On an official visit to Brazil last week, U.S. Homeland Security “Czar” Michael Chertoff condemned the support given by some South American governments to the guerilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and said that all the countries in the region should be concerned about possible guerilla-camp transfers to their territories.

During talks with the Ministers of Justice, Tarso Genro, and of Defense, Nelson Jobim, on Monday, Chertoff made it clear how concerned the United States is with the sophistication of the narcotrafficking resources developed for the main consumer markets – such as the use of small submarines – and called for the cooperation of the Brazilian government to increase its controls over ports and airports.

“The FARC has suffered serious blows in the past months due to the perseverance and courage of Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe,” Chertoff said. “But the challenge isn’t over yet. The FARC will continue to be constantly on the move (in Colombian territory) to find a weak spot where they can slip through,” he said. “Colombia’s neighboring countries must be aware that a group like FARC is always ready to identify a safer place and to move its activities to some other side,” he said when asked about the possibility of the rebel group advancing through the Brazilian Amazon.

In flagrant criticism directed at the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador for supposedly supporting the FARC, Chertoff reminded South American countries of the need to enforce their laws against organized crime and condemned any and every direct support for the guerilla group. He said that this is the attitude demanded by their respective citizens.

PATRIOT ACT

Seen as the civilian “general” of the war on terrorism, Chertoff was a co-author of the controversial USA Patriot Act. This act, in effect since October 2001, extinguished any and all privacy rights of U.S. citizens and foreign citizens living in the country, in the name of homeland security.

Since 2005, Chertoff is the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Created two months after the terrorist attacks launched by the Al-Qaeda network against the United States on September 11, 2001, the department brings together the country’s main government agencies. The Secretary now leads one of Washington’s most controversial projects – the building of a 2,000-mile-long high-tech wall across the Mexican border, to stop illegal immigration.

“The United States welcomes people who come here to work, engage in tourism, or in other activities. But, as in any other country, we have the right to determine who can enter the country,” said Chertoff. “We cannot allow them to break the window or come in through the back door.” The American Secretary insisted that a significant part of illegal immigrants become victims of crime. “The border wall is not a complete solution. But it is part of the solution for the control of drugs, weapons and people smuggling.”

CARGO CONTROL

On his visit to Brazil, Chertoff insisted especially on increased controls over cargoes that are carried through Brazilian ports and have the United States as their final destination.

In 2003, after pressure from Washington and its European allies, countries supplying goods to the American market had to adapt themselves to the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code), so as not to be barred from exporting to the United States.

During a conversation with Rio de Janeiro’s Governor Sérgio Cabral (PMDB), Chertoff insisted on the need to draw private-sector support for imposing more severe controls over cargos. Despite his willingness to strengthen cooperation and exchanges of information between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Brazilian authorities, the Secretary’s message reinforced the threat of imposing possible sanctions on the entry of Brazilian products into the American market.

“Safe trade is free trade,” says Chertoff. “The more exports increase and the more products are diversified, safer we have to be in relation to the products entering and exiting Brazil,” he said. “If you don’t know what is entering your ports and airports, something bad is going on. This is the worst thing that can happen in foreign trade.”