FILE PHOTO: An illegal miner looks at a destroyed forest area, while being detained by a members of the Special Inspection Group from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) during an operation against illegal mining in Yanomami Indigenous land, Roraima state, Brazil, December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Border tensions over Guyana's Esequibo and the humanitarian crisis among the Yanomami Indigenous people have led Brazil's army to increase its forces in the Amazon by 10% ahead of plan, the military commander for the region told Reuters.
The additional 2,000 troops will help the army patrol a 9,000 km border with Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in a jungle region used by drug traffickers and illegal miners, loggers and smugglers, General Ricardo Costa Neves said.
