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Oswaldo Rivas / Reuters photo in The Washington Post. Caption: “A soldier washes a Russian T-55 tank during a military parade commemorating the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Nicaraguan army at Juan Pablo II Square in Managua in 2014.”
Brazil
- Tom O’Connor, “Russian Missile Defense Systems Are Coming to Brazil” (Newsweek, April 5, 2017).
“Russia has delivered a batch of shoulder-fired Igla-S air defense missile systems to Brazil and has planned on sending Panstir–1 air defense and artillery systems.”
- Andrea Barretto, “Brazilian Army Upgrades Armored Vehicle Fleet” (Revista Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), April 4, 2017).
Brazil’s army has a 25-year plan to buy 1,580 armored combat vehicles, which it employs whenever it is called to assist in the re-taking or “pacifying” of a favela. It began with a $2 billion contract with Iveco, a domestic defense contractor.
- Antônio Werneck, “Policia Civil Quer Interromper Fluxo de Armas de Guerra para o Trafico Do Rio” (O Globo (Brazil), March 21, 2017).
After seizing a record 371 assault weapons and rifles in 2016, and 2,615 over the past 10 years, Rio de Janeiro’s police have established a Specialized Weapons, Ammunition and Explosives unit. It will investigate the arms trafficking networks that are putting so many guns into organized crime’s hands.
Colombia
- Ricardo Monsalve Gaviria, “De las Armas de las Farc No se Conocera su Origen” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), March 21, 2017).
As the FARC guerrillas’ membership concentrates in disarmament zones around the country, the peace accord does not require the UN mission to record the guerrillas’ weapons’ serial numbers before it destroys them. This will make their origins impossible to trace, complicating any future investigation into global arms-trafficking networks. An infographic in this article shows the nations of origin of the weapons turned in by pro-government paramilitary groups 10 years ago: most were made in the United States, Russia, Bulgaria, or North Korea.
Nicaragua
- Joshua Partlow, “The Soviet Union Fought the Cold War in Nicaragua. Now Putin’s Russia Is Back.” (The Washington Post, April 10, 2017).
While mostly about Russian intelligence presence in Nicaragua, this piece does discuss Russia’s donations of T–72 tanks to Daniel Ortega’s regime in Nicaragua.