Curitiba, August 4, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - On Saturday (2), the executive secretary of the Organization of American States' (OAS) Interamerican Anti-Terrorist Committee, Steven Monblatt, ruled out the possibility of the presence of terrorist groups acting in the Triple Frontier region between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay.
"I am not able to establish the presence of (terrorist) cells in the sense in which this term is used. Even the State Department was unable to detect the presence of any cell," he told the press after a visit to the Itaipu Binational Dam, in the company of the Brazilian general director of the hydroelectric plant, Jorge Samek, and the cartoonist Ziraldo Alves Pinto.
Monblatt added that he doesn't anticipate yet the risk of terrorist acts occurring in the Triple Frontier region. "When I think of possible terrorists targets, I don't think of this region," he underlined. "I think that, here in this region, you are more concerned about this (the repercussions) than are people outside here," Monblatt said. "Outside here, these reports have less impact than they do here," he affirmed.
Monblatt previously held the post of sub-secretary of anti-terrorism in the US government, and his statement closed the door on the controversy over presumed accusations that soiled the international image of the Iguaçu Falls. After the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, there was talk, stimulated by sources linked to American government intelligence agencies, that the Triple Frontier was a nest-egg, for example, of terrorist cells connected to Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda. Until now, Foz do Iguaçu and other cities in the region, which derive most of their income from tourism, have suffered the consequences of this information.
Monblatt said that what is most worrisome nowadays in the Triple Frontier is money remittances abroad. He made a suggestion that the Arab community take certain preventive steps so that donations to charitable and political organizations in their countries of origin not end up, even if indirectly, contributing to terrorist activities.
According to him, "trustful people can end up being used by others for ends that are not very reputable." For Monblatt, "it is important to verify where this money (from donations) is going and how it is being used, because, sometimes, people send money to other countries thinking that they are contributing in good faith on behalf of some good cause, without knowing that they are contributing to terrorism or other illicit activities."
The question of money-laundering is a matter of concern for the international image of the three frontiers, but, according to Monblatt, the Brazilian government is making a big effort to combat this type of crime. Nevertheless, he believes that there is a need to combat this problem through a permanent, joint effort between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. (DAS)
