Brazil’s Top Court Demands 15-Day Plan to Curb Organized Crime in the Amazon

Overview

• The Supreme Federal Court, which issued the directive Monday, gave the federal attorney general’s office 15 days to gather detailed plans from the Justice, Defense, Environment, and Indigenous Peoples ministries.
• Minister Flávio Dino asked for data on current operations by the Federal Police, the Federal Highway Police, and Ibama, joint actions with state police across the Legal Amazon, and options to expand the Armed Forces’ presence in border and high‑risk areas.
• He cited urgent risks to Indigenous and riverine communities and said factions such as Comando Vermelho and the PCC now use environmental crimes like illegal mining and land grabs to raise and launder money tied to drug trafficking.
• Dino framed the move as enforcement of an earlier STF ruling that ordered structural steps on wildfire prevention, environmental inspections, and territorial management in the Amazon and the Pantanal, noting prior efforts since 2024 remain insufficient.
• GLO, a mechanism that lets the president authorize the military to perform police duties, could be triggered if ministries’ plans fall short, which may bring larger deployments and tighter federal‑state coordination in the most violent corridors.