Brazil is moving forward with the creation of an international Amazon security center, which will coordinate the region’s security forces in the fight against environmental crimes and drug trafficking.
Based in Manaus, the Center for International Police Cooperation in the Amazon (CCPI-Amazon) will bring together officers from the eight countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO): Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. It will also welcome agents from the United States and the European Union.
The launch is scheduled for the first half of 2024. “CCPI-Amazon is a project coordinated by the Brazilian Federal Police [PF], created to strengthen the fight against crime in the Amazon region,” the PF Press Office told Diálogo.
“Its aim is to promote cooperation and the exchange of information between national and international public security forces, focusing mainly on combating environmental crimes and preserving biodiversity,” the PF added. The Center will be part of the PF’s administrative structure, more specifically the Amazon and Environment Directorate (DAMAZ).
Tracking illegal gold
The center will combat drug trafficking and timber, fish, and exotic animals smuggling, as well as deforestation and other environmental crimes, Humberto Freire, head of DAMAZ, told Reuters. “Illegal gold mining in protected indigenous peoples reserves, such as the Yanomami, will also be a priority,” he said.
According to Freire, Brazil will share with its neighbors the technology that the PF is developing to trace the origins of gold extracted illegally in the rainforest. This technology, which should establish the “DNA of the gold,” uses radioisotopes to determine the origin of the gold from the illegal mines.
“The technology compares particles of metal, ore or earth with samples from various mining sites throughout Brazil. According to the PF, this comprehensive mapping process is nearing completion,” Brazilian news site UOL reported. “In addition, Humberto Freire mentioned that Brazil will encourage ACTO members to create similar mappings in their respective countries.”
Police cooperation
The CCPI-Amazon will function as a “vital nucleus for interaction and collaboration between members,” incorporating technical and strategic knowledge for the prevention, repression, police intelligence, and investigation of crimes in the Amazon, the PF told Diálogo. The Center will include the police forces of the states of the Legal Amazon, the public security forces of the countries in the Amazon biome, and the main international police organizations.
“The project aims to cooperate and exchange information in order to strengthen criminal surveillance and develop efficient strategies to combat crime in the Amazon region,” the PF said.
The proposal to create the center emerged in August 2023, during the Amazon Summit, the meeting of the eight ACTO member countries. According to the PF, the center has an estimated budget of some $3.2 million. “The amount corresponds to the total investments for the fiscal year in which the CCPI-Amazon [2024] is created, as well as for the annual costs of the activities that will be carried out there,” the PF said.
Transnational organizations
In late February, representatives of the security forces of the ACTO countries met in Brasilia during the Second Regional Meeting “Strategies for tackling environmental crimes in the Amazon.” The event was organized by the PF and the Igarapé Institute think tank.
“The Amazon Basin and its peoples are under serious threat from transnational criminal organizations and local factions that carry out environmental and non-environmental crimes, putting the entire ecosystem at risk,” Ilona Szabó, president of the Igarapé Institute, said at the event, according to a statement issued by the Brazilian government. “That’s why we need to prioritize the design and implementation of a multidimensional security plan for the region,” said Szabó.
Police, public prosecutors, environmental authorities, and financial intelligence units from the Amazon countries, as well as Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, attended the meeting, the Igarapé Institute said via X.
In a statement, the PF said that the measures discussed will strengthen cooperation between the different institutions in charge of “preventing, monitoring, detecting, controlling, and enforcing the law, to tackle environmental crimes in the Amazon.”