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 War exercises by the Brazilian military along the border of Brazil with Paraguay are escalating tensions between the South American neighbors. Operation Southern Border II mobilized 3,500 soldiers from the Brazilian armed forces along the border, as part of a larger force of some 10,000 soldiers also deployed along the borders with Uruguay and Argentina.
Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo warned Brazil in a news conference in Asunción that "not even one millimeter of the territorial sovereignty of the country can be bothered" or "the Paraguayan reaction will be swift."
Paraguayan TV showed armed Brazilian troops occupying the "Friendship Bridge" separating the countries at Ciudad del Este. The maneuvers come amid a series of clashes between Paraguayan peasants and militias controlled by Brazilian farmers in the country.
Brazilian officials insist the military operations are aimed at drug interdiction and are not related to the land conflicts.
The April election of President Lugo who spent eleven years working with landless peasants in the countryside, has emboldened many peasants to invade farms controlled by Brazilian soybean producers. Peasant organizations say the Brazilian-controlled enterprises are operating in Paraguay illegally.
Lugo acknowledged that Paraguay's sovereignty has not been violated in the military exercises. But he emphasized that the maneuvers are viewed warily in Paraguay, which was overrun by Brazil in the 1865-1870 War of the Triple Alliance, leading to years of Brazilian military occupation.
A key plank of Lugo's campaign platform involved efforts to renegotiate contracts with Brazil for the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, South America's largest, jointly owned by the neighboring counties and which provides 25% of electricity consumed by LatAm's main economy.
Last weekend Paraguayan news outlets replayed a July interview with the commander of Brazilian border forces, General José Carvalho Siqueira, who invoked a hypothetical occupation of the hydroelectric plants by peasant protesters. Siqueira said the Brazilian armed forces would "carry out whatever mission in whatever part of the national territory; if the president determines that an action should be undertaken, then it should be carried out."
The general's July comments were made when Operation Southern Border I, a similar exercise, was underway. Two other such operations were also conducted in 2007. Brazilian authorities argue that at the tri-border region, where Brazil meets Paraguay and Argentina, is a hotbed of smuggling and criminal enterprises.
Mercopress
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Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
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Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
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Except it is not 127 hectares !!!!!!!!
In my view, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia Justice Courts should give the same verdict as Brazil did !!!!!!!
Would not that be fair using the Brazilian views ??????