MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil builds wall to stop smuggling from Paraguay

In contrast to pledges of lowering Mercosur barriers for junior members (Paraguay and Uruguay), Brazil confirmed the construction of a steel and concrete wall along the Paraguayan border to help combat contraband in the Triple frontier area where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet.

According to the official Agencia Brasil, the one mile long by three meters high wall and perpendicular to the river Parana, and next to the Brazilian city of Foz de Iguazu, should be finished by next July and will be equipped with all the gadgets common to a high security presidium. The purpose of the wall is to stop smugglers from buying cheap imported goods in Paraguay's Ciudad del Este and selling them in the big Brazilian cities such as Sao Paulo. Computers, electronics, cigarettes, watches, brand textiles are some of the most common items smuggled. But the Triple Frontier area also has long been suspected of harboring followers of radical groups such as Hezbollah and collecting funds for those terrorist organizations that are under the surveillance of US intelligence. Brazil which has a significant Arab community has always rejected US claims that the Triple frontier area has become an operational base for Middle East fundamentalists and extremists. However, according to the Brazilian press, strangely enough the initiative was leaked during the visit to Brazil of US president George Bush. When the announcement Paraguayan officials flew to Brasilia to meet with Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim and in Asunción the Chamber of Commerce called for the country to definitively abandon Mercosur. "This is a repeat of the bullying attitude of the US with Mexico and their wall. It's time we leave Mercosur and fight for our rights", said Alfredo Amarillo member of the chamber. Cristiane Larcher Attorney General from Foz de Iguazú confirmed the construction of the wall and said it was meant to prevent smugglers sending the merchandise from Paraguay across the river Parana to the Brazilian side. "We're building a wall to impede the illegal action of people crossing with merchandise", said Larcher. Besides the wall, the Brazilian government has sent fiscal task groups to work together with federal police and highway patrols to check the area including hotels, farms, rural roads plus coordination with the Judiciary to allow night searches. Brazil's Economy Ministry said the initiative will "facilitate relations, the movement of tourists between Brazil and Paraguay plus optimizing fiscal monitoring, law enforcement and sanitary measures in the area". Last year Brazilian fiscal authorities confiscated 77 million US dollars of merchandise smuggled in from Paraguay and in the first two months of this year 7 million US dollars, up 36% from a year ago, according to official data. Merchandise smuggled from Paraguay can easily be purchased from street vendors in most major Brazilian cities and in a net work of "legal" wholesale depots, usually at half the going legal price. Landlocked and one of the least developed countries of South America, Paraguay has historically been a have for smugglers tempted by the high tariffs systems of neighboring "giants" Argentina and Brazil