Posted on 03/19/2004 5:15:37 AM PST by SJackson
Situated between Argentina and Brazil, the sprawling Iguazu waterfalls are among the most popular tourist destinations in South America, with nearly 2 million visitors flocking annually to witness their extravagant beauty. In recent years, however, the area surrounding the falls has also attracted a far less savory element. In the shadow of the Iguazu lies the tri-border region, a lawless zone which has become a magnet for Islamic terrorists.
Located where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet, the area is home to roughly 20,000 Middle Eastern immigrantsmostly from Lebanon and Syriaand has long been a hotbed for terrorist fundraising, arms and drug trafficking, counterfeiting and money laundering. By moving freely through the regions porous borders, operatives from the terrorist organizations Hizbollah, Hamas, and according to some reports, al-Qaeda, are able to conduct arms-for-drugs deals with secular Latin American terrorist groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Perus Sendero Luminosos (Shining Path). All told, U.S. officials believe that between $10 and $12 billion is funneled through the tri-border region each year, with Hizbollah among the prime beneficiaries.
Paraguayan Interior Minister Julio Cesar Fanego has said the group received between $50 and $500 million from the area from 1999 to 2001 alone. Although Hizbollah seeks to create Iranian-style Islamic republicswhich punish narcotics offenses with flogging, imprisonment and in some cases, deatha large chunk of its tri-border funds are earned in the drug trade. Intelligence officials believe that Hizbollahs drug profits help pay for social welfare programs that have enabled the group to gain popular support in its home base of Lebanon.
Paraguayan authorities have identified Assad Mohammed Barakat as the mastermind behind much of Hizbollahs tri-border activities. Barakatwho reportedly sent some $50 million to Hizbollah in Lebanon from the region from 1995 up until his arrest by Brazilian police in 2002allegedly ran an extensive counterfeiting and money laundering operation in the area. He was recently extradited from Brazil to Paraguay to face tax evasion charges.
Other noteworthy Hizbollah militants apprehended in the tri-border region include Ali Khalil Mehri, who allegedly set up a software pirating scheme in the area which enabled him to funnel millions of dollars to Hizbollah in Lebanon; and Sobhi Fayad, an associate of Barakat currently serving a six-and-a-half year prison sentence in Paraguay for tax evasion and criminal association.
There have also been reports that Imad Mugniyah, head of Hizbollahs security apparatus, has guided some of the groups activities in the area from his base in the Middle East. Muginyah is the suspected mastermind behind several infamous terrorist attacks, including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1992 car bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina.
In order to establish a greater counter-terrorism dialogue, in 2002, the U.S., along with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, launched the 3 + 1 Group on Tri-Border Area Security. The participating countries have met three timesmost recently in Asuncion, Paraguay, in December 2003and the U.S. has contributed $1 million to build on the initiative. But results thus far have been mixed.
Both Argentina and Paraguay have hesitated to enact new counter-terrorism laws, due in part to fear of hostile public reaction. Argentina has a history of abuses by military regimes, and in Paraguaywhose Congress has rejected legislation that would establish criminal penalties for activities related to terrorismsome believe that counter-terrorism laws could be manipulated by a corrupt government.
Another potential stumbling block to the U.S.s tri-border initiative is Brazilian President Lula da Silva. In 1990, da Silvaa Marxistco-founded the Forum of Sao Paulo, an annual gathering place for anti-American political movements from across the globe. Da Silva also voiced vociferous opposition to the recent U.S. war in Iraq and has established warm relations with Syria, which is listed by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terrorism.
But da Silvas reticence may be the least of the U.S.s worries when it comes to the tri-border region. While the State Department has denied on numerous occasions that Al-Qaeda maintains a presence in the area, the Departments counter-terrorism coordinator, J. Cofer Black, acknowledged in January that during the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, literature on the tri-border region had been found in caves used by Al-Qaeda fighters. The CIA believes that Al-Qaeda does indeed operate in the region, mostly by laundering money and conducting arms-for-drugs deals with Latin American terrorist organizations, according to author Rachel Ehrenfelds 2003 book, Funding Evil. And both Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh MohammedAl-Qaedas former third in command and the suspected mastermind behind the 9/11 attacksare said to have spent time in the region during the 1990s. The likely presence of Al-Qaeda only strengthens U.S. Undersecretary for Border & Transportation Security Asa Hutchinsons assertion that the area is a haven for Islamic extremists.
For the U.S., ignoring the tri-border regionand the implications of having a terrorist sanctuary permeating within the Western Hemisphereis the equivalent of jumping the Iguazu Falls in a barrel. In short, a risk not worth taking.
Erick Stakelbeck is head writer for the Investigative Project, a Washington, D.C.-based counter-terrorism research institute
the area is home to roughly 20,000 Middle Eastern immigrants
They just seem to be everywhere -- from Sweden to Australia. In the last ten or fifteen years Islamic terrorism has become a worldwide metastasizing cancer. It would be nice to know exactly how and why this has been allowed to happen.
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