NARCOTERRORISM in Latin America: A Brazilian Perspective

Abstract

As the United States continues its Global War on Terrorism it is now looking beyond the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq to consider engaging in other regions where terrorism and attendant forms of lawlessness exist. General Alvaro de Souza Pinheiro builds a case for giving greater attention to the narcoterrorism threat. General Alvaro suggests that security conditions in Colombia and the Tri-Border Area (TBA), where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet, deserve the immediate attention of security officials of the Hemisphere's more capable countries. In this paper, General Alvaro provides a review of Colombia's security situation and details his thoughts about the United States' support of the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez. President Uribe wants increased U.S. support to provide more military resources, so the country can go on the offensive against the FARC and reestablish a government presence throughout Colombia. General Alvaro expresses his concern that the United States might abandon Uribe's "Plan Colombia" just as it is poised to make significant progress in the war against narcoterrorism. General Alvaro also details the situation in the TBA in great detail, and describes FARC linkages within that area. The FARC's initiative to create America's Revolutionary Force may suggest an increasing narcoterrorism threat for the TBA and elsewhere. In the section "Brazil Confronts the Beast," a concise summary is provided of Brazil's strategy, force structure, and disposition. Brazil has taken considerable measures to reorganize and modernize its forces to meet the new threats that it perceives are affecting the Amazon basin and the hemisphere in general. Calha Norte is a long-standing project to ensure defense and development in border areas in north and west Brazil; Sistema de Vigilancia da Amazonia (SIVAM) is a newly installed surveillance system for protecting the Amazon from unauthorized incursions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA495455

Entities

People

  • Alvaro De Souza Pinheiro

Organizations

  • Joint Special Operations University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Drug Abuse
  • Drug Trafficking
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Geography
  • Health Services
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Military Science
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Recreation
  • Societies
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Warfare

Readers

  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Mycotoxin ecology in Amazonian ecosystems.
  • Strategic Security Studies