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BRASÍLIA – The Brazilian Army spent R $ 6 million only on fuel, flight hours and transportation to simulate a war between two countries in the Amazon, in an unprecedented military operation, which had not yet been carried out in the country. The military decided to create a war field in which a supposed “Red” country invaded a “Blue” country, and it was necessary to expel the invaders.
The simulation took place at a time of animosity with neighboring Venezuela, practically at the same time that the Brazilian government decided to withdraw the credentials given to the diplomats of the Nicolás Maduro regime working in Brazil. The operation involved 3,600 soldiers and was concentrated in the cities of Manacapuru, Moura and Novo Airão, in Amazonas, within a radius of 100 to 300 kilometers from Manaus.
The “war” in the Amazon region occurred between September 8 and 22. On the 18th of that month, the Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo, paid a visit to Roraima, a border region with Venezuela. Donald Trump’s chief of diplomacy was in Boa Vista, 840 kilometers from Manacapuru, and was co-sponsored by Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo. The visit was harshly criticized for having taken place during the electoral campaign in which Trump seeks re-election, for taking place in the border region and for sending a bellicose signal of the relationship between the United States and Brazil with Venezuela.
Missile launch
The amount spent on the so-called Operation Amazon, which included the launch of missiles with a range of 80 kilometers, was obtained by GLOBO through the Access to Information Law. The law was also used to obtain information on the originality of the operation. Earlier, the Defense Ministry refused to provide this information.
“Within the situation created and with the means granted, it was the first time that this type of operation was carried out,” the Army reported in the report. The R $ 6 million spent came from the Land Operations Command (Coter). The Force did not report any other expenses with the operation, apart from fuel, flight hours and transportation of civilians.
“Various military means were used, such as vehicles, airplanes (planes and helicopters), ferries, regional vessels, ferries, artillery pieces, the Astros rocket launch system of Army artillery, cannons, machine guns, Oto Melara ‘howitzer’ and 60, 81 and 120 mm mortars, as well as special vehicles and trucks, ”said the Army.
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On other occasions, conflict simulations and training of military personnel had already been carried out, but on a smaller scale, without the use of all these equipment and in a joint between the Army, Navy and Air Force. The report asked the Ministry of Defense and the Army, also through the Access Law, information on the size of past actions. The defense did not respond and said it would be up to the military to respond. The Force reported that Operation Amazon, as it was done, is unprecedented.
The Defense Minister, General Fernando Azevedo e Silva, and the Army Commander, Edson Leal Pujol, traveled to the region of the “conflict” on September 14. They followed, for example, the firing of missiles.
The Astros system, with multiple rocket launchers, is considered a strategic project for the Army. Like other projects, it will have more resources foreseen in the 2021 Budget. The Budget proposal sent to Congress foresees R $ 141.9 million for these missiles in 2021. This year, the forecast is R $ 120.7 million.
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According to information from the Amazon Military Command, on the 15th, at kilometer 61 of the AM-010 highway, 20 Army artillery rockets were fired. The objective was “to neutralize an enemy military base.” The Army says it is working on manufacturing rocket launchers with a range of 300 kilometers.
Three days after Azevedo and Pujol’s foray into the war simulation in the Amazon, Trump’s secretary, Pompeo, visited Boa Vista with Araújo. The mayor, Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), described the visit as “an affront” to the “pride of our foreign and defense policy.” The Brazilian foreign minister reacted and said that Brazil and the United States “are at the forefront of solidarity with the Venezuelan people.”
The war between “blues” and “reds” was caused by the invasion of “reds” in “blue” territory, according to the simulation carried out by the Army. The military involved in the “liberation” of territories such as the Amazonian cities of Manacapuru, Moura and Novo Airão. According to the Defense Ministry, there were also actions in Rondônia.
There were no actions in Roraima, according to the folder. Even so, the operation had the participation of soldiers who work directly in the border regions, such as those of the São Gabriel da Cachoeira brigade (city of Amazonas on the border with Venezuela and Colombia) and those of the Boa Vista brigade, capital. from Roraima, a state that is the main gateway for Venezuelan refugees to Brazil.
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The brigades of the Amazon Military Command, plus the Rondonópolis artillery group (MT), the Formosa missile and rocket group (GO), the Goiânia special operations command, the antiaircraft artillery brigade of Guarujá (SP) and the Rio paratrooper infantry brigade.
Change of strategy
In August, O GLOBO showed the change in the strategy of the government of Jair Bolsonaro to the role of the Armed Forces, with the unprecedented forecast of a “rivalry between states” at the regional level and an association between this “rivalry” and the need to expand the defense budget, which would reach 2% of the national GDP. The strategy appears in updates of official documents of the Forces, the so-called National Defense Policy and Strategy, sent to Congress. In the documents, the Bolsonaro government foresees for the first time the occurrence of “tensions and conflicts” in areas neighboring Brazil.
Through the press office, the Defense Ministry says that Operation Amazonas was carried out between September 4 and 23. The army said the operation took place between September 8 and 22.
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According to the portfolio, “it was a field exercise with troops that simulated conventional action in the context of a broad spectrum and in a jungle operating environment.” “The actions were developed in an immense area and their strategic objective was to increase the operation of the Military Command of the Amazon. The operation consists of an important preparation for the main activity of the Armed Forces, in defense of national sovereignty, especially in a region that has the priority of Brazil ”, said the ministry.
The report sent questions to the Foreign Ministry and the US Embassy about Pompeo’s visit at the same time as the Army’s simulated war. There was no return until Tuesday night.
