Amazônia e política de defesa no Brasil (1985-2002)

The proposal of this work is to analyze the role Amazonia has obtained in Brazil’s defense policy, between 1985 and 2002. In the last 20 years, Amazonia is the region of the country that has attracted more attention of defense policy makers. This has occurred mainly because of the region’s great strategic importance, its rich biodiversity, and also, due to the necessity of monitoring an area of such low demographic density, of difficult access, whose frontiers are susceptible to international drug trafficking (among other irregular security threats). The response by the Brazilian government to these threats, through its defense policy, was given by the creation and implementation of the Calha Norte Program (Programa Calha Norte - PCN), the Amazonia Protection System (Sistema de Proteção da Amazônia - SIPAM) and its operational branch, the Amazonia Vigilance System (Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia - SIVAM), and also the inclusion of Amazonia as a strategic priority in the National Defense Policy document (Política de Defesa Nacional - PDN).