RIVERS OF BLOOD AND GOLD: HOW PUBLIC SECURITY INTELLIGENCE TRANSFORMS THE GEOPOLITICS OF CRIME IN THE AMAZON

Abstract

The Brazilian Amazon faces a growing threat from hybrid organized crime, "narco-mining," which combines drug trafficking, illegal mining, and predatory extraction. This complex criminal symbiosis challenges national sovereignty and public security, exceeding the capacity of traditional visible policing. In response to this dynamic, this article argues that Public Security Intelligence (PSI) establishes itself as the indispensable strategic tool to transform this reality, promoting the anticipation and systemic dismantling of criminal networks, especially in biomes of extreme vastness and logistical complexity. Although PSI is recognized as a differentiating factor, its operationalization and impact on the construction of "Informational Sovereignty" are aspects little explored in the literature in such unique contexts. Based on an analysis of the geopolitics of crime in the Amazon and empirical case studies of intelligence operations (such as Operation Roque and the removal of intruders from the Yanomami Indigenous Territory), this study explores the integrated application of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT), and the need for interagency integration for knowledge production. The results demonstrate that Public Security Intelligence (PSI), grounded in informational capabilities and "anthropological intelligence," allows for the financial strangulation and neutralization of strategic leaders, going beyond punctual apprehension. We identify four imperative action axes for the effective governance of the Amazon, promoting what we call "Informational Sovereignty" as a new paradigm of territorial defense. This work offers a robust model for confronting transnational crimes in sensitive border regions, with direct implications for the formulation of public policies and security strategies in global contexts of environmental governance and the fight against organized crime.