[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 23295-23296] [From the U.S. 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, [[Page 23296]] 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.'' 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. ____________________