In the release Mercosur leaders expressed their “strongest condemnation of the violence unleashed between Israel and Palestine” and “deeply regret the loss of lives and expresses its concern with the disproportionate use of force” said the text.

They call on both sides “for an immediate end to violence and to the UN Security Council to fully assume its responsibilities. The path for overcoming the current crisis is through diplomacy and dialogue,” continues the text.

Mercosur members, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela and Paraguay (suspended) recognized the State of Palestine and last December signed a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Mercosur signed a similar agreement with Israel in 2007.

The South American block also expressed “its support to the request from the State of Palestine to obtain status of UN Observer member”.

The intense air bombardments by Israel on Gaza on Saturday killed at least ten people and destroyed the headquarters of the Hamas government.

Since the launching by Israel last Wednesday of the military operation “Defense Pillar” 73 people have been killed (70 Palestinians and 3 Israelis) and another 700, mostly Palestinians have been injured.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be visiting the region in coming days to try and convince Israelis and Palestinians to agree on a cease fire and truce.

Meantime the US and EU called for de-escalation of hostilities and have said to understand Israel’s reaction and blame Hamas for the current conflict.

President Barack Obama personally urged leaders in Turkey and Egypt to engage with Hamas over a “de-escalation” of hostilities in Gaza, while continuing to support Israeli strikes despite mounting Palestinian civilian casualties.

Speaking on board Air Force One en route to Asia, White House national security adviser Ben Rhodes blamed Hamas for the current round of violence, stating that the “precipitating factor” for Israeli air strikes was rockets fired into civilian territories from Gaza.

Meanwhile from Brussels it was announced that EU ministers of foreign affairs will discuss the situation and the escalating tension in the Middle East.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton had previously condemned the latest violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza that has led to civilian deaths on both sides, and pinned the blame for the crisis on Hamas.

Ms Catherine Ashton said she was “deeply concerned at the escalating violence” and deplored the loss of civilian life.

“The rocket attacks by Hamas and other factions in Gaza which began this current crisis are totally unacceptable for any government and must stop,” Ashton said in a statement.

“Israel has the right to protect its population from these kinds of attacks.” But she urged Israel to be “proportionate” in its response.

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Twenty aircraft will be provided, as well as ground training devices to support pilot training and all maintenance and supply requirements for the aircraft and associated support equipment.

“We are committed to pursuing our US investment strategy and to delivering the A-29 Super Tucano on schedule and within the budget,” Luiz Carlos Aguiar, CEO of Embraer Defense and Security, said in the statement.

The aircraft will be supplied in partnership with US-based Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) at Jacksonville International Airport as the prime contractor, and will be used to conduct advanced flight training, aerial reconnaissance and light air support operations.

The planes will be used by the new Afghan Air Force to conduct advanced flight training, aerial reconnaissance and light air support operations by partner nations including Afghanistan.

The A-29 Super Tucano was built for counterinsurgency missions and is currently used by five air forces and on order by others, said Embraer

There are more than 150 A-29 Super Tucanos in use now, the companies say. The have logged more than 130.000 flight hours, including more than 18.000 combat hours.

“We believe in the goals of the Light Air Support mission and are proud to be able to support the United States in its partner-building efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world,” Taco Gilbert, Sierra Nevada’s vice president of business development, said in a news release.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Embraer, the citizens of Florida and the thousands of employees who will be part of our supply chain,” Luiz Carlos Aguiar, president of Embraer Defense and Security, said in a news release. “We look forward to working with SNC and the US Air Force to provide these aircraft.”

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Thursday afternoon, the police entered Vila Cruzeiro, a favela in northern Rio. Videos shot from TV stations’ helicopters showed about 200 armed criminals fleeing on motorcycles, pickup trucks and on foot to the Complexo do Alemão, another slum community in the area.

The escape happened through a dirt road that cuts through the Morro do Caricó, an uninhabited hill that separates the two favelas.

After the clashes, the Civil Police deputy chief, Rodrigo Oliveira, told reporters that the slum had been taken from the drug lords. “I can say with 100% certainty that Vila Cruzeiro belongs now to the state,” he said. About 250 policemen are taking part in the occupation, which has no scheduled date to end.

At a news conference, José Mariano Beltrame, Rio’s Secretary of Public Security, explained that the main objective of the actions of the police was to remove the territory from the drug traffickers.

Said he, “These actions are being done in order to ensure the continuity of the actions we have undertaken. We took from these people what they never had it taken from them before, their territory. Their safe harbor. They would do their barbarities and then ran to their stronghold, protected by weapons of war. It is important to arrest, but it’s more important to take away the territory,” said Beltrame. “If you don’t remove the territory, you don’t advance.”

Armored personnel carriers from the Brazilian navy rolled through smoke-filled streets in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday as police battled slum-based drug gangs for a fifth consecutive day, leaving at least 30 dead and almost 200 arrested.

Police targeted the Vila Cruzeiro favela because the area is considered a stronghold of the gangs thought to be behind ordering attacks.

At least 10 armored Marine vehicles, never before used in battles in the city’s favelas, transported militarized police into Vila Cruzeiro, even as gangsters erected barriers. Television showed a bus smoldered, smoke rising from a gutted shell.

At least 37 vehicles have been torched since the last confrontations begun, some of them in Rio’s main artery Avenida Brasil in downtown.

“Our goal today is to take back ground from the drug traffickers. We’re taking it back and rescuing society from its position as a hostage to the drug trade,” said Colonel Alvaro Rodrigues of the military police and the head of the operation.

The violence began on Sunday as suspected gang members attacked police stations and burned vehicles. Authorities blamed the assaults on orders from imprisoned gang members angry at police efforts to take control of their turf in more than a dozen favelas.

The government-run Agência Brasil reported that the continuing unrest stems from the transfer of prisoners from local institutions to federal lockups in other states. The agency quoted Beltrame. The agency also reported that at least 47 public schools and 10 nurseries suspended classes on Thursday.

Beltrame said two rival gangs joined forces to launch the attacks. The security chief also said he mobilized all police in the city to try to restore order and to step up police presence in 17 of Rio’s major favelas.

At least 30 people have been killed in this week’s violence, according to the military police. Among those was a 14-year-old girl hit on Wednesday by a bullet that strayed indoors. She died in the hospital. And 72 vehicles had been burned till Thursday night.

“We have no deadline to stop operations. We’re going to continue giving logistical support … to transport police troops for as long as needed,” said Colonel Carlos Chagas, commander of the Marine logistics battalion.

Rio is among the Brazilian cities that will host the 2014 World Cup and last year was awarded the 2016 Olympics. The city has a history of violence and poverty that contradicts its image of shining beaches and colorful parties.

In the city of 6 million there are hundreds of favelas, where even police are hesitant to enter. Last year gang members shot down a police helicopter, sparking raids and violence that killed 30 people.

The latest confrontation is also seen as the beginning of the federal government’s efforts “Operation cleanup” to clear the city from crime, drugs and organized crime ahead of an agenda of international events extending until the 2016 Olympics.

Earlier in the week Brazilian President Lula da Silva told TV Record that he had instructed his justice minister “to attend to Rio de Janeiro with whatever it needs”.

Bzz/MP

According to SIPRI, South America since 2000 has increased military expenditure 33% in real terms and in 2007 military outlays reached US$ 40 billion.

In the last five years Venezuela, Ecuador and Chile are the countries which most have increased military expenditure in real terms: 78%, 53% and 49% respectively. In Central America, Honduras leads with a 20% increase in the last five years followed by Mexico's 15%. .

In 2007 the Brazilian government promised a 50% hike in the Armed forces budget and is planning to purchase conventional submarines and developing nuclear submersibles. However in the same five year period, Brazil was ranked 12 in military expenditure. Top of the list is Colombia with 4% of GDP, Chile, 3.6% and Ecuador, 2.3%.

Said this, it is also true that many countries in the region had drastically cut their military budgets and salaries of soldiers are still lagging considerably behind the rest of society. Furthermore Colombia's increase can be attributed to the ongoing armed insurgency challenge, according to SIPRI.

The Stockholm think tank underscores that South America is not among the world regions which most spend in their armed forces, but Venezuela has caused alarm since it has purchased over US$ 4 billion in Russian armament.

Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, who on taking office in 1999 said the country could no longer continue spending on aircrafts and tanks, earlier this month justified his long shopping list saying that Venezuela needs the arms to "defend the Bolivarian revolution" from the "United States empire of evil."

Stephen Johnson head of Hemispheric Affairs in the US Defense Department is quoted by The Miami Herald saying that "defense equipment deteriorates, become obsolete and it is clear there's an attempt to modernize the region's armed forces."

However in the case of Venezuela "there's a clear intent to project power or intimidate, the kind of gesture that can trigger in others a feeling of danger and make them spend more on arms".

This week Peru and Ecuador revealed they were spending in refurbishing and purchasing new equipment. Peru has plans to invest US$ 106 million in upgrading its MIG-29 with the purpose of "recovering the operational capability of our Armed Forces," said Defense minister Antero Flores Araoz.

Peru has a wing of 19 MIG 29 purchased from Russia and Byelorussia in the early nineties and signed an agreement with Russia for the refurbishing. However most of the work, upkeep and training "will be done in Peru by Peruvians as part of a long term plan stretching to 2011 and involving US$ 654 million."

Ecuador, which recently had border skirmishes with neighboring Colombia and was accused of allowing sanctuaries for Colombian guerrillas, announced the purchase of 24 Brazilian made Super Tucano fighters, fast boats and radars for border surveillance. The plan also includes refurbishing its wing of Israel manufactured Kfir fighter bombers.

"All our aircraft have years of service, we need to renew them and the government is committed to a significant investment in the Armed forces. This by no means is a mad arms race or nothing like it," pointed out Defence minister Miguel Carvajal.

Last March following an incursion of Colombian troops into Ecuadorian territory, Quito broke diplomatic relations with Bogota and announced the beefing up of its air power with the purchase of the 24 Brazilian Super Tucanos and six UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) plus the refurbishing of the Israeli version of the French Dassault Mirage fighter bombers.

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A private report released this Wednesday, June 18, in Argentina titled Military Balance in South America, elaborated by the New Majority Studies from Buenos Aires reflect the increase in military spending which is considered relevant in the context of the Brazilian proposal for the creation of a Regional Defense Council.

"All countries have increased their defense budgets, with Paraguay leading (up 33.48%), a tendency followed by Brazil with a hike of 32.48%," said the report.

The four full members of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) average 30% increase on an annual base with an overall expenditure of US$ 30.9 billion.

Military expenditure from the Andean Community of Nations (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) has reached US$ 9.4 billion, while Chile figures with US$ 4.9 billion and Venezuela, US$ 3.3 billion.

"However in spite of the significant increase in military budgets, South America is still the region, together with the rest of Latinamerica, which less resources invested and has a lower percentage of GDP dedicated to defense," points out the report.

Overall military expenditure in the 12 countries considered represents 4% of total world military expenditure and 9% of the US defense budget.

The region on average spends 1.7% of GDP in military expenditure.

The two countries with the largest military outlays are Colombia and Chile equivalent to over 3% of GDP compared to Argentina and Venezuela with 1% on average, the two countries which nevertheless have most increased military investments in the last five years, points out Nueva Mayorí­a.

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Brazil should develop the technological capacity to manufacture nuclear
weapons, one of the country’s top generals declared in a television interview
earlier this month. The remark was delivered in the context of a turn by the
Workers Party government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva towards a
dramatic increase in military spending.

The hike is an effort to build back up the country’s armed forces, which have been severely discredited since the end of the military dictatorship more than two decades ago.

“If the government agrees, we need to have the ability in the future to develop a nuclear weapon,” said General José Benedito de Barros Moreira, one of Brazil’s few four-star generals and a former head of the country’s War College.

Barros Moreira, who is presently a senior official in Brazil’s Ministry of Defense, in charge of formulating the country’s military strategy, compared the weapon to a “lock” needed to safeguard Brazil’s resources.

The startling comment came in a roundtable discussion on the program Expressão Nacional broadcast Tuesday night by TV Câmara, the network run by Brazil’s congress. The general appeared together with two congressional deputies, Jose Genoíno of the Workers Party and Raul Jungmann of the Popular Socialist Party, as well as Antonio Jorge Ramalho da Rocha, of the National University of Brazil’s Institute of International Relations.

“We should be technologically prepared to produce a nuclear device,” said the general. He added, “No country can feel safe if it doesn’t develop technology that enables it to defend itself when necessary.”

Barros Moreira said that Brazil’s resources made it a “target” for foreign aggression. “The world lacks water, energy, food and minerals,” he said. “Brazil is rich in all of these. For this reason we must put a strong lock on our door.”

Significantly, the two legislators both found themselves largely in agreement with the general. Genoíno, an anti-government guerrilla under the military dictatorship, rose to the presidency of the Workers Party (PT), and became one of the central figures in a political bribe and kickback scandal that led the country’s attorney general to declare him a leader of a criminal organization.

He spoke in terms of Brazil’s need to have armed forces to “match its economic and political projection in the world” and to support “the projection of power in the world and region.”

Jungmann, an ex-member of the Stalinist Brazilian Communist Party who has faced his own charges of embezzlement of public funds while he served as agrarian reform minister under the government of President Fernando Cardoso, talked about Brazil becoming a “global player” – using the English phrase – and the need to attend to the “viability of our armed forces.”

Both legislators lamented the financial neglect of the armed forces, with Genoino railing indignantly against the “poverty wages” paid to generals and admirals.

Neither they, nor anyone else on the program, bothered to mention that the reduction of appropriations for the Brazilian military was bound up with the overwhelming popular repudiation of an institution responsible for the murder, torture and imprisonment of tens of thousands Brazilian workers, peasants, students and political oppositionists, including some whom the two deputies presumably once regarded as their comrades.

The subject of the television round table discussion was the move by the Lula government to fulfill the Defense Ministry’s request for a 50 percent hike in arms spending for the coming year, raising military appropriations from their current level of US$ 3.5 billion to well over US$ 5 billion. It is widely anticipated that the government will revive plans that were shelved in 2002 to purchase new fighter jets and to develop a nuclear submarine.

While the Defense Ministry and the Lula government have officially denied any connection, the discussion of the proposed military buildup in Brazil’s right-wing media has focused on a supposed challenge posed by the multi-million-dollar arms purchases made by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez from Russia, including 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles and fighter planes.

Two days after the general’s televised remarks, Brazil’s Defense Minister, Nelson Jobim, spoke at a military conference in Rio de Janeiro in support of building a nuclear submarine, claiming that such a weapons system was needed to defend recently discovered off-shore oil reserves.

“When you have a large natural source of wealth discovered in the Atlantic, it’s obvious you need the means to protect it,” Jobim said.

The Brazilian military had sought the development of a nuclear submarine during the period of the dictatorship, which ruled the country from 1964 to 1985. During the period in which he had emerged as a national figure for his leading role in a series of massive metalworkers strikes in defiance of military rule, Lula had denounced the proposed submarine program as a diversion of resources that were needed to meet the country’s vast social needs.

Now, as president, he has emerged as a champion of realizing the Brazilian military’s old dream. Last July, Lula announced the appropriation of US$ 540 million to fund the navy’s nuclear enrichment program, the first installment of what is expected to be more than US$ 1.2 billion for the building of a nuclear submarine.

“Brazil could rank among those few nations in the world with a command of uranium enrichment technology, and I think we will be more highly valued as a nation – as the power we wish to be,” he said at the time.

In his speech, Defense Minister Jobim insisted that Brazil’s uranium enrichment program would be used solely for the submarine program and dismissed the idea that it would be utilized for the production of a nuclear weapon. “That’s total nonsense,” he said, while making no reference to the proposal made by General Barros Moreira expressing the exact opposite viewpoint.

The more perceptive voices in the Brazilian media, however, treated the general’s opinions as anything but “nonsense.” Folha de S. Paulo political columnist Jânio de Freitas, for example, wrote that in his remarks Barros Moreira “went much further, in objectivity and clarity, than Jobim. He went, strictly speaking, to the very end: he spoke of the necessity of Brazil mastering the entire cycle of nuclear energy, which includes, more than the submarine, nuclear explosive devices.”

“How far attending to this alleged necessity has already proceeded is almost a mystery, as is normal for military projects,” continued Freitas, who noted that the Brazilian navy had long ago assembled qualified personnel and equipment to begin nuclear enrichment.

The columnist noted that the Lula government has enjoyed the complicity of the Bush administration in concealing the extent and nature of its nuclear program. Washington, he reports, “managed to get the International Atomic Energy Agency to pretend to be satisfied with verbal explanations, after being blocked when it tried to inspect the characteristics, and thereby deduce the possible aims, of the Brazilian installations for uranium enrichment.”

He noted that the US attitude toward nuclear developments in Brazil is precisely the opposite of that taken toward similar developments in Iran, where the government has submitted to extensive inspections.

There is no doubt that Washington has tilted strongly towards Brasília, promoting the Lula government as a counterweight to the influence exerted by the left-nationalism of Venezuela’s Chavez on the continent. Lula has encouraged this alignment, both with the deployment of the Brazilian military as “peacekeepers” in Haiti – freeing up US Marines for the occupation of Iraq – and in the recent ethanol treaty with Bush.

In conclusion, Freitas wrote: “The motive for the change being introduced in Brazil is obscure, but it is already known that the dimensions of its effects, internal and external, can only be great and grave.”

Brazil is not building up its military – and potentially pursuing nuclear weapons – because of some perceived threat from Venezuela. If anything, the political demonization of Chavez and Venezuela’s recent arms deals have merely been employed by the Brazilian military and its backers as a useful pretext for promoting rearmament.

Nor, obviously, is there any groundswell of popular support for increased military spending, much less a nuclear arms program. The one political figure most identified with supporting a Brazilian bomb – the recently deceased right-wing nationalist deputy and former presidential candidate Enéas Carneiro of the Party for the Reconstruction of the National Order (PRONA) – was turned into an object of public ridicule over the proposal.

Nonetheless, there are profound objective forces underlying the drive by Brazil’s ruling circles to pursue renewed military power, including nuclear weapons. The international arena is characterized by the increasingly sharp and open conflicts between the rival capitalist nation states over the control of resources and markets.

This process has found its most acute expression in the eruption of American militarism, as Washington seeks to exploit its military superiority to offset its relative economic decline, launching two wars of aggression for control of energy-rich regions in the course of the last seven years.

General Moreira Barros’s warnings about Brazil becoming a “target” for potential wars over increasingly scarce sources of energy, water and food reflects the emerging reality of a build-up towards a new period of worldwide conflagration. At the same time, the Brazilian ruling elite has its own increasing regional and global profit interests, and is prepared to utilize military force to further them.

While, no doubt, the Workers Party government will promote militarism and a revived nuclear program with the politics of nationalism, these developments pose an ominous threat to the Brazilian working class.

As a result, it will confront growing attacks on its living standards, the increasing power of a military that relinquished its dictatorial grip over the country little more than two decades ago and the prospect of being dragged into a catastrophic world war.

The article appeared originally in http://www.wsws.org.

The Santa Catarina question is completely justified. Today, parents are rarely happy when their children choose a teaching career.

One month ago in Brasília a public-school teacher told me that her father stopped speaking to her when she informed him of her decision to become a teacher. In Brazil this career choice is an extreme act, like enlisting to go to war.

It is sad to acknowledge, but a teaching career does not offer a very promising future. The young person who chooses that career will probably earn a low salary, will work in schools that are physically degraded, will not be able to count upon modern equipment, will confront unmotivated classes, and will be subject to acts of violence.

These are, however, the professionals who will fight the war of constructing the future of Brazil. They are soldiers of the future. They are patriots.

The obvious reason for this low opinion of teaching lies in the dreadful working conditions, including the salary. But there are more profound reasons behind it. When a young person chooses the career of medical doctor or engineer, his or her parent sees three advantages: a promising future; a good income; and the parental pride of having a child who is helping to construct the country.

His or her child is a well-paid soldier of the future. When the child chooses to join the ranks of schoolteachers, the parent does not have the same sentiment of the construction of the future, of society's respect for the teacher. And the parent knows of the probable low salary.

Even more than the salary, what weighs heavily in the parents' frustration is the lack of recognition, as if teaching were a minor profession. But the lack of recognition stems principally from the low salary. What is created is a vicious circle: It is not a career seen as a success because the salary is low; and there is no recognition. The teacher feels diminished and remains even more so.

The employees of the Central Bank went on strike at the same time as the teachers in several states. On average, the simple raise demanded by the Central Bank strikers was the equivalent to almost two times the monthly salary of the teachers.

Because, in the vision of Brazil, education is of secondary importance. It is not perceived that the economic future of the nation is in knowledge-capital and that the social inequality will be ended only through access to schools with the same quality for everyone.

When the defect in the aerial infrastructure became evident, the government decided to construct new runways, new airports, special trains to carry the passengers. Billions of reais were rapidly promised. Because the airplanes need to take off. But there are no resources to make the country take off by constructing the airports of the future: the schools.

The greatest difficulty in removing Brazil from the impasse its society is experiencing is changing public opinion to see that the school is important and the teachers are the builders of the future.

When this happens, at the moment a child is born, his or her father will take the child into his arms, look at the baby's little face and say, "When you grow up, you're going to be a teacher."

And the father will think, "You will have a beautiful career, a good future, and you will help Brazil win our war against poverty, backwardness, and inequality."

On that day, the question I was asked in Joaçaba will lose all meaning.

Cristovam Buarque has a Ph.D. in economics. He is a PDT senator for the Federal District and was Governor of the Federal District (1995-98) and Minister of Education (2003-04). He is the current president of the Senate Education Commission. Last year he was a presidential candidate. You can visit his homepage – www.cristovam.com.br – and write to him at mensagem-cristovam@senado.gov.br

Translated from the Portuguese by Linda Jerome – LinJerome@cs.com.

Brazil’s Vice-president and Minister of Defense, José Alencar, confirmed, Tuesday, August 30, that Brazil purchased 12 used Mirage 2000 jets from France. The deal was negotiated during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s most recent visit to that country.

The planes, which cost 60 million euros, will replace the Brazilian Air Force’s (FAB, Força Aérea Brasileira) Mirages that will be retired at the end of this year, because they were considered obsolete and their modernization would be economically inviable.

The FAB intended to buy latest generation fighters to substitute the Mirages, within the PX Project, which has been under development for several years in the Air Force, but the plan ran up against the high cost of new fighters (around US$ 700 million), as well as questions of technology.

Alencar said that the planes that Brazil purchased should have a useful life of 10-15 years in the country, operating as part of the air defense system,” until new technologies are incorporated.” The planes are expected to arrive at the end of this year or in 2006, Alencar informed.

ABr

Here is something to think about: the number of deaths by firearms registered in Brazil over the last decade (a total of 325,551, or an average of 32,555 per year) is more than all the deaths in a total of 26 armed conflicts that took place around the world during that period.

That fact is in a new UNESCO study just released on “Deaths by Firearms in Brazil from 1979 to 2003.”

The study, which was coordinated by sociologist Julio Jacobo Waiselfisz, found that during the whole 24-year period surveyed a total of 550,000 people in Brazil were killed by firearms. During the period, firearms deaths rose over 460%, while the population grew 51.8%.

The study also showed a spike in deaths by firearms as a percentage of total deaths in Brazil.

In 1979, deaths by firearms were 1% of total deaths. By 2003, the percentage had risen to almost 4%.

There was also a sharp increase of over 540% in the use of firearms in murders and 75% in suicides.

The only bright spot in all this was a drop of 16% in deaths due to accidents with firearms.

The downside in all this is that a large percentage of those who die from firearms are young people in the 15 to 24 age group. In 1979, 7.9% of firearms deaths in Brazil were young people in the 15 to 24 year age group.

By 2003, that had risen to 34.4%, which means that one out of every three youths in this age group who die in Brazil die from gunshot wounds.

Firearms deaths have now risen to third place on the list of principal causes of death in Brazil, behind heart/circulatory diseases and cancer. That is for the whole population.

However, in the 15 to 24 age group, things are tragically different. Death by firearms is the principal cause of death, followed by traffic accidents.

ABr – www.radiobras.gov.br

Brazil is currently negotiating the purchase of twelve refurbished combat aircraft from France to replace the old Mirages that have been on service for over 30 years.

Brazilian Vice President and Defense Secretary, José Alencar, said the operation involves US$ 60 million and should be finalized by the time President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva makes an official visit to France next July, reports daily Folha de S. Paulo.

The Mirage 2000-C are still commissioned by the French Air Force and would eventually replace the 20 Mirage IIIEBr belonging to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB, Força Aérea Brasileira).

Brazil recently cancelled a plan to invest US$ 700 million in the purchase of 12 to 24 new fighter bombers, opting for refurbished units.

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