Latin America & Caribbean
Brazil’s environmental SWAT team
An elite special forces group created by Brazil’s environmental agency is combatting environmental crimes in remote areas of the country. Brazil claims it’s the first tactical assault team in the world created specifically to tackle environmental crimes. Photos by Ramon Iriarte for Univision.com.
Roberto Cabral is part of an elite special forces group created by Brazil’s environmental agency, drives along the muddy trails of Mato Grosso state, Brazil.
Ramon Iriarte
Cabral works for the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA)'s Specialized Monitoring Group (GEF, in Portuguese) to combat environmental crimes.
Ramon Iriarte
One of the agents studies the area where the day’s mission will take place.
Ramon Iriarte
Two IBAMA agents discuss the mission for the day.
Ramon Iriarte
Agent Cabral, ready to go on a mission to bust an illegal mining operation far out in the jungle.
Ramon Iriarte
Protecting identity is important for the agents, as they, and even their families, could face reprisals from the criminal organizations that they go after.
Ramon Iriarte
IBAMA agents look for illegal miners from the sky – needles in a haystack.
Ramon Iriarte
The group has very limited resources: they rely on four non-armored Bell helicopters to carry out operations.
Ramon Iriarte
Criminals use bulldozers that drag a tree-cutting chain mechanism to destroy the forest at an incredibly fast pace.
Ramon Iriarte
On this mission, three illegal miners are apprehended – their mining tools are destroyed and they are left with a warning.
Ramon Iriarte
Given the impossibility of confiscating machinery, the best option is to destroy it and leave it behind.
Ramon Iriarte
Usually, teams of five or six agents carry out sting operations and leave immediately to avoid encounters with criminals or indigenous communities — which could leave them easily outnumbered.
Ramon Iriarte
Most GEF agents are not career military – many have a background in biology or other scientific research.
Ramon Iriarte
Some detractors say that human predation of Amazonian resources is so massive that IBAMA's efforts are effectively futile.
Ramon Iriarte