“The world has known oil reserves that will only last the next 25 years and in the United States, only for the next ten years,” Simon Rosental, professor at the Escuela Superior de Guerra (ESG), testified at the Commission on External Relations and National Defense in the Brazilian House of Representatives on Nov. 7, 2011.[i]The commission held public sessions under the title “Role of the Armed Forces in the Defense of the Patrimony and the Liberation of Resources to that End”.According to historian Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira in an article published in the Journal of the Escuela Superior de Guerra, South America would have abdicated its sovereignty if it had passed the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) deal. He considers Brazil as “the only possible rival to the hegemonic influence of the United States” in the region.[x]Furthermore, he maintains that Plan Colombia is destined to control that country’s petroleum reserves rather than fighting guerrillas or drug trafficking. “That is the reason between 10 and 15% of Colombia’s troops and their American military consultants are mobilizing along five pipelines and other installations – to protect energy infrastructure and foreign petroleum companies”, argues Moniz Bandeira.[xi]The journal of the ESG maintains that Plan Colombia seeks to secure United States military presence in South America, “particularly in the Amazon region”, and demonstrates a great concern with the fact that – thanks to the assistance of Washington – “the Colombian army has become the largest and best equipped military, relatively speaking, in South America”[xii]. The military prominence of Washington and the Pentagon in Colombia and its bases all over the world “constitute a challenge for Brazilian security, insofar as this represents a threat to sovereignty over the Amazon”.[xiii]Moniz Bandeira maintains that the discovery of extensive petroleum deposits in Brazilian maritime territory is one of the reasons that lead former President George W. Bush “to restore the IV Flotilla in the South Atlantic”.[xiv]He believes that a conflict between the United States and Brazil is probable, as Henry Kissinger predicted in his book, Does America need a Foreign Policy? (2001). On this he adds, “South America, under the leadership of Brazil along with Argentina and Venezuela, is really trying to define its own identity, to differentiate itself from the United States, in opposition to its domination, which is evident in the creation of UNASUR and the South American Defense Council”.[xv]These initiatives disengage the Inter-American system created by Washington with the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR in Spanish), and the Inter-American Defense Board. He ends by assuring the reader that by virtue of the fact that South America is the largest global exporter of food, one of the greatest exporters of petroleum, and has vast reserves of minerals and water, “one cannot discount the possibility of war with a technologically superior power” or conflicts that will affect Venezuela and Bolivia and national security.[xvi]In the same edition of the journal, Guilherme Sandoval Góes, coordinator of the Geopolitical Issues and International Relations Division of the ESG, notes that the creation of the South Atlantic Zone of Peace and Cooperation (ZPCAS in Spanish) in 1986, “is a strategic construction of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations and has an important role in neutralizing a possible initiative by the United States to create the South Atlantic Treaty Organization (OTAS in Spanish), which would consolidate North American hegemony in this important geo-strategic region”.[xvii]Sandoval Góes maintains that to apply the first strategic principle, “to confront the projection of the United States on the continent” – something he believes is dangerous for his country – “benign Brazilian leadership in South America” is necessary, which would convert the region into “a crucial space for the international strengthening of Brazil”. If this goal is not reached, the region “will become geopolitically subordinate to the United States”.[xviii]The second strategic principle is the multipolar insertion of Brazil in several international cooperative relationships with the European Union and the Asian bloc countries. If these steps are not taken, South America could become another object of economic exploitation for Washington.The preceding extensive citations of ESG publications demonstrate the kind of analysis that forms part of Brazilian strategy. These analyses are not new; they have been clearly stated in Brazil’s National Defense Strategy.[xix] The novel part of the analysis is two-fold: that these analyses are beginning to be shared among the member states of UNASUR, throughout South America, and they are being translated into concrete action. Gradually, the vision of the world held by the political, military and business elite of Brazil is being transformed into a common vision.The acceleration of the timetable to implement military plans that was signalled by the head of the Armed Forces in parliament is not exceptional nor is it limited to military matters. On June 6, Dilma Rousseff hosted President Hugo Chávez and reaffirmed the “strategic alliance” between Brazil and Venezuela. In addition to signing accords to deepen cooperation in areas such as petroleum, science, and technology, Rousseff said that the alliance between Petrobras and PDVSA – the two state-owned petroleum companies – will move ahead.“Our border region deserves policies and initiatives related to the interconnectivity of our systems, be they electric, television, roadways or the integration of production chains”, the Brazilian President stated.[xx] Both countries are making a consistent effort toward binational integration in the Amazon-Orinoco zone. The Franca de Manaus area of Brazil, with its 450 industries, including some high-tech industries, is the force that is driving the development of complementary production chains in both countries.[xxi]Work is being done so that Venezuela will provide industrial inputs for northern Brazil, leading to the creation of joint industrial production chains in the border region in sectors such as the metal-mechanical, agroindustrial and glass industries. This work is also leading to growth in coke production in the Orinoco petroleum belt, a product that Brazil imports in large quantities, as well as the export of fertilizers (phosphorous, nitrates and potassium) that Brazil’s agricultural industry requires.The integration of the border region will play a determining role in the consolidation of Venezuela’s Bolivarian process, unrelated to what happens with the government of Hugo Chávez. The double alliance of Brazil with Argentina and Venezuela has sufficient power to neutralize any external powers and to attract the other South American countries. On this point, it is well worth underscoring the differences between the Brazilian trajectory, which is building on peace and consensus, and other hegemonic powers that climb to the top through war and invasion.[click link for rest of article...
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