the ceremony a President Lula’s invitationThe President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said that saving the Amazon is to save humanity. For him, it is essential that countries act jointly to protect the region from criminal actions.
“If the forest is saved, humanity is also saved. This is the reality and that is why we are here. It is not for something else, it is for humanity,” he argued.
Petro also demonstrated concern, with the risk of invasion through which Venezuela goes through the approach of US ships.
According to Petro, the issue involves the large amount of oil in the region. “The problem is oil. There is a worldwide discussion, placed in Latin America, motivated by the energy of capital based on the exploitation of workers and also nature,” he said.
“Now Venezuela is under threat. A boat has been shot [pelas forças militares norte-americanas] In the Caribbean waters, without knowing if, in fact, transported drugs. We cannot be silent. We need to unite and talk about it with the US. We cannot defend governments that are next to the genocidas. Otherwise, the bombs will fall upon us too, ”added the Colombian.
Petro recalled that during the Great World War, the Nazis torpedo ships that brought food to Europe. “That’s what Israel is doing now [na Faixa de Gaza]”He added, referring to the US strategic partner in the Middle East.
“Latin America is not territory to be bombarded by anyone. It is the region of life. The vital center of the planet’s life, surrounded by beauty,” said the Colombian president by claiming that there is a historical contradiction between capital and life, since capital is based on greed, “and greed is contrary to life.”
Intelligence core
Under Brazil’s coordination, the CCPI will function as a core of intelligence and police cooperation between the nine Amazonian countries and the nine Brazilian states that make up the legal Amazon in facing environmental crimes, drug trafficking, weapons and people. The Center will also be supported by Interpol (International Police Entity), Europol (European Agency) and Ameripol (Agency of the Americas).
The Director General of the Federal Police (PF), Andrei Passos Rodrigues, stressed that criminal organizations currently have international performance, and that, therefore, authorities from different countries are coordinated in a coordinated manner for their confrontation.
As an example, he also cited joint action between entities such as Ameripol and Interpol for the region.
“The European Parliament approved today the PF’s operational agreement with Interpol. With this, Brazil is the only country in Latin America that has this agreement approved by the European Parliament,” said Rodrigues.
In video message, Interpol Secretary-General Valdecy Urquiza, which is PF Delegate He stated that the inauguration of the center is a historical fact for the protection of the forest and a milestone for the entire international police community.
He cited the challenges in combating transnational organized crime in the face of the “vastness and complexity” of the region, which threaten both security and sustainability of “this only heritage of humanity”.
“The Amazon CCPI is born as a courageous response to these challenges, a meeting point, a place where Brazil and the countries in the region come together in a common effort, side by side to face criminal networks that explore trafficking in people, drugs, weapons and that destroy the environment,” he said.
The secretary general stresses that international cooperation is not just a concept, it is concrete action. “This center sends the world a clear message: Brazil and the countries that make up the Amazon region are committed to the protection of the forest, the safety of the communities that live in it and the preservation of our Common House. We will be next to you all in this way,” added Urquiza.
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Amazon Fund
The structure of the CCPI has an investment of R $ 36.7 million from the Amazon Fund, coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and managed by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).
On the Brazilian side, the new unit will articulate Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, National Force and the police forces of the states of the Legal Amazon – Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins. The structure includes intelligence service, operations and logistics divisions, video surveillance room, crisis office, press room, among other spaces aimed at coordinated performance.
The Center is part of the Amazonian Plan: Safety and Sovereignty (AMAS), launched in 2023, which received R $ 318.5 million from the Amazon Fund to expand intelligence, supervision and repression against crimes that affect the forest. In addition to the CCPI, the resources support the acquisition of helicopters, armored speedboats, vehicles and drones, to expand the integrated performance of federal and state security forces.
Lula highlighted the importance of the Amazon Fund and environmental and climate financing to enable security actions. For the Brazilian President, the donations of other countries in the background are a historical reparation.
“It is important for us to know that the bottom of the Amazon is no condolence action of the countries that contribute to the Amazon. In fact, what they are paying for us is the royalties That we pay for everything we buy that is important in the world, ”he said.
“Therefore, if they have already deforested their forests and want to preserve the Amazon that is ours, they have to fund because we have more than 30 million human beings wanting to live with dignity throughout the South American Amazon,” added the president, who defends robust funding from rich countries to preserve forests and fight against the climate change.
The support of the PF Amazon Fund also covers, for example, the Operation Bulk, a new structure that will allow the origin of the Gold of the Amazon, to combat the land grabbing, money laundering and other deforestation illicit.
The Amazon rainforest covers a territory that includes nine countries: Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and French Guiana. There are about 50 million inhabitants and approximately 6.74 million square kilometers (km²) of territory. About 60% of this territory is located on Brazilian soil.
In addition to the inauguration of the CCPI, even today, in Manaus, President Lula participates in the implementation ceremony of the Union with Municipalities program for the reduction of deforestation and forest fires. R $ 150 million will be allocated to the initiative, partnership of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and the National Agency for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Anater).
The idea is to work for the benefit of 48 priority municipalities to combat deforestation throughout the Amazon. In the state of Amazonas, for example, the actions will take place in Apuí, Boca do Acre, Canutama, Humaitá, Itapiranga, Manicoré and Maués.
The main objectives are prevention, monitoring, control and reduction of deforestation and forest degradation. For protection of native areas, actions for environmental and land regularization are also foreseen.
North connected
Also this Tuesday, Lula will deliver Infovia 04 of the North Connected Program. Through subfluvial fiber optic cables, Infovia connects Boa Vista to Manaus, bringing high quality internet to three cities in Roraima and one in Amazonas, to serve public schools, hospitals, universities, municipalities and other essential services.
Under the responsibility of the Ministries of Communications, the North connected has, in total, with eight infovia that will serve 59 municipalities in the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia and Roraima. There will be more than 12,000 kilometers of cables launched with the objective of expanding communications infrastructure in the Amazon region, promoting digital inclusion, education, health and socioeconomic development.
Infovias are composed of 24 pairs of fiber optics. Each pair has a capacity of up to 20 terabyte per second, that is, it can simultaneously transmit the equivalent of 200,000 high -quality streaming videos with high quality.
