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Since the beginning of the year, several key policy-level positions have changed hands. Tecio Lins E. Silva, President of the Federal Drug Council, was succeeded by Miguel Reale,
Reale is a professor of law, University of Sao Paulo, and a practicing attorney. At the Justice Ministry, Secretary General Honorio Severo resigned and was replaced by Jose Fernando Cirne Lima Eischenberg, formerly Executive Assistant to the Minister of Justice. Luiz Araujo Castro, formerly Political Counselor at the Brazilian Embassy, Washington has returned to Brazil and succeeds Ambassador Bernardo Pericas as Chief, International Organizations Department, Ministry of External Relations. Ambassador Pericas has been appointed Undersecretary for Multilateral affairs and will continue to oversee broad policy issues in the narcotics area.
The Ministry has also placed an International Affairs Advisor, Claudio Santos Rocha, in the Justice Ministry. Rocha's primary focus will be on international narcotics issues.
In
the
Brazil
area of international agreements, successfully concluded negotiations with UNFDAC, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in February, which provides an initial grant of $12 million for narcotics assistance programs, and would make available an additional $6 million for approved projects in out years.
Brazil has also taken the initiative in attempting to improve police-to-police cooperation with its neighbors, and has conducted a joint
joint aerial reconnaissance with one of its Andean neighbors, Colombia.
Eradication efforts in the first half of 1987 included:
Marijuana: Operation Nordestinho continues into this year, and through mid-June the Federal Police had destroyed 16 marijuana plantations and 40,500,000 plants (of which 30 million were newly planted shoots).
Coca (epadu): Combining extensive aerial surveys with ground verification, Federal Police in July
July launched a month-long eradication operation in the northwest, in the area of the Dog's Head. This is a planned first phase of a multi-area eradication operation in the Western Amazon. Data are not
not yet available on results of the operation. This operation has resulted in the elimination of 5.5 million plants to date.
Through May, police interdicted 3.13 MT of marijuana. One seizure of Paraguayan marijuana in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul (which borders Paraguay) amounted to 2.58 MT. Also, 647 kgs of cocaine and 30 kgs of base had been interdicted through
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