Brazilian warplanes are dumping water on the burning forest in the Amazon state of Rondonia, responding to a global outcry over the destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest, according to a government video.
The defence industry is booming in Latin America amid economic growth and greater concerns regarding national security, said the renowned security and defence consultancy firm IHS Jane's. Imports of weapons soared 16% in the subcontinent in 2008-2012, climbing from 3.42 billion to 3.96 billion dollars annually, the firm said in a report called The Balance of Trade.
Brazil’s defence purchases mainly arms will be ruled by strategic priorities such as geopolitical interests and technology transfers and not only price, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette from the Union.
Brazil is pursuing a multimillion-dollar program to revive and modernize its precision strike technologies with the aim of developing rockets and missiles both for domestic military use and exports.
A Brazilian retired general and former commander of UN forces in Haiti warned the new Defence minister Celso Amorim to avoid giving the Armed Forces command a ‘left-wing ideological imprint’.
Brazilian former president Lula da Silva came out in full support of the latest cabinet reshuffle by President Dilma Rousseff who sacked the Minister of Defence Nelson Jobim following some derogatory remarks about the cabinet chief and the head of institutional relations (mainly with Congress).
Brazilian Defence Minister Nelson Jobim resigned after criticizing recent government names to reporters and will be replaced by ex-foreign minister Celso Amorim, the president's office said Thursday.
Brazil is holding military exercises along its Atlantic coast with the deployment of 10.000 troops from the three services to ensure the country can protect its nuclear plants and massive offshore oil industry.
French resistance to the resumption of Mercosur European Union trade talks caused great disappointment among the block’s members, but Brazil believes it has a strong bargaining chip for a greater opening of the European agriculture market: the several billions US dollars fighter planes contract for the Brazilian Air Force.