[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 126 (Thursday, October 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10691-S10692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FIGHTING TERRORISM IN LATIN AMERICA
Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, as we contemplate reforms to better equip
us to prevent and fight terrorism, I hope we will bear in mind the
importance of the Western Hemisphere. As chairman of the Western
Hemisphere Subcommittee, I am encouraged by the opportunities we have
to work cooperatively with our regional neighbors on issues we all can
benefit from. We have shared interests in promoting democracy, human
rights, and the rule of law. We are stronger when we stand together as
a hemisphere against terrorism, money laundering, and the trafficking
of drugs, weapons, and people. Our greatest asset in the war on terror
in Latin America and the Caribbean is the fact that we have so many
willing partners throughout the region who share our values.
I recently came across an interesting study, written by Michael
Johnson of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, that discusses the
threat of international terrorist groups in the Triborder region of
Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. I hope my colleagues will read this
study and reflect upon the importance of addressing terrorism wherever
it exists around the world.
I ask unanimous consent that study be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. Foreign Policy in South America's Triborder Region
A REGION IN NEED OF SECURITY
Unstable institutions, rampant corruption and a struggling
economy made Paraguay appear as an attractive venue for
would-be terrorists to base their operations just a few years
ago. However, with the newly formed Three Plus One
Counterterrorism Dialogue consisting of Argentine,
Paraguayan, Brazilian and an American intelligence-gathering
team, terrorists seem to have decided to shy away from
creating havoc in the region. Though no terrorist initiatives
seem to have occurred in the tri-border region of Paraguay,
Argentina and Brazil, experts from each of the countries feel
that significant amounts of money laundering is taking place
in the area--ending up funding terrorist acts in the Middle
East. Current U.S. foreign policy in the area, therefore,
will play an integral role in cleansing the area of
terrorists as well as contain other illicit activities
endemic to the region.
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
various reports, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has more
than doubled the size of its office in Asuncion. However,
this does not automatically represent any change in the
status quo. In the wake of terrorist strikes in the U.S.,
Paraguay's recent history of allegedly serving as a staging
ground for militant Islamic groups such as Hezbollah and the
Islamic Jihad certainly is drawing closer scrutiny.
On September 21, 2003, foreign ministers from the
Organization of American States (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. Evidence shows that the U.S. has stepped up pressure
on the tri-border countries to clean up the area and
eliminate ``rogue elements.'' Hopefully, such an increase in
the U.S. presence will yield all the returns that the
Pentagon anticipates.
U.S. FOREIGN POLICY IN THE TRI-BORDER REGION
President Bush's call to sustain the war ``until every
terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and
defeated'' explains U.S. authorities' increase in the
monitoring of developments in the tri-border area. For their
part, tri-border countries have indicated that they intend to
fully cooperate in helping the U.S. eliminate any terrorist
threats in the region. Although Brazil and Argentina have
increased their border security, Paraguay has perhaps assumed
the strongest position in support of U.S. anti-terrorism
efforts by asking the OAS to firmly support any U.S.-led
retaliation.
Nevertheless, rhetoric and strong anti-terrorism stances by
these nations fail to quell fears about the potential
terrorist threat posed by illicit forces in the region.
Paraguay's Foreign Minister, Jose Antonio Moreno, stated that
40 FBI agents arrived in Paraguay and were headed to Ciudad
del Este, a ``transit point for shadowy groups.'' The
inevitability of U.S. involvement in the area was reflected
in statements made by the State Department and the former
director of the FBI, Louis J. Freeh. The FBI's concern was
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 actions originating from Paraguay's hub of
militancy, Ciudad del Este.
The U.S. has offered its Special Forces to train and advise
the Paraguayan military and national police in anti-terrorism
and anti-drug tactics to combat the identified groups. U.S.
Special Forces took a first step to making their presence
felt in Paraguay earlier this year by participating with the
country's military in a ``training exercise'' focused on
combating drug traffickers. At the time, many thought that
this maneuver closely resembled an anti-insurgency operation.
Such an approach could signal a change in U.S. military
policy in Paraguay, as further training could focus on anti-
terrorism tactics.
9/11 Connection
Ciudad del Este provides the kind of uncontrolled
environment that can sustain criminal organizations--and
terrorists. The 1992 Israeli Embassy bombing and the 1994
Argentine-Israeli Community Center bombing cast a spotlight
on the baleful role being played by some elements of the Arab
community in Ciudad del Este that it has since been unable to
avoid. Because much of Paraguay's export business is
underground, basically based on contrabanding, the situation
leaves the Arab community suspect of helping to financially
support Arab terrorist groups, although without clear proof
is wanting. Although it may be unwise to assume that all
black-market contrabandists are terrorists, police
authorities believe that the amount of funds being generated
by smuggling and money laundering that is being transferred
within Paraguay to overseas banks is far more than any
presumptive business activity in the country. It raises some
suspicions in the minds of local police officials that some
in the Arab community are supporting radical terrorism with
the spoils of illegal trade.
Indeed, the U.S. State Department clearly advises that
there are individuals and organizations operating in Ciudad
de Este and along the tri-border area between Paraguay,
Brazil, and Argentina, with ties to extremist groups.
Brazilian Judge Walter Fanganiello Maierovitch, former
National Drug Enforcement Secretary and now with the Giovanni
Falconi Brazilian Criminal Sciences Institute, reports that
Osama bin Laden is setting up an al-Qaeda unit near Ciudad
del Este under the cover of the Arab community. The U.S.
Government cannot confirm an al-Qaeda presence in the tri-
border area. However, other radical Islamic extremists
routinely rely upon illegal activities, such as drug and arms
trafficking, to help fund terrorist activities throughout the
world.
To achieve some control, 10 member countries of the OAS
Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE)
participated in exercises in the tri-border area to highlight
solidarity against extremist activities. The United States,
Argentina, and experts from other countries are providing
training to Paraguayan anti-terrorist police and military
personnel. The objective is to ``maintain a presence in the
area and to be able to raid homes of persons suspected of
being involved in financing terrorism or of radicalized
members of Islam residing in the tri-border area.''
Three Plus One Counterterrorism Dialogue
In 1998, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay formed the Comando
Tripartito--an operational body in which the three countries
exchange information and perform work on the ground dealing
with specific regional problems. This Tripartite Commission
of the Triple Frontier served as a security mechanism,
meeting several times a year in each of the member countries.
However, due to the sensitive nature of the information
exchanged, the data swapped between countries is not
available to public scrutiny. In reality, the Comando
Tripartito did little more than serve as a nominal
organization, doing little to clamp down on money launderers
and neutralize drug traffickers in the region.
Talks began to take on a more serious nature in the post 9/
11 atmosphere, and the Southern Cone joined the bandwagon of
anti-terrorist rhetoric. December of 2002 marked the first
3+1 Counterterrorism Dialogue between the tri-border
countries and the U.S.
[[Page S10692]]
According to official State Department records, dialogue
between the countries ``serves as a continuing forum for
counterterrorism cooperation and prevention among all four
countries.'' Argentine Embassy Political Counselor, Jose Luis
Sutera, in an interview with COHA asserted, ``The 3 +1
Counterterrorism Dialogue, without question, is the chief
board of exchanging information. The first meeting in Buenos
Aires stemmed from American suspicions that Hezbollah and
Hamas groups were harbored in the [tri-border region].'' The
next meeting is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC on
December 6, 2004.
``No Operational Terrorist Organizations, No al-Qaeda Presence''
In an interview with COHA, Dr. Jorge Brizuela, a high-
ranking official in the Paraguayan Embassy in Washington, DC,
stated, ``Terrorists have not been found in the zone. No
information would indicate that terrorist activities exist in
the zone--this has been reiterated on various occasions by
the corresponding authorities and the necessary steps are
being taken so money obtained in the tri-border region is not
being sent to Arab countries.'' Though he agrees with
Brizuela's assertion that ``al-Qaeda is not in Ciudad del
Este,'' Argentina's Sutera recognized that ``suspicions still
loom over Arabs who are sending money to terrorist groups in
the Middle East.'' Such groups pose as charity organizations
that seek to aid socially and economically stricken areas of
Iran, while what they do is to donate the newly acquired
funds to the terrorist cause of Hamas and Hezbollah.
The transcript of the 3+1 Counterterrorism Dialogue's
December 3, 2003 meeting held in Asuncion emphasized the
delegation's stance that ``Although there continued to be
reports in 2003 of an al-Qaeda presence in the tri-border
area, these reports remained uncorroborated by intelligence
and law-enforcement officials.'' Still, those assembled
agreed that international terrorist funding and money
laundering in the area remained an area of primary concern.
Considering the priorities of money launderers and piracy
crooks, the 3+1 understandably has organized a Financial
Intelligence Organization under the umbrella of the
Counterterrorism Dialogue. Last May in Buenos Aires, the four
government delegations discussed the threats of banking
activities that could lead to funding of terrorist
organizations. Sutera has concluded that most of the
terrorist-funding organizations had traveled to other parts
of South America, though he declined to comment where he
believed such groups had gone.
argentina's cooperation
In separate interviews with COHA, Argentine officials like
Sutera and Congressional Liaison, Mariano Enrico, both
expressed the belief that Argentine authorities had initiated
and bolstered Southern Cone efforts to clean up the tri-
border region. According to a recent State Department
document, ``Argentina continues to express strong support for
the global war on terrorism and worked closely with the UN,
the OAS, MERCOSUR and the U.S. to ensure full implementation
of existing agreements.'' In particular, Argentine officials
have shown their disposition to freeze assets of alleged
terrorist-funding organizations/individuals.
Among the channels of communication connecting U.S. and
Argentine officials is the line between the CIA and SIDE
(Intelligence Sector of the Argentine State). Both SIDE and
the CIA work in concert with Brazilian and Paraguayan secret
service personnel. Another perhaps more crucial element in
the war on terrorism in Latin America began as a result of an
Argentine initiative; CICTE was organized in 1998 as a multi-
nation security plan for the region. Since then, Paraguay has
cooperated openly with the Argentines. But, Brazil has had
some reservations about instigating any anti-terrorism plans
without proof of terrorism. However, since 9/11 the Brazilian
sector of the CICTE team has offered full support for the
organization as information among the three countries has
passed with little inhibition.
paraguay's cooperation
Paraguay's role in the war on terrorism has never held a
more important role than it does now. Though few terrorists
per se have surfaced in the region, rumors of the possibility
of some al-Qaeda connections to the region simply will not go
away. While President Nicanor Duarte Frutos has determined
that there is a domestic problem in Paraguay with fundraising
that might support terrorist causes, many State Department
officials have concluded that Paraguay's greatest impediment
to the prosecution of suspected terrorists is the absence of
an anti-terrorist law.
brazil's cooperation
President Luiz Inacio Lula has taken a greater initiative
than perhaps has been the case of his predecessors in terms
of combating terrorism, especially in the tri-border region.
Foz do Iguacu, Brazil's portion of the region, has received
considerable scrutiny from the once aloof, but now rather
concerned, Lula administration. The Brazilian president has
``vigorously condemned terrorism'' and calls such acts ``the
insanity of perpetrators of terrorism.''
Though Lula's intentions merit praise, his country's
shortage of resources and training have hindered its role in
acting as a watchdog over the region. In an exclusive
interview with COHA, Brazilian Embassy First Secretary of
Political Section, Breno Costa, offered an explanation as to
why Brazilian officials appear to act lethargically when it
comes to terrorist concerns: ``At first it seemed like the
U.S. was constantly alleging that the tri-border area
harbored criminals and terrorists, yet they never specified
where exactly in the region such evidence was forthcoming. So
Brazil asked the U.S. for concrete evidence and, of course,
not one piece of evidence. Just as the State Department
reported last year, no terrorist cells are acting in the
region.'' Costa went on to say that once evidence of money
laundering was presented to the Brazilian government,
officials in Foz do Iguacu began to examine cash flow
entering and leaving the city. Overall, Brazil has
cooperated considerably with the other three countries
involved in the counterterrorism dialogue, having signed
all of the 12 UN conventions on terrorism and is a party
to nine of them.
Conclusion
Clearly, the effort to prevent terrorism in Latin America
has become a more salient issue since 9/11. With cooperation
among the Southern Cone countries in conjunction with
participation of the U.S., terrorist acts have a lower
likelihood of occurring. Still, as the Afghanistan mountains
provide a haven for terrorists in the Middle East, Ciudad del
Este--if not properly monitored--could evolve as yet another
hub for terrorism. Whereas the U.S. has supported and
participated in the 3+1 Counterterrorism Dialogue, American
leaders merit commendation.
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