| Accolades and Terror In Paraguay In the post Sept. 11 world of anti-terrorism diplomacy Paraguay has won the equivalent of a gold star. Republican Congressman Cass Ballenger (North Carolina) head of the Western Hemisphere sub-committee, heaped praise on Paraguay for its anti-terrorism cooperation since the World Trade Center Attack while there on a fact finding visit January 14-16. "On one level, that of good and bad, Paraguay is better positioned than Brazil and probably Venezuela is the worst of all in this ranking." Cass glibbly told the Paraguayan daily Ultima Hora. It's an assessment indicative of the with us or against us standard emmanating from Washington these days. U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay David Greenley called Paraguay's search for terrorists in the heavily Arab populated tri border zone abutting Brazil and Argentina an act of protaganism in the global anti-terrorism struggle. "Paraguay really has acted with certainty, with precision, regarding a matter that's primordial for the United States as well as the rest of the hemisphere." Congressman Cass and fellow Republicans Jerry Weller (Illinois), Collin Petersen (Minnesota) and Nathan Deal (Georgia) toured Ciudad del Este and smoozed with a host of Paraguayan notables. "It's not good for any nation to be associated with terrorism and the good people of Paraguay are not. You have the image of cooperation," applauded Congressman Deal at an Asuncion press conference. The upshot of Paraguay's cooperation in the anti-terrorism effort is likely to be some trade preferences for Paraguayan sugar and beef exports in return for cracking down on illegal activities in the tri-border area. The zone is allegedly rife with drug trafficking, money laundering, smuggling of tax free merchandise and pirating of intellectual property. As the United States conducts its global manhunt for terrorits it is scouring areas like the tri-border region where its suspects terrorists could put down roots and garner support and friends. "We have not seen convincing evidence of Al Queda in the border region but neither can we rule it out," said U.S. Embassy Spokesman Mark Davidson. "Hizbollah and Hamas (U.S. designated terrorist organizations) do have a presence." To make the crackdown more workable the United States is proposing that the Paraguayan Congress adopt an anti-terrorism law and anti-drug trafficking legislation. The laws, Davidson said, will modernize Paraguay's antiquated legal system and provide the same tools enjoyed by police in the United States. But the stamp of approval the congressman and the ambassador put on the Paraguayan anti-terrorism effort contrasts sharply with the Paraguayan view. Despite efforts to maintain democracy since the fall of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship on Feb. 3, 1989, Paraguay's institutions remain shaky and human rights violations frequent. A failed coup attempt which occurred in May, 2000 and an earlier assassination of the vicepresident and massacre of students protesting the killing in March, 1999, point to underlying instability. Former head of the Armed Forces General Lino Oviedo, the plotter allegedly behind the coup attempt and the person alleged to have master-minded the vice presidential assassination has defeated extradition attempts from Brazil and has made public his desire to run for the Paraguayan Presidency in 2003 despite an outstanding 10-year jail sentence for an earlier 1996 coup attempt. In addition to the shadow cast by ex-general Oviedo the country is also experiencing a renewed increase in extra-judicial killings and torture -- an unraveling of progress made in this area during the early years of the return to democracy. "We suffered 35 years of dictatorship and we have been a democracy for 13 years but the problems are the same," said Carolina Thiebe of the Coordinator for Human Rights of Paraguay. "The same people are in power. They weren't very many changes. They are the same people who worked in the dictatorship." The organization in its 2001 human rights report warns that the September dragnet in search of possible terrorists is a move which "paves the way for new (human rights) violations through a greater U.S. involvement in the internal security policies." Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks Paraguayan soldiers arrrested more than 35 persons in Ciudad del Este and the southern city of Encarnacion. The U.S. embassy contends the arrests were carried out legally by Paraguayan police and that there are "credible allegations of activities in support of international terrorism" against some of those detained. But Amnesty International has termed the arrests illegal. "The process was illegal in terms of the constitution. What the goverment did wasn't within the legal process," said Aldo Pelli, action coordinator for Amnesty International in Paraguay. "To date it isn't clear what evidence was presented. The only thing they've shown is that they were merchants who were working in Paraguay illegally. But that was already known." The arrests, plus the temporary detention of a protestant minister from Grenada, who happened to be walking in front of the U.S. embassy created a climate of fear. This was evident, Pelli said, in putting togetther a ecumenical meeting of the Moslem and Jewish communities on Dec. 11 to remeber the Trade Towers attack and promote peace. "There's fear in the human rights community. There are sectors of the government who tend to violate the law and constitution." The U.S. proposed anti-terror legislation, he noted, might end up being turned against Paraguayans. "I'm concerned this law could be used for repressive purposes," Pelli said. "That's the dangerous part of an anti-terrorism law. We'll have to see what kind of law it is." In weeks following the congressmen's visit the type of extralegal violations underlying the citizenry's fears were laid bare. An FBI-assisted investigation into the kidnapping of Maria Edith Debarnardi, a relative of a former cabinet official, turned extrajudicial following payment of the ransom and her release. Two alleged suspects affiliated with a leftist party, Patria Libre, were seized by security forces and tortured clandestinely. Only the demands of a group of concerned citizens for the appearance of the two suspects and the suspicions of neighbors near the house where the two were held allowed for their discovery. A member of the Group for Solidarity Action, which formed to pressure the government to produce the two, says the kidnapping was an an example of the use of para-police. "They are ex-police or military who act parallel to the police but are backed up by the whole apparatus and act with impunity." Other reports blamed the kidnapping on members of the Center for Judicial Investigation an office of the Public Ministry. The botched kidnap investigation caused President Luis Gonzalez Macchi to send his Interior Minister, Justice Minister and National Police Chief packing. The independently elected vice president Julio Cesar Franco has issued a call for the president to resign as well. Far from being anti-terrorism heroes the view of Paraguayans is that the government itself has been dabbling in state-sponsored terrorism. ### |