Brazil pledges to help Haiti build new army

The Global Times, 07/27/2012

Brazil will help Haiti form a defense force that can eventually take over from the UN peacekeeping mission.

Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim announced the decision during a meeting Thursday with his Haitian counterpart Jean Rodolphe Joazile. He said the Brazilian government would send a military mission to determine how Brazil could help the Caribbean country.

“Haiti’s government requested we cooperate in this manner. We are now trying to work on the ways the help can be given,” Amorim said.

Amorim said Brazil only agreed to help on condition the armed forces would not become a personal militia. He said he was assured by Joazile the new army would be a public force.

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Brazil to boost defense to protect borders, resources

Jeferson Ribeiro and Paulo Prada – Reuters, 05/30/2012

(Reuters) – Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim said on Wednesday the country’s growing need to protect its borders, the Amazon rainforest, and massive offshore oil discoveries would lead it to gradually increase defense spending by a quarter to reach roughly 2 percent of Brazil’s economy.

During an interview at the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit, Amorim said the country’s valuable food, water, and energy supplies could eventually make it the target of a “scramble for natural resources.” Given the country’s recent economic growth, he added, Brazil must spend more on preparedness and its ability to “react or dissuade any effort to invade our territory.”

Brazil has good relations with all 10 of its South American neighbors, and hasn’t been to war with any of them since the 19th century, so defense spending has historically been seen as a second-tier priority.

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Brazil readies 15,000 security forces for Rio summit

Javier Tovar – AFP, 05/28/2012

RIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian military will coordinate the deployment of 15,000 security personnel during next month’s UN summit on sustainable development here, Defense Minister Celso Amorim said Monday.

He said the army would deploy 8,000 troops who will be assisted by 7,000 police personnel.

“We did very detailed planning, with a lot of people and equipment to ensure that the conference takes place in peaceful conditions,” Amorim told a press conference.

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Brazil to boost military presence to protect Amazon

Agence France-Presse/The Raw Story, 04/27/2012

Brazil will boost its military presence in the Amazon region to protect its huge natural resources from any external threat, Defense Minister Celso Amorim told the Senate.

“The commitment to the defense of the Amazon is fundamental. Navy, Air Force, all services will boost their presence in the Amazon in the next few years,” he said without giving further details.

Amorim said Brazil did not feel threatened by any neighboring country but added: “We cannot rule out that some power from outside the region” may covet the natural resources of the Amazon, the planet’s largest rainforest and its main source of fresh water.

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Brazil wants U.S. military technology transfer restrictions lifted

AFP/Defense News, 04/23/2o12

Brazil’s defense minister says he will press for the lifting of U.S. restrictions to military technology transfer in his upcoming talks with his American counterpart Leon Panetta.

“It is very important that there be no obstacle to the acquisition of items with technological content,” Celso Amorim told the daily Folha de Sao Paulo on April 23.

Amorim and Panetta are to meet here April 24 as part of the new Defense Cooperation Dialogue agreed during President Dilma Rousseff’s recent visit to Washington.

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UN relief chief welcomes Brazil’s contribution to humanitarian action

UN News Centre, 04/04/2012

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos.
UN Photo/WFP/Rein Skullerud

The United Nations humanitarian affairs chief yesterday pledged support for Brazil’s humanitarian work around the world, highlighting the country’s contributions in the areas of disaster-risk prevention and food security.

“I am particularly interested in how best to share Brazil’s experience in disaster preparedness and food security with other countries in the region and around the world,” said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, reiterating the UN’s commitment to collaborate with Brazil in preparing for and responding to humanitarian emergencies.

Ms. Amos’ comments came at the end of a three-day visit, her first official visit to the Latin American country. During her stay, she met several Government officials, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota; the Minister of Defense, Celso Amorim; and the Minister for National Integration, Fernando Bezerra. Their discussions included the topic of strengthening the relationship between Brazil and the UN.

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Brazil close to jet fighter decision: minister

AP/The Local, 04/01/2012

Brazil is in the “final chapters” of making a decision to award a lucrative jet fighter deal, the defence minister Celso Amorim said on Saturday.

Amorim indicated that the decision could be expected within a few months.

Swedish manufacturer Saab’s Gripen jet fighter is up against the Rafale fighter, made by French firm Dassault Aviation and US aviation giant Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet for a tender from Brazil to supply 36 multi-role combat aircraft.

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Brazil says loss of station won’t stop Antarctica research

IANS/EFE/Nerve, 02/28/2012

Brazil will accept the help offered by other South American nations with bases in Antarctica so that it can continue with the scientific studies of the white continent even as it works to rebuild the research station ravaged by a weekend fire, the defence minister said.

Celso Amorim was talking to the press in Rio de Janeiro Monday upon receiving 41 researchers and military personnel who were on the base at the time of the fire, which left two people dead and a third injured.

The group arrived before dawn aboard a Brazilian air force C-130 Hercules that also carried marine Sgt. Luciano Gomes Medeiros, who was injured as he tried to put out the blaze.

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Brazilian defense minister defends strong industrial base as part of dissuasion strategy

DefPro, 02/17/2012

Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim said Feb. 15 the need for a strong defense industrial base as part of a strategy of deterrence to ensure peace in the South Atlantic.

In a speech at the opening of 2nd National Defense Seminar, held in the auditorium Nereus Ramos House of Representatives, the Minister Celso Amorim has identified a process of devolution of power worldwide and the creation of “a belt of good-will between Brazil and its neighbors in South America.”

The minister said the country should extend this belt to Africa, in the spirit proposed by the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic.

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Peru may buy 10 Embraer Super Tucanos

Alonso Soto – Reuters, 02/14/2012

Peru is considering buying ten Super Tucano light attack aircraft from Brazil’s Embraer as it works with Brazil to bolster surveillance along their jungle border, Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim said on Tuesday.

Amorim said the Peruvian military is also interested in Embraer’s KC-390 military transport plane and the armoured land vehicle Guarani, a Brazilian army project that is expected to start production this year.

“This (purchase of Super Tucanos) has been the subject of conversations for some time… In that context we are working on the possibility of 10 planes,” Amorim told reporters in Brasilia.

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