28 April 2006
Report Finds Terror Threat Generally Low in Western Hemisphere
But narco-terrorist groups still major threat in Colombia, Andean region
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- A report released April 28 by the U.S. State Department says the threat of terrorist attack remained low in 2005 for most countries of the Western Hemisphere.
In its Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, the State Department said the major terror threat in the hemisphere was primarily perpetrated by narco-terrorist organizations based in Colombia and by the remnants of radical leftist groups in the Andean region. The United States, said the report, remains "fully committed" to assisting the Colombian government to defeat the Colombian-based narco-terrrorist groups.
Overall, governments in the region took "modest steps" to improve their counterterrorism capabilities and tighten border security, but corruption, weak or nonexistent legislation, and a "reluctance to allocate sufficient resources" limited the progress of many countries in the anti-terrorism fight, the report said.
Such countries as Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Mexico and El Salvador are credited with making serious prevention and preparedness efforts. Other nations, especially many that regularly allow narco-terrorists to transit or visit their territory, "lacked urgency and resolve to address deficiencies in their counter-terrorism posture," according to the State Department report.
The report praised Caribbean and Central American nations for taking steps to improve their border patrols and secure key infrastructure, especially airports and seaports.
The most pressing security issue in one Central American country, Nicaragua, concerned the stalled destruction of Nicaraguan stocks of shoulder-fired missiles that could be used against commercial aircraft. Even though the Nicaraguan executive branch and armed forces recognized the danger from these weapons falling into the hands of terrorists and cooperated with the United States, the opposition-controlled legislature in Nicaragua delayed destruction of the missiles.
The United States enjoyed "solid cooperation" on terror-related matters from most hemispheric partners and maintained excellent intelligence, law enforcement and legal-assistance relations with most nations in the region, the report said.
Unique to the hemisphere is the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism, a body of the Organization of the American States (OAS). The report said the OAS committee is the world's only permanent regional multilateral organization focused exclusively on counterterrorism.
Mexico and Canada are described in the report as "key partners" in the global War on Terror and for U.S. homeland defense. Cooperation with Mexico and Canada was "broad and deep," involving all levels of government and virtually all agencies, according to the report.
Mexico was said to have strengthened considerably its "legal framework" for addressing national security threats, while Canada played an important counterterrorism leadership role worldwide, often in partnership with the United States.
Regarding Colombia, the report said the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe made "solid progress" against the country's narco-terrorist groups, inducing thousands of illegal combatants to demobilize and rejoin society. The Uribe government also arrested or killed "incorrigible leaders" of the narco-terrorists, and brought government services, economic development, and security to formerly neglected regions of the country.
Colombia's neighbors reacted in various ways to the threat from Colombian narco-terrorists. Even though none of the neighbors condemned the terrorists or outlawed membership in such groups in their own country, "for the most part they responded positively to Colombian requests to arrest specific fugitives," the report said. Ecuador, Brazil and Peru improved cross-border cooperation with Colombia, but their security forces remained under formal or informal orders to avoid military confrontations with encroaching foreign narco-terrorists.
Venezuela remained "unwilling or unable" to control the cross-border traffic of arms, supplies and drugs from two Colombian leftist terrorist groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army. But the leftist government of Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, did move aggressively against another Colombian narco-terror group, the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The report said "it is unclear and to what extent" the government of Venezuela provided material support to Colombian terrorists, and at what level. The State Department has designated all three Colombian groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
The United States engaged Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay in what is called the 3+1 Group on Tri-border Area Security to address transnational crime and dissuade those who would support terrorism. That group "significantly increased their coordination, information sharing, and joint activities against criminals in the region" where the three South American countries converge, according to the report.
The report said Cuba remained a state sponsor of terrorism, and Venezuela virtually "ceased its cooperation in the global war on terror, tolerating terrorists in its territory and seeking closer relations" with Cuba and Iran, the latter country also being a state sponsors of terrorism.
The full text of the publication is available on the State Department Web site, as is the regional overview (PDF, 16 pages) for the Western Hemisphere.
For additional information, see Response to Terrorism.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
