On April 4, a State Department official testified before the American Congress on the government initiatives to combat “money laundering” in the three countries that compose the Triple Border region: Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

On April 4, a State Department official testified before the American Congress on the government initiatives to combat “money laundering” in the three countries that compose the Triple Border region: Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

He argued that the sizable Middle Eastern community living in Puerto Meira, Argentina, in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil and in Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay might be sheltering members of the Hamas and the Hezbollah and raising funds to finance those two groups.

To combat laundering the American government intends to set up “Trade Transparency Units” to check the origin and destination of commercial transactions, and to keep intelligence agencies of these governments, the American included, informed of any distortions that might represent likely frauds, money laundering or terrorist funding.

He also stated that the State Department is acting together with the three governments to strengthen their capacity to respond to financial crimes by harmonizing legal frameworks, and that the US is also providing training and technical assistance to the Argentine, Brazilian and Paraguayan police forces to combat intellectual property piracy, although one cannot help wondering how the latter would be used to finance terrorism. It is commented that the pressure to close the Banco do Brasil branch in Ciudad Del Este is part of the American strategy too.

As usual the Americans are suggesting that the Triple Border has no controls, a mission, therefore, for the US to undertake, which, apart from being an unacceptable attack on the three governments’ sovereignty, would allow Americans to monitor Mercosur’s trade flows, obtaining strategic information for their own foreign trade policy.