Brazil’s military regime ‘spied’ on neighbours

AFP/Brasilia

Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship spied on its Latin American neighbours and feared a conflict with Argentina, a Sao Paulo daily reported, citing declassified armed forces documents.

The disclosure by Estado de Sao Paulo came as Brazil is fuming over allegations of US electronic spying on its territory.

Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota plans to raise the allegations, based on leaks from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, in a meeting with his US counterpart John Kerry in Brasilia today.

Estado said the documents from the Armed Forces General Staff showed that Brazilian military attaches and diplomats were tasked with collecting military and strategic secrets of Latin American countries.

The extensive collection notably focused on “the general structure of military ministries, their organisation and operations, the composition of each armed force, commandos, troop strength and equipment, distribution and battle order, anti-aircraft defences, underground installations.”

The documents indicated that in the late 1960s, the military regime also kept close tabs on the movements of leftist guerrillas in Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela for fear their operations might spill over into Brazil. Brazilian military intelligence reportedly had detailed knowledge of all the clashes between the rebels and armed forces of those countries.

Estado said Brazil did not supply arms to combat Bolivian guerrillas but provided counter-insurgency training to four Bolivian pilots in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The daily said documents also showed that the Brazilian military planned for a possible conflict with neighbouring Argentina, in a possible alliance with other Southern Cone countries such as Uruguay and Paraguay.