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14/03/2009 | Brazil, Colombia - A Deal Signals Strategic Cooperation

Stratfor Staff

Colombia and Brazil have signed an agreement granting mutual overflight privileges in border areas during hot pursuit operations. The move signals a significant increase in strategic cooperation between two of South America’s most powerful countries.

 

Colombia and Brazil signed an agreement March 11 allowing mutual overflight privileges by about 30 miles over the border during hot pursuits. The agreement, signed by Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos and his Brazilian counterpart, Nelson Jobim, will permit Colombia to chase Colombian militants — who frequently cross international boundaries to avoid capture — into Brazil.

The move is a concrete sign that Brazil is getting serious about border security and South American security cooperation.

The issue of hot pursuit in South America has been extremely delicate politically over the past year since a March 1, 2008, Colombian military operation. During that incident, Colombian soldiers and aircraft crossed into Ecuador to kill Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) second-in-command Luis Edgar Devia Silva (better known as Raul Reyes). The raid raised tensions with Ecuador, but also with Colombia’s eastern neighbor, Venezuela, prompting both countries to move troops to their respective borders with Colombia. Since the raid, relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been volatile, while Colombia and Ecuador severed diplomatic ties.

The agreement between Colombia and Brazil is thus an important precedent for the two countries, which have been working together under the framework of in the newly formed Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and on the South American Defense Council.

For Bogota, the benefits of a deal that allows it to legitimize its pursuit of FARC rebels more effectively are relatively obvious. Colombia appears to have turned the tide against FARC over the past year. A hostage-rescue operation in July 2008 secured the release of FARC’s highest-profile hostages, including former Colombian presidential candidate and dual French citizen Ingrid Betancourt. Although FARC is still estimated to hold thousands of hostages, the operation deprived the rebel group of its most valuable bargaining chips.

Since then, individuals ranging from FARC foot soldiers to high-level FARC leaders have been defecting, sometimes bringing hostages with them in a bid for better treatment by the government. This is not to say that FARC has been completely routed — FARC attack campaigns against military forces are ongoing — but there is no question that the militant organization’s power has dropped dramatically. Now that Colombia has come this far, the next logical step is to ensure that FARC cannot find a safe haven in neighboring countries.

For Brasilia, an agreement like this is a great way to ensure that Brazil never becomes a safe haven for FARC. It will also boost Brazilian efforts to coordinate South American policy-making under UNASUR. Perhaps most important, it also offers a chance to make progress on a prime strategic imperative for Brazil, namely, control of the immense South American country’s borders. Because enormous swaths of Brazilian territory are blanketed by dense jungle, Brazil has very little control over many (if not most) of its borders. And the border with Colombia is unquestionably the most remote and difficult to reach for the Brazilian military. Now however, it may well become one of its most secure borders thanks to the battle-hardened Colombians bearing most of the security burden.

Rising concerns about drug trafficking and militancy throughout South America (coupled with economic stabilization and increased resources) has made it increasingly more important and possible for Brazil to try to exert more control over its territory. Though the Brazilian military has reoriented its forces away from its traditional rivals to the south (namely Paraguay and Argentina) toward exerting influence over its jungle-covered northern territories, it still has a long way to go. Perhaps the biggest challenge will be to project military power across territory with very little transportation infrastructure, as the Amazon rainforest presents very difficult operating and troop-maintenance challenges.

But despite the obvious benefits to both countries, this kind of agreement is no small matter. There are very few true hot pursuit agreements between countries. (One notable example is a deal between Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore for naval patrols in the Strait of Malacca.) For two countries to allow one another to send troops across their borders indicates a high level of trust, and requires a high level of cooperation. Brazil is unquestionably South America’s rising power, and Colombia boasts South America’s best-trained and best-equipped military (particularly for counterinsurgency jungle warfare operations). For the two of them to agree to this level of military and political cooperation sends a very clear signal to South America, and particularly to Colombia’s other neighbors.

Stratfor (Estados Unidos)

 


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