Gov't debates development on Brazil’s national borders

“Brazil’s frontiers are seeking a vocation. They don’t want to be seen as a problem, but rather as a point of integration. The central issue is development,” said economist Bolívar Pêgo Filho, coordinator for urban development studies with the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA).

The institute and the National Integration Ministry are holding a seminar dubbed Fronteiras Brasileiras em Debate (“Brazilian Frontiers under Debate”), on Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 28, 29), in Brasília.

After Russia and China, Brazil is the country sharing national borders with the highest number of nations in the world. Ten neighboring countries border the 16,885 km-long frontiers from north to south, on the western side of the territory.

In three major border regions, 588 municipalities are located, which take up over one fourth of Brazil and are home to six percent of the population—employed in a number of economic activities, such as tourism, agriculture, and mining.

The area’s economic potential is also unknown by Brazilians and needs to be the subject of a public policy ensuring defense, security, and development—“unanimous concerns,” said Bolívar Filho, who has traveled the region since 2016, hearing the demands from both sides of the border.

Among the security problems detected by the security forces, the specialist mentioned car theft in Brazil, and drug (cocaine and marijuana) and gun trafficking on the other side, especially in Bolivia and Paraguay.

“The illicit activities on the border require rigorous efforts in defense and public security, based on intelligence and information services, with resources for mobility and support for state-of-the-art technology,” Bolívar Filho argued.

Also needed are a solution and shelter for immigrants, who significantly increased in number on the border with Venezuela in the last few months.  In addition to these neighbors fleeing to Brazil, Filho expressed concern over trafficking in persons—which targets people taken from Bolivia and put to work in downtown São Paulo under degrading conditions that violate Brazilian labor laws.