Brazil Carried Out War Games on the Border With Venezuela

During the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Brazil in September, President Jair Bolsonaro's administration conducted war drills in the jungles of the state of Amazonas on the border with Venezuela.

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The military games cost US$1.1 million, involved 3,600 men, and carried out the launching of artillery rockets with a range of 80 kilometers.

Under the Access to Information Law, the local outlet O Globo asked the Brazilian Army to report the cost of "Operation Amazonia", which occurred between September 8 and 22 while Pompeo was speaking in the Roraima state about the need to overthrow Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.

The military operation created a battlefield in which the "Red" country invaded the "Blue" country, which was forced to use all the means at its disposal to expel the external threat.

Besides admitting that this simulation was the first of its kind to date, the Brazilian army acknowledged that its war games were directly witnessed by Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo and Army Chief Edson Leal on Sep. 14.

According to official information, Operation Amazonia used planes, helicopters, rafts, ferries, rockets, cannons, machine guns, howitzers, and 60, 81, and 120 mm mortars.

“It was an exercise with troops in the field that simulated a conventional action in the jungle. The operation was an important preparation for activities that the Armed Forces carry out in defense of sovereignty in a priority region for Brazil,” the Defense Ministry stated.