The US Southern Command's Silent Occupation of the Amazon

[Judi Lynn]

Thursday, November 09, 2017
By Santiago Navarro F. and Renata Bessi, Truthout | Report



Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thanks a Brazilian soldier for
assisting with his tour of the jungle training center in Manaus, Brazil, on March 28, 2012.
Dempsey was there to visit the jungle training center which borders several different countries in
the Amazon Basin. (DOD photo by US Army Staff Sgt. Sun L. Vega, Joint Staff)


Brazil, Colombia and Peru share a triple borderland separating north from south on the South American continent. Located deep in the Amazon forest, this is the theater of operations in which more than 30 military companies test their services and merchandise. The multinational military exercise known as AmazonLog2017, is organized by the Armed Forces of Brazil. More than 1,500 members of the Brazilian military and military members from invited countries participated with high-caliber weapons and munitions, boats, aircraft, helicopters, information technologies, nautical and energy intelligent equipment, radars and sensors. The Southern Command of the United States -- the Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense with influence in the Caribbean, Central and South America -- is also an AmazonLog2017 participant.

Activists and researchers are alarmed about this military exercise. According to Mexican economist and geopolitical specialist Ana Esther Ceceña, AmazonLog2017 allows "the placement of troops that facilitate specific territorial incursions and rapid response operations, both of which imply the use of special forces, whether those be US forces, local or private on the triple borderland."

While the exercise involves temporary military drills, many fear that it welcomes larger future operations. According to Ceceña, AmazonLog2017 creates the conditions to allow future military operations of US troops, specifically in two strategic areas: the lower part of Venezuela and along the Atlantic coast, where Brazil will allow the US access to the Alcȃntara military base.

The AmazonLog2017 military actions were planned in three phases. The first, the industry's commercial phase, occurred between August 28 and September 1, 2017, in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas. Two thousand personnel participated in this event, which was comprised of military, government agencies and arms industry corporations.

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/42542-the-us-southern-command-s-silent-occupation-of-the-amazon

Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016196048

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. "military, government agencies and arms industry corporations. "

You would have to blind to not see where this is going.