The armed forces of Brazil and Paraguay, with the support of police and judicial agents, joined forces in their fight against organized crime, seizing more than 6 tons of marijuana, confiscating weapons, and destroying 33 narco camps in February, authorities from both countries said in statements.
These results were achieved as part of Operation Basalto, launched in Paraguay on February 1, and involving 1,950 troops, and Operation Agate in Brazil that deployed more than 2,000 service members. Both operations are scheduled to last until at least May 3 and cover the Paraguayan departments of Alto Paraná and Canindeyú, and Paraná, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil.
“These operations are very timely, given the new transnational threats such as organized crime, which do not respect borders in order to commit crimes,” Juan Belikow, a defense expert and professor of International Relations at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, told Diálogo on March 26.
In a press conference, Paraguayan Defense Minister Óscar González said that in the first phase of Basalto the military and police seized nearly $19 million from narcotrafficking organizations in what is a hot zone between both countries, defense news site Zona Militar reported.
Among the results, authorities seized more than 100 firearms, 103,000 rounds of ammunition, and apprehended 28 people. Troops also patrolled 1,300 kilometers on the border of Paraguay and Brazil, combing air, land, and water in combined actions, Minister González said.
For Belikow, an increase in combined and joint operations between the armed and police forces of the region would be beneficial to efficiently combat criminal groups. “We must form a regional task force and an intelligence gathering center to analyze the different trends of organized crime in order to combat criminal actions,” he said.
On the Brazilian side, authorities are carrying out inspections to control vehicles transporting drugs, cigarettes, other kind of contraband, and weapons. They are also monitoring rivers to prevent vessels crossing with illicit goods, Brazilian daily Gazeta do Povo reported.
“Narcotrafficking has been the greatest source of illicit goods seized. There is also a lot of counterfeit cigarette smuggling, but it is narcotrafficking that generates the largest seizures,” Brazilian Army General André Novaes, commander of Land Operations, said.
To enable simultaneous operations, Brazilian Army soldiers involved in Operation Agate and their Paraguayan counterparts conducted coordination meetings in January.
“We must have the tools to respond to the challenges that have existed in the last years in Latin America, concerning the fight against drug smuggling, arms, human trafficking, and money laundering,” Belikow said.
Brazil’s two largest criminal organizations — the First Capital Command and the Red Command — regularly work with Paraguayan narcotrafficking groups, InSight Crime, an organization dedicated to studying organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, indicated.
For its part, the Rotela Clan is one of Paraguay’s main criminal organizations. These criminals began as a micro-trafficking group in the poorest neighborhoods of the cities of Asunción and Concepción, but have grown into a nationwide structure, controlling much of the drug trade in and out of prisons, InSight Crime said.
On March 9, Paraguay’s Vice Minister of Internal Security Oscar Pereira and Paraguayan National Police Commander Carlos Benítez signed a cooperation agreement with the FBI in Washington, which includes the creation of an intelligence group focused on combating transnational organized crime, Paraguayan daily Última Hora reported.
“Borders in Latin America are extremely porous,” Belikow said. “Brazil has 22 cities along its border with Uruguay, Paraguay, and Peru, where people cross from one country to the other without any problem, as well as between areas shared by Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia.
“It is critical that operations such as Basalto and Agate increase in Latin America between neighboring countries, to work together in an effective fight against criminal activities on the borders,” Belikow concluded.