By David Owen
May 12 – With just a month to go before the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian Government has launched its largest mobilisation of armed forces, using 30,000 military personnel to patrol its entire 17,000-kilometre national border, one of the world’s longest.
Operation Agata 8 will draw on personnel from the Brazilian navy, army and air force, assisted by federal police, federal highway police and state-level police forces, together with other government agencies. Designed to test borders, the operation will focus on cross-border crimes such as drug trafficking, smuggling and embezzlement, arms and ammunition trafficking, environmental crimes, vehicle smuggling, illegal immigration and illegal mining strips.
Flawless security is fundamental to the success of any sporting mega-event, so the conduct of the operation will be closely monitored far beyond Brazil.
Nonetheless, the Government is treading a delicate tightrope, with tough economic conditions putting it under intense pressure to demonstrate that World Cup spending has spin-off benefits for ordinary Brazilians.
Perhaps because of this, the release announcing the mobilisation from the Brazilian Secretariat of Social Communication (SECOM) also touched on civic and social actions involved in the operation, which will deliver medical, dental and hospital care to areas with a high concentration of poor households.
According to a so-called “integrated assessment”, seven prior Operation Agata expeditions, including one ahead of last year’s Confederations Cup test event, have resulted in more than 280,000 health procedures, 57,000 medical interventions and 55,000 dental check-ups and treatments. Some 9,000 people are said to have been vaccinated and 219,000 medicines distributed.
The Brazilian navy is said to be manning river patrol and hospital ships, UH-12 (Esquilo) helicopters, motorboats, ferries and training vessels. The army will deploy brigades and battalions from its jungle infantry, mechanised and frontier defence divisions, as well as personnel from the engineering, cavalry, logistics, aviation and communications and electronic warfare units. Ground forces will also set up highway blockades at strategic points.
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