Threats in Focus: Brazil

Overview

Although Brazil is generally seen as a safe location for company operations, there are some security dangers that permeate Brazilian society, such as high rates of crime, including robbery and murder, civil unrest, and environmental issues triggered by climate change. Brazil appears to have fallen into a wider phenomenon of Latin American countries where the populace is becoming increasingly frustrated with the region’s deteriorating socio-economic situation and unstable administrations.

The vast landscape of Brazil itself is another source of difficulty for maintaining security, particularly in areas such the Amazon, where police presence is limited and criminal groups can exercise more freedom. Security is primarily provided at a state-level, as the Federal Police is much smaller in scale, as well as restricted in jurisdiction to specific crimes. Importantly, state-level police are regarded by some as only being reactive, rather than preventative, as they lack the capacity to target the origin of security incidents at its source.

Corruption has long been another feature of Brazilian governance, despite it widely being recognised as a leading destination for world investment. In 2022, Transparency International scored Brazil 38/100 (the closer to 0, the more corrupt), indicating there are significant weaknesses in Brazil’s attempts to prevent corruption. The federal framework of the political system, which may increase the chance of requests for bribes by public officials, according to international government agencies, has allowed corruption to flourish. Additionally, it has been reported that the Brazilian tax system is complicated and as a result, vulnerable to corruption.

This high-level report is intended to provide an insight into the most significant security threats in Brazil at present and a forecast of how these may evolve.