Brazil Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: none

Illicit drugs: limited illicit producer of cannabis, minor coca
cultivation in the Amazon region, mostly used for domestic
consumption; government has a large-scale eradication program to
control cannabis; important transshipment country for Bolivian,
Colombian, and Peruvian cocaine headed for the US and Europe; also
used by traffickers as a way station for narcotics air
transshipments between Peru and Colombia; upsurge in drug-related
violence and weapons smuggling; important market for Bolivian,
Peruvian, and Colombian cocaine

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@British Indian Ocean Territory

British Indian Ocean Territory Introduction

Background: Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number
of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were
transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976.
Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups
comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of
the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support
facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former
agricultural workers, earlier resident in the islands, were
relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between
1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the
local immigration order which had excluded them from the
archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.

British Indian Ocean Territory Geography

Location: Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about
one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia

Geographic coordinates: 6 00 S, 71 30 E

Map references: World

Area: total: 60 sq km

land: 60 sq km

water: 0 sq km

note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago

Area - comparative: about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 698 km

Maritime claims: exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM

territorial sea: 3 NM

Climate: tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds

Terrain: flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in
elevation)

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m

highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m

Natural resources: coconuts, fish, sugarcane

Land use: arable land: 0%

permanent crops: 0%

permanent pastures: 0%

fore