NCJ Number
219458
Date Published
March 2007
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This is an updated report on Brazil's countermeasures against global terrorism, including its domestic legal regime for combating this international threat.
Abstract
Brazil's Constitution specifically repudiates terrorism. The Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN), which is the equivalent of America's Central Intelligence Agency, is responsible for managing intelligence activities in monitoring and preventing terrorist activity in the country. Because of the deadly attacks that occurred in 1992 and 1994 in Argentina, where two bombs devastated the Argentinean Jewish community and marked the arrival, for the first time, of Middle East terrorism in South America, Brazil has been developing intelligence and information exchange with the other tri-border nations (Argentina and Paraguay). Monitoring suspicious activities in the tri-border region is challenging due to the closed nature of Islamic communities. Currently, no concrete evidence has proven the presence of terrorist organizations or even terrorist funding activities in the tri-border region. Although sympathizers with Islamic organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas have been identified, no cells or training camps connected to terrorist organizations have been found in the region. Brazil is also maintaining surveillance in the Amazon region near Colombia, where two leftist insurgent groups wage guerrilla warfare and conduct kidnappings, hijackings, attacks on civilians, and political assassinations. This paper lists the universal conventions and protocols pertaining to terrorism that Brazil has ratified and implemented into its legal regime. It also outlines Brazil's domestic legislation for combating terrorism. Brazil's most significant challenge is to make its legislators aware of the threat that terrorism poses, so they will increase the budget for the armed forces, intelligence agencies, and national security and public safety institutions.