By IPS Correspondents
MONTEVIDEO, Jan 30 2004 (IPS)

The nations of the Americas yielded to U.S. insistence and pledged here Friday to redouble their anti-terrorism security measures at their airports and sea ports.

The Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism, known by its Spanish initials CICTE, concluded its fourth period of sessions Friday in the Uruguayan capital with a declaration that also announces the creation of a hemisphere-wide Internet surveillance system against terrorism.

The three-day meeting of this committee of the Organisation of American States (OAS) included the participation of Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department’s coordinator for counter-terrorism.

Like the OAS, CICTE includes all countries of the western hemisphere except Cuba.

The U.S. official underscored that the George W. Bush administration wants to see the nations of the hemisphere reinforce controls at airports and sea ports. He announced a 1.6-million-dollar contribution to help CICTE coordinate efforts to that end.

Washington is insisting on this point with the declared intention of assuring that Latin America does not turn into a "safe port" for international terrorists, given the current global situation.

In its "Montevideo Declaration", CICTE says it is important to promote the highest level of security possible for transportation in all modalities, including airports, sea ports and land borders, without prejudice to international commitments related to the free movement of persons and the facilitation of trade.

"We understand that each country must take the measures deemed necessary to prevent terrorists from entering their territories. What we need now is ongoing coordination of these efforts amongst countries," Elías Bluth, Uruguay’s deputy secretary of defence and new chairman of CICTE, told IPS.

Black said that Washington is content with Latin America’s support in its global anti-terrorism campaign, and assured that the Al-Qaeda network led by Saudi national Osama bin Laden is in a state of "catastrophe".

"Two-thirds of its leaders have been arrested or killed. The hunt for the remaining third continues," said the counter-terrorism official. He said there is no reliable information about the potential presence of Al-Qaeda cells in Latin America.

Black said that as a result of the Bush government’s international campaign, the members of that organisation are "on the run", on the defensive, and therefore less able to prepare further attacks.

He noted the "excellent" relationship of the United States with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, which make up the group known as 3+1, aimed at controlling the "Triple Border" area shared by the three South American countries, where Washington suspects that terrorists obtain funding for their activities.

When U.S. soldiers entered some of the Al-Qaeda hideouts in Afghanistan, said Black, they found posters and other material related to the famed Iguaçu Falls, the tourist attraction of the Triple Border, which has a significant population of Middle Eastern origin, particularly from Syria and Lebanon.

The Triple Border area, comprising the Paraguayan city Ciudad del Este and the Brazilian Foz de Iguaçu, sees a great deal of smuggling and drugs and arms trafficking.

The 34 countries represented in CICTE pledged to identify and combat "emerging" terrorism threats, such as threats to Internet security.

Salvadoran delegate Margarita Escobar, who passed the CICTE rotating chairmanship to Uruguay during the Montevideo meet, explained that the idea is to create a "hemisphere-wide alert network" that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to prevent a "cyber attack" against any country in the Americas.

She said that cyber-terrorism may appear to be less serious than physical terrorism, but it can cause "destruction and chaos if it is able to damage a country’s financial, health and security systems."

Bluth announced that during his turn as CICTE chair, the committee will seek to "train personnel and establish warning systems against the possible infiltration of viruses and other mechanisms that can undermine information networks."

This committee of the OAS recognises that all anti-terrorism measures adopted in the region should fully respect national legislation and international law, including human rights and the rights of refugees.

"It must be made clear that this is not about persecuting immigrants, but rather about the fight against terrorism. All must be done while upholding international law," Escobar told IPS.

During the Montevideo sessions, Venezuela announced the ratification of the 2002 Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism, joining fellow OAS members Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.

CICTE was founded in 1999, but its role gained prominence after the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. The next meeting of this OAS body is to take place in Trinidad and Tobago within the year.

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