The governments of Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Emmanuel Macron will soon sign an international cooperation agreement between the police forces of the two countries that provides for joint operations to combat illegal mining in French Guiana, four senior figures told Reuters. negotiations.
The signing of the agreement is expected to take place during Macron’s visit to Brazil at the end of March, three sources said.
Amapá, a state in the far north of Brazil, and French Guiana, an overseas territory that belongs to France, border each other across the Oiapoque River, and the region has become a hot spot for illegal mining and environmental crimes on both sides set off.
One of the sources from the Federal Police and another from the Ministry of Justice stated that the agreement provides, in addition to joint and mirror operations, the training of police officers and also the sharing of results on the analysis of the composition of illegal gold extracted in each of the countries.
The PF develops a program called Ouro Alvo, in which it maps the so-called DNA of the mineral: each gold region has unique characteristics, which remain as a signature and can serve as evidence of the smuggling of illegal goods, in case of confiscation.
The PF will lead the partnership on the Brazilian side and on the French side the National Police and the National Gendarmerie, added another member of the corporation.
Also in 2008, Lula, in his second term, signed an agreement with his then French colleague, Nicolas Sarkozy, which included actions to combat mining in a broader way, the first PF source said. She pointed out that the agreement is now treated in some specific points as cooperation through the Ouro Alvo and Brasil MAIS programs, which use satellite imagery that provides automatic warnings, for example, of illegal deforestation and mining.
The Justice Ministry source said the new agreement is “more operational” and explained that this is only thanks to the previous agreement from 2008, which laid the legal foundation for the new treaty that will be signed this year. According to her, police officers from one country could enter another and carry out missions, under the guidance of the local institution.
“The French have expressed their intention to deepen ties with Brazil,” said this source, who has had meetings with representatives of French diplomacy. These negotiations also come from the management of former minister Flávio Dino, recently sworn in as minister of the Federal Court.
The most updated version of the final text proposed by France was presented to the Brazilian government in January and is being finalized, according to the source, and will have to be signed by the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, and the Minister of Justice . the internal and overseas territories of France, Gérald Darmanin.
A high-ranking source in Brazil’s Foreign Ministry also privately confirmed the agreement between the two countries.
When contacted, the Ministry of Justice and the French Embassy in Brasilia did not immediately comment on the matter.
The expected costs of the transaction will be borne by each institution’s budget, a PF source said. The Brazilian institution will pay for Brazilians’ plane tickets and daily allowances, but stressed that part of the action’s success depends on funding, through the Amazon Fund, to make laboratory analyzes feasible in joint operations, he added.
The PF is already present in French Guiana, with representatives in Saint-Georges do Oiapoque and Cayenne, one of the PF sources cited, underlining that the joint action agreement with the neighboring country will strengthen the line of work of the company seeking count on international support in the fight against environmental crimes.
Also during the semester, the PF will inaugurate the International Police Cooperation Center (CCPI) in Manaus, in which police officers from countries in the Amazon region will participate. France was one of the European countries invited to collaborate with the centre, but has not yet announced whether it will join the CCPI, a PF source said.
Source: Terra
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