Brazil: Justice Minister asks for US$200 million from Amazon Fund for security in the region
The Minister of Justice and Public Safety, Flávio Dino, asked on Thursday (18) for more than R$1 billion (US$200 million) from the Amazon Fund to increase security in the Amazon region.
The request was made during a meeting with the president of BNDES (National Bank of Economic and Social Development), Aloízio Mercadante.
The state-owned development bank is the fund’s manager.
“I met with President Aloízio Mercadante and the entire BNDES team.”
“We presented a common plan of the Ministry of Justice with the Ministry of Defense, aiming, above all, to expand the presence in the territory.”
“This is the core of the strategy, to enable resources with the BNDES. And President Mercadante was very receptive to this thesis”, said the minister in an interview with journalists.
According to Dino, the project will cost R$2 billion.
“We are requesting from BNDES something around R$1 billion and something, from the Ministry of Justice another R$600 [million] or R$700 million, and we intend a total contribution of R$2 billion,” he said.
The money will be used to increase the presence of security forces in the Amazon, in river and land bases, and to buy equipment such as airplanes, helicopters, drones, and weapons.
The minister said that the people who remained in Yanomami territory after withdrawal actions are linked to criminal factions.
“Our response is command and control with territorial presence. The Federal Police installed a base in Vale do Javari, and we want to expand this experience”, he added.
According to the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety, recently, 129 search and seizure warrants were served, 74 people were arrested, R$183 million from crime were blocked, and 465 pieces of equipment were destroyed or made unusable as a result of the federal government’s actions in the region.
Today, the Amazon Fund has R$5.4 billion in cash. The money donated by other countries is used for forest preservation.
With information from Poder360
News Brazil, English news Brazil, Amazon Fund
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