VZCZCXRO1032
PP RUEHAO RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHGR RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG
RUEHNL RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRG RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHBR #2325 3101900
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061900Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7215
INFO RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 3266
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 8522
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 5781
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMIS DIP POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BRASILIA 002325 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
OES FOR LSPERLING; DGRIER; CDAWSON 
FWS FOR JBIRCHELL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV TBIO ETRD KSCA BR
SUBJECT: U.S.FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE PROVIDES TRAINING AGAINST 
ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRAFFIC IN BRAZIL 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  A team of four officers from the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service (FWS), part of the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, provided Brazilian Federal Police with a training course 
to prevent and combat illegal wildlife trafficking over the two week 
period of October 16-27, 2006.  The U.S Delegation was headed by 
special agent Jill Birchell and complemented by special agents Gary 
Young, Marty Hernandez and forensics scientist Dyan Straughan.  The 
course, financed by the Narcotics Affairs Section at the Embassy, 
took place in Bonito located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso 
do Sul, one of the richest regions of the country in terms of 
Wildlife biodiversity.  Both the United States and Brazilian Federal 
Police believe the exchange of information will help disrupt 
criminal organizations, in both countries, that profit from the 
illegal trade in wildlife.  End Summary 
 
¶2.  The training focused on exchanging information on each country's 
national laws, international laws, surveillance, undercover 
operations, interviewing techniques and proactive methods of 
wildlife protection.  This is the second joint training to take 
place; the first occurred in Brasilia from February 14-25, 2005. 
Brazilian and U.S. law enforcement agencies have exchanged 
information on these issues for many years.  It is believed that in 
Brazil, as in most other countries of the world, traffickers in 
wildlife use the same network to deliver their goods to the United 
States as the drug traffickers.  Worldwide trade in illegal species 
is estimated to be US$ 10 billion and is believed to be the third 
most lucrative endeavor of organized crime, only surpassed by 
trafficking in drugs and weapons. 
 
¶3.  On Friday, October 13, 2006, a day before FWS team took off to 
Bonito, Forensics Scientist, Dyan Straughan attended an informal 
meeting requested by Brazil's Environmental Agency (IBAMA) in 
Brasilia.  Five IBAMA representatives, from various divisions such 
as Fauna Affairs and Fishing Affairs Offices attended the meeting, 
along with a representative from the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia. 
Specialists were interested in many topics, especially forensics and 
law enforcement issues, including the use of forensics in fighting 
environmental crime.  Since forensics is a very recent and 
unexplored issue in Brazil, IBAMA raised many questions about 
laboratories and infrastructure.  Straughan gave an overview on the 
topic and was then invited to visit, at some point in the future, 
one of IBAMA's forensic laboratories currently under construction. 
During the meeting, IBAMA also highlighted some of its developing 
projects such as a genetic database for rare species.  Throughout 
the discussion, both parties exchanged information on how they were 
dealing with specific crimes and illegal practices towards the 
environment. 
 
¶4.  During the training course in Bonito, the topics covered were 
case initiation and management, confidential informants, forensics, 
surveillance, CITES, Lacey Act and other Federal laws, undercover 
operations, intelligence, smuggling, raid planning, interviewing and 
crime scene processing. 
 
¶5.  Marcus Luiz Barroso Barros, President of IBAMA, also 
participated as a lecturer during the course taking advantage of the 
fact that the "students" were the chiefs of the environmental law 
enforcement divisions for each state in Brazil.  Neiva Guedes, 
coordinator of the Blue Macaw Project, delivered a two-hour 
presentation on how the project is slowly increasing the numbers of 
one of the rarest species of macaw in the world. 
 
¶6.  In addition to Barros and Guedes, other guests included Zulmar 
Pimentel Dos Santos, Executive Director of the Brazilian Federal 
Police (BFP), Mrio Jos De Oliveira Santos, Federal Police 
Superintendent for the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, and Valmir 
Gabriel Ortega, Head of IBAMA's Ecosystem Office. 
 
¶7.  Both print media and television networks positively covered the 
October 13 press conference as well as training in Bonito. 
 
¶8. Comment:  Cooperation between the Brazilian Federal Police and 
FWS actually began 10 years ago and over the ensuring period their 
exchange of intelligence has led to convictions in both Brazil and 
the State of Florida.  It has proven to be a workable model in 
meeting law enforcement and environmental protection goals in both 
countries.  Nevertheless, the problem of wildlife trafficking is 
still serious in Brazil.  This training conference was another 
important step forward in improving Brazil's law enforcement 
capacity in this area.  The Embassy will continue to work with FWS 
and the Federal Police to coordinate additional exchanges of best 
practices, follow-up visits, and training.  End Comment 
 
SOBEL