[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 162 (Wednesday, November 28, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2144-E2145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PARAGUAY: A TERRORIST UTOPIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 28, 2001

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker. With the United States war on terrorism 
gaining steam, Paraguay, a nation with a disturbing Pro-Nazi past, 
could become a country of increasing importance for United States 
foreign policy makers due to the high volume of narcotics traffickers 
now occurring there as well as various militant movements in that 
nation, producing an alarmingly volatile situation, according to United 
States officials. Ross Knutson, Research Associate at the Washington-
based Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), has recently authored an 
article of utmost importance entitled, Paraguay: A terrorist's utopia. 
The article examines United States monitoring of the clandestine 
activity in Paraguay that has been occurring for a number of years 
there. For a long time, the United States as well as the intelligent 
services of a number of Southern Cone countries has known about the 
involvement of radical Islamic terrorist organizations in the tri-
border region, where Paraguay borders Argentina and Brazil. There is 
very strong evidence indicating that such extremist groups authored the 
bombing of two Jewish facilities in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s 
with the loss of over 100 lives.
  In the wake of the terrorist strikes in the United States, Paraguay's 
recent history of serving as a staging ground for such militant Islamic 
groups as Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad will certainly deserve closer 
scrutiny. Paraguayan authorities as well as the governments of Brazil 
and Argentina are beginning to take a more active role in monitoring 
these groups especially around Cuidad del Este, a well-known Paraguayan 
hub for such alleged terrorist activity.
  Despite such efforts by the tri-border countries, U.S. authorities 
are becoming increasingly worried over the lack of local control over 
the region's numerous airstrips and waterways which terrorist groups 
could use to communicate and move operatives and supplies with near 
anonymity. As such, the United States is beginning to take greater 
action, with Washington offering its Special Forces to train and advise 
the Paraguayan military and national police on a variety of 
antiterrorism and antidrug tactics. This step is associated with the 
United States implementing a crackdown on the drug trade by way of its 
increased efforts through Plan Colombia. If the war on terrorism lasts 
for years, as the Bush administration has stated it will, the United 
States could soon find itself involved in a series of protracted and 
complicated campaigns in countries such as Paraguay. As such, Knutson's 
article is of utmost importance since any U.S activities in that 
country appear to be long-stayed.

                   The Council on Hemispheric Affairs

       The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, 
     tax-exempt independent research and information organization, 
     was founded at the end of 1975 to promote the common interest 
     of the hemisphere, raise the visibility and increase the 
     importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as 
     encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. 
     policies towards Latin America. In 1982, COHA's board of 
     trustees voted to expand its mandate to include monitoring 
     Canadian/Latin American relations. Since its inception, COHA 
     has been one of the most active and broadest-based U.S. 
     private bodies dealing with the entire spectrum of political, 
     economic and diplomatic issues, as well as the economic and 
     political challenges confronting the Inter-American nations.
       From its founding, COHA's board consisted of the leadership 
     of some of this country's most important trade unions, 
     professional organizations and religious groups, as well as 
     distinguished civic and academic figures who joined together 
     to advance their common belief in support of representative 
     government and pluralistic institutions throughout the 
     hemisphere.
       COHA subscribes to no specific political credo nor does it 
     maintain partisan allegiances. It support open and democratic 
     political processes just as it consistently has condemned 
     authoritarian regimes of any stripe that fail to provide 
     their populations with even minimal standards of political 
     freedoms, economic and social justice, personal security and 
     civic guarantees.
       COHA is entirely staffed by a professional core, who 
     contribute their services, supplemented by a large number of 
     volunteer graduate and undergraduate students who often 
     receive academic credit from their home institutions for the 
     experience gained through their work here. Over the years, 
     retired government employees also have cooperated with COHA 
     in preparing monographs on such topics as regional 
     development, trade policies, technology transfer, the 
     operations of multinational corporations and the 
     controversial development strategies of the international 
     agencies. The staff is assisted by a number of extra-mural 
     professionals coming from an academic background who serve as 
     COHA senior research fellows, who are generally considered to 
     be leaders in their respective fields of expertise.
       COHA's analyses are frequently sought after by the major 
     media, with its long-time director, Larry Burns, as well as 
     other senior personnel regularly being called upon by the 
     major national and international press, along with network 
     radio and TV public affairs programs, to provide commentary 
     on breaking regional issues. COHA contributors also appear 
     regularly in the opinion columns on editorial pages 
     throughout the country, and its findings frequently have been 
     heard and seen over the BBC, Voice of America, CBC, Radio 
     Marti, Radio Havana and U.S. radio programs. COHA personnel 
     also have appeared one or more times on CNN, C-Span, Firing 
     Line, CrossFire, Nightline, the CBS, ABC and NBC evening 
     news, as well as the network Larry King program, ``Good 
     Morning America'' and the ``Today Show,'' and many National 
     Public Radio public affairs programs.
       COHA's personnel have been interviewed, or the 
     organization's findings have been referred to in such 
     publications as Time, Newsweek, the Atlantic Monthly, U.S. 
     New and World Report, New York Magazine, Harper's, the New 
     Yorker, the New Statesman, Barron's and Maclean's. On almost 
     a daily basis, the results of COHA's work appear in the press 
     of Latin America and Europe. COHA also has been cited in 
     numerous occasions in the New York Times, the Washington 
     Post, Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the 
     London Observer, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, the 
     Toronto Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the London 
     Independent and the Guardian, among many other newspapers.
       COHA has been referred to in the floor of the Senate as 
     ``one of our Nation's more respected bodies of scholars and 
     policymakers.''

[[Page E2145]]

                     Paraguay: A terrorist's utopia

       The coming months should bring an increased focus on 
     Paraguay. In reaction to the growing U.S. presence in 
     Colombia and other South American nations, drug traffickers 
     as well as various militant movements are gradually fanning 
     out, establishing what is an alarming presence, according to 
     U.S. officials. Unstable institutions, rampant corruption and 
     a struggling economy make Paraguay an attractive venue for 
     would-be terrorists and drug smugglers to establish their 
     operations.
       U.S, agencies have been monitoring clandestine activity in 
     Paraguay for a number of years. However, only recently have 
     they begun to increase their physical presence. According to 
     reports, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) has more than 
     doubled the size of its office in Asuncion. In the wake of 
     the terrorist strikes in the U.S. Paraguay's recent history 
     of severing as a staging ground for militant Islamic groups 
     such as Hezbollah and the Islmaic Jihad will certainly draw 
     closer scrutiny.

                            Terrorist Cells

       The U.S. as well as the Southern Cone countries have long 
     known about the involvement of radical Islamic terrorist 
     organizations in the tri-border region, where Paraguay 
     borders Argentina and Brazil. Now, as the result of increased 
     U.S. pressure, Paraguayan authorities, and to a lesser 
     extent, the governments of Brazil and Argentina, are 
     beginning to take a more active role in monitoring these 
     groups. In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 
     Brazil and Argentina bowed to FBI requests to tighten its 
     borders with their neighbors. Paraguay, worried over its 
     reputation as a country harboring terrorists, has announced 
     that it would temporarily would severely restrict issuing 
     visas and increase security along its borders, particularly 
     focusing on the eastern portion of the country, an area with 
     a large Arab community. On September 21, foreign affairs 
     ministers from the OAS nations met to discuss terrorism-
     related hemispheric security concerns. Portions of the talks 
     dealt with the Southern Cone countries' long-standing belief 
     that Paraguay has shown little concern in addressing the 
     terrorist elements operating within its borders. For 
     instance, Argentina has maintained that Hezbollah terrorists 
     used Ciudad del Este, Paraguay's principle city in the tri-
     border area, as headquarters for their attacks on the Israeli 
     Embassy in 1992 and a Buenos Aires' Argentine-Israeli 
     Community Center in 1994. A trial involving 20 low-level 
     defendants accused of assisting the attackers recently began, 
     with some hoping that more knowledge will be reveled 
     concerning who supervised the terrorists. Argentine pressure 
     is mounting, with Enrique Mathov, its new Internet Security 
     Secretary, calling the ``triple border'' area a ``hot zone.'' 
     Indeed, it is possible that the U.S. will step up pressure on 
     the tri-border countries to clean up this area and eliminate 
     ``rouge elements.''

                            U.S. Involvement

       President Bush's call to sustain the war ``until every 
     terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and 
     defeated'' indicates that U.S. authorities will certainly 
     increase this country's monitoring of developments in the 
     area. Triple-frontier countries have indicated that they 
     intend to fully cooperate in helping the U.S. eliminate any 
     terrorist threat in the region. Although Brazil and Argentina 
     have increased their border security, Paraguay has perhaps 
     taken the strongest position in support of the U.S. anti-
     terrorism efforts by asking the OAS to firmly support any 
     U.S.-led retaliation.
       Nevertheless, rhetoric and a strong anti-terrorism stance 
     by these nations are not deemed sufficient by U.S. 
     authorities to quell their fears about the potential 
     terrorist threat in the region. Paraguay's foreign minister, 
     Jose Antonio Moreno, stated that 40 FBI agents have arrived 
     in Paraguay and were headed to Ciudad del Este, ``transit 
     point for shadowy groups.'' Many experts foresaw this 
     increased U.S. presence as inevitable; however, a deployment 
     of this magnitude was certainly accelerated by the recent 
     terrorist attack. The inevitability of U.S. involvement in 
     the area was reflected in statements made by the State 
     Department and former director of the FBI, Louis J. Freeh. 
     The FBI's concern is rooted in a trip that Freeh took to 
     South America in 1998 to assess security concerns. At the 
     time, Freeh called for a multinational crackdown on crime, 
     something he saw as an important step to establishing a 
     hemispheric police alliance. He called the tri-border region 
     ``a free zone for significant criminal activity, including 
     people who are organized to commit acts of terrorism.'' Last 
     April, the State Department warned that the governments of 
     Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina are not capable of preventing 
     Islamic terrorist originating from Paraguay's hub of 
     militancy, Ciudad del Este.
       A primary Washington concern has been the lack of control 
     of the region's numerous airstrips and waterways. Using these 
     modes of transportation, terrorist groups can communicate and 
     move operatives and supplies with near anonymity. To reassert 
     proper governmental control, the U.S. is offering its Special 
     Forces to train and advise the Paraguayan military and 
     national police on a variety of anti-terrorism and anti-drug 
     tactics. U.S. Special Forces already have made their presence 
     felt in Paraguay earlier this year by participating with the 
     country's military on a ``training exercise'' focused on 
     combating drug traffickers. Many thought that the ``training 
     exercise'' closely resembled a counter-insurgency operation. 
     This could signal a change in U.S. military policy in 
     Paraguay, as further training could focus on counter-
     intelligence operations and counter-terrorism tactics. If the 
     war on terrorism lasts for years, as the Bush administration 
     has stated it will, the U.S. could soon find itself involved 
     in a series of protracted and complicated campaigns in that 
     nation.

     

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