06/09/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09935

O-A-S ANTI-TERRORISM CONVENTION

"Individually and collectively, we will deny terrorist groups the capacity to operate in this hemisphere." Those are the words of an Organization of American States declaration approved ten days after the September 11^th terrorist attacks on the United States.

The O-A-S was the first international organization to express outrage at the terrorist attacks. And with the sole exception of Communist Cuba, the countries of Latin America called for strong measures to combat terrorism.

As events since September 11^th have made clear, terrorism is a worldwide problem and Latin America is no exception. Among other terrorist groups, the Lebanon-based Hezbollah is raising money through criminal enterprises such as drug and arms trafficking in several Latin American countries.

According to the U.S. State Department's "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report, people sympathetic to Hezbollah are helping raise funds for the organization in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, northern Chile, Colombia near the Venezuelan border, on Margarita Island in Venezuela, and in Panama’s Colon Free Trade Zone.

Last November, President George W. Bush re-designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization. Hezbollah was responsible for the attacks on the U.S. Marine barracks and the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983 and 1984. Those attacks killed more than three hundred. The U.S. believes Hezbollah was responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed twenty-nine people. Hezbollah is also linked to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, also in Buenos Aires, that killed ninety-five.

As part of the response to the terror threat, the O-A-S has adopted the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism. The treaty is meant to stop financing of terrorism, toughen border controls, and strengthen cooperation among law enforcement agencies. In particular, it mandates that each O-A-S country establish a financial intelligence unit to detect cross-border movements of cash that could be used to fund terrorism.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon constituted an attack on the entire world, including the O-A-S nations. In the words of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, "More than ever before, the Americas stand together today against terrorism and for democracy. There can be no doubt of our resolve."