BRAZIL: DRUG TRAFFICKING UP, DRUG FLIGHTS DOWN, TIP ISSUES LIMITED: A REPORT FROM THE FAR NORTH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRASILIA 001588 SENSITIVE SIPDIS FBI FOR CID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR SOCI KCRM ELAB FARC KTIP BR VE PE CO XR SUBJECT: BRAZIL: DRUG TRAFFICKING UP, DRUG FLIGHTS DOWN, TIP ISSUES LIMITED: A REPORT FROM THE FAR NORTH REF: A. BRASILIA 1175 (NOTAL) ¶B. BRASILIA 1201 (NOTAL) ¶C. BRASILIA 1357 (NOTAL) ¶D. BRASILIA 1358 (NOTAL) ¶E. BRASILIA 1415 (NOTAL) ¶F. BRASILIA 1488 (NOTAL) ¶G. BRASILIA 1489 (NOTAL) BRASILIA 00001588 001.2 OF 004 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Drug flights into Brazil's far north have diminished by 75 percent since the introduction of Brazil's Air Bridge Denial (shootdown) program, but Brazilian authorities say pressure from Plan Colombia has actually increased the amount of cocaine entering Brazil. The region remains a cocaine transit point on the route from Colombia to southern Brazil, Europe, or the U.S., but shipment routes have shifted from land and air to rivers. The greatest internal law enforcement challenge is personnel, and police are hiring more agents and providing more training. The local drugs of choice in Brazil's north are cocaine paste and Brazilian and Paraguayan marijuana, mainly because they are cheap. Authorities said organized crime and money laundering are not significant problems in Amazonas or Roraima; they give a comparatively low priority to trafficking in persons and forced labor, and recognize that child labor exists in mining camps. End summary. Drug trafficking - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (SBU) Emboff travelled to Manaus and Boa Vista in early October to discuss drug trafficking and other criminal activities with police officials and prosecutors. (Note: Mission will report septel on indigenous issues in the region. End note.) Sergio Fontes, Amazonas Federal Police (PFAM) superintendent and a specialist in counternarcotics law enforcement, said drug flights into Brazil's far north have diminished by 75 percent since the introduction of the shootdown program, but pressure from Plan Colombia has actually increased the amount of cocaine entering Brazil. According to leading Brazilian newsweekly Veja, 70 percent of the cocaine entering Brazil comes through the Peru-Colombia-Brazil triborder region (Veja, Sept. 10, 2008, pp. 58-59). While the region is a key cocaine transit point on the route from Peru and Colombia to southern Brazil, Europe, or the U.S., shipment routes have shifted from land and air to rivers, although drugs also enter by land on a 
circuitous route from Colombia through Venezuela to Brazil's northernmost border in Roraima. Refs A-G document recent large riverine seizures in Amazonas, airport seizures of small amounts bound for Europe, and plans to export cocaine from Brazil to Guyana and Suriname by light aircraft. On December 2, 2008, federal police made an unusually large riverine seizure of 581 kilograms of cocaine in Amazonas. Mission DEA believes USG donations of communications intercept equipment are directly responsible for many seizures and arrests in the Amazon river area. ¶3. (SBU) At a meeting at the Public Ministry of Roraima, there was general agreement among Attorney-General Alessandro Tramujas Assad and four state prosecutors that drug transshipment through Venezuela is possible because the Colombia-Venezuela border is not patrolled, the Venezuelan National Guard is corrupt, and, some speculated, President Hugo Chavez "is looking the other way." They noted that the FARC control the Colombian side of the border. According to the prosecutors, the traffickers are mainly Brazilians, followed by some Colombians and the occasional Nigerian. Fontes said that, as transshipments have increased, so has consumption in Brazil, although interdiction efforts seem to BRASILIA 00001588 002.2 OF 004 have caused traffickers to make smaller shipments. Large seizures are now rare, and a typical seizure now is about 100 to 200 kilos, he explained. About 30 percent of the cocaine entering Brazil is street quality. Amazonas State Secretary of Public Safety Francisco Sa Cavalcante said another transshipment method is on cars loaded on trucks that transit Santa Elena de Uairen, Venezuela, cross the border at Pacaraima, Brazil, and eventually reach Sao Paulo. Fontes and Cavalcante said there is little organized crime in Amazonas, and state prosecutors in Roraima said money laundering is not a problem there. Superintendent Fontes spoke highly of the excellent cooperation and good working relationship he has with Mission Brazil law enforcement elements. Other Drugs in the North - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (SBU) According to Fontes, the most consumed illicit drugs in the north are cocaine paste and marijuana, both Paraguayan and Brazilian, and Roraima prosecutors said cocaine paste has become popular in Boa Vista. There is little heroin in the north, it is expensive, and there is no market for it, while ecstasy is present only in small amounts. Police Challenges and Responses - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) According to Fontes, the greatest challenge to Brazilian law enforcement is personnel, and the 1000 Federal Police officers in Amazonas are insufficient. (Note: Mission DEA believes the number of PF agents in Amazonas may be much lower. End note.) The PFAM are trying to augment patrolling, including along the state's international border, where they have only five two-man posts and thirty men in Tabatinga, at the Brazil-Colombia-Peru triborder area. The officers along the border are generally younger, less experienced, and need more experienced officers to help them. At the same time there has been a drop in PF agents sent to Amazonas from other states, Fontes noted, and 120 PF agents are unavailable for border duty because they are needed in Manaus. Cavalcante, the Secretary of Public Safety, told poloff that the state is addressing law enforcement challenges with a three-pronged strategy involving increases in personnel, internal controls, and intelligence. He said the Amazonas military police (PM) number about 7000, but 10,000 are needed. The state hired 1000 new officers in 2007, and stepped up training so that in 2008 40 percent of all military police will have graduated from the police academy. He said the PM has 180 police station chiefs (delegados),800 investigators, and 500 clerks (escrivaos), while the Amazonas Civil Police have 150 police station chiefs, 500 investigators, and 250 clerks. Cavalcante created an in-house investigative unit, a screening council to increase internal controls, and a senior intelligence position, and he began increasing equipment purchases to beef up intelligence capabilities. He noted that the state police owns a two-man helicopter and a Cessna 210 seaplane. He said the secretariat still has no narcotics specialists, but he plans to hire some. Trafficking in persons, forced labor, and child labor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (SBU) Superintendent Fontes prioritized trafficking in persons as low on the scale among the problems he faces. When it occurs, it is mainly trafficking of women through the region to Venezuela or Guyana, and possibly from there to Europe, to work in prostitution. He asserted that the BRASILIA 00001588 003.2 OF 004 problem is much more serious in Para state, and many women are trafficked from there to Suriname to work as prostitutes. Fontes and Cavalcante both noted that it is typical in Amazonas and Roraima for women and girls to go voluntarily to mining camps to work as prostitutes, and then, as the Roraima prosecutors pointed out, they may have no way to get back home. (Note: Prostitution that does not involve a pimp, a brothel, or a minor is legal in Brazil. End note.) Fontes said slave labor and child labor both exist in mining camps, although slave labor is uncommon, while child labor is more common and is a cultural norm in northern Brazil. He said the PFAM work closely with the labor police (delegacia do trabalho),which has no criminal enforcement authority, to address the issue. He commented that slave labor and child labor are much more prevalent in Para than in Amazonas (post will report on conditions in Para septel). Brazil-Venezuela Border Crossing - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶7. (SBU) Poloff traveled to the Venezuelan border with Federal Police Agent Jesaias Portela to observe the crossing point and local conditions in Pacaraima and the surrounding area. The border is about 215 kilometers from the state capital of Boa Vista along the BR 174, a federal highway that is in generally good condition. Many Brazilians from Roraima travel up and down the BR 174 to go shopping in Santa Elena de Uairen, Venezuela, a duty free zone with inexpensive white goods and electronics. Another attraction is the low price of gasoline in Venezuela, which has generated a black market in smuggled gasoline. PF agents regularly seize pickups and even automobiles converted into small clandestine fuel tankers. Smugglers have preferred the Ford Pampa pickup so much that locals call the gasoline smugglers "pampeiros." Brazilians may visit Santa Elena without a passport, but travel beyond requires processing by immigration officials. On the Brazilian side, there is an Army outpost, a Military Police station, a Federal Police station, which is responsible for immigration matters, and a small customs house. A new customs building is nearly complete and will open soon, and will require vehicles to divert off the BR 174 for inspection. Presently, vehicular traffic crosses the border without leaving the BR 174, passing slowly over speed bumps but usually without stopping in front of the PF station, where an agent watches. ¶8. (SBU) The border area is a free transit zone on both sides ) Venezuelans may enter Roraima without immigration processing ) and document checks are the exception, not the norm; poloff observed a constant stream of private cars, pickups, and commercial trucks crossing in both directions without being stopped. Most of the private traffic appeared to be local, and there seemed to be more Brazilian than Venezuelan cars and pickups crossing, possibly because of Santa Elena's inexpensive shopping. Travelers going beyond the free transit zone have their passports stamped inside the PF building. A short distance away, the Venezuelan checkpoint is visible, where most vehicles appear to pass with few or no document checks. PF agents told poloff that the PF will soon upgrade the Pacaraima border station and a more senior chief will be assigned because of the greater importance the crossing point has assumed for the GOB. ¶9. (SBU) Comment, TIP and labor: Women who travel of their own volition to practice prostitution can become forced labor victims if they get caught up in a debt bondage situation or for various other reasons are are prevented from leaving of their own free will. Local authorities fail to recognize that the women and girls who are unable to leave mining camps BRASILIA 00001588 004.2 OF 004 are in effect trafficking and/or forced labor victims. The authorities may be right in stating that in comparison with the neighboring state of Para, Amazonas has many fewer victims, but they underestimate the problem because they often fail to identify trafficking and forced labor violations in Amazonas as such. ¶10. (SBU) Comment, drugs: The Federal Police are doing yeoman's work with inadequate resources, and law enforcement officials in Amazonas and Roraima are working against significant regional challenges, such as drug trafficking facilitated by the FARC in Colombia and official corruption in Venezuela. Drug traffickers will likely continue to bring in 70 percent or more of Brazil's cocaine through Amazonas as long as federal and state authorities lack the necessary manpower. SOBEL