Thread: Brazil to Build Wall on Paraguay Border

Brazil to Build Wall on Paraguay Border

Mar 13, 9:06 PM (ET)

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil will build a wall on a small portion of its border with Paraguay in an effort to combat contraband and smuggling, the government's official news agency said Tuesday.

The wall will be constructed on a mile-long section of the border near the "Friendship Bridge," one of the busiest crossing points between the two nations, the official Agencia Brasil news service said.

Construction of the 10-foot-tall steel and concrete wall, topped with barbed-wire, will begin this month and should be complete in July.

Authorities hope the wall will create an obstacle for smugglers who try to cross the border without passing through check points on the bridge.

Brazil's Federal Tax Bureau said in a statement that the wall will help to boost legitimate business transactions between the countries.

The region - packed with merchants selling electronics, cigarettes, whiskey and other goods - is known as South America's busiest contraband and smuggling center.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the so-called Triple Border area - Argentina also has a border there - came under scrutiny by U.S. authorities, who say the billions of dollars generated annually in the region are used to fuel arms trafficking, drug smuggling, counterfeiting, intellectual property-rights violations, and other crimes.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070314/D8NRKLQG1.html

Did they check with Jorge first?

He was just down there, I believe.

Count, apparently we're the only country who needs to have another country's permission to build a fence on OUR property.
But they should call mexico to get their 'blessing' just in case the ACLU wants to play.

Originally Posted by sippy

Count, apparently we're the only country who needs to have another country's permission to build a fence on OUR property.
But they should call mexico to get their 'blessing' just in case the ACLU wants to play.

ROTFLMAO

March 06, 2007
Fencing Out The OtherThe ever-interesting Stratpage has a summary of the next generation of Berlin Walls’ being built all over the world.
Good Fences = Good Neighbors

Of course, unlike the last go around, these walls revert to old skool role of keeping undesirables out rather than locking your citizenry in -

March 4, 2007: There a lot of large scale barrier systems going up in the world…

…Israel is building a 700 kilometers barrier between itself and the Palestinian West Bank.

…Pakistan is building a barrier along its 2,400 kilometer border with Afghanistan .

…Kuwait is upgrading its 215 kilometers of barrier along its Iraq border.

…Spain is building barriers around its two enclaves in Morocco

And so on. But the biggest wall of them all is actually being built by India -

India is building a 4,000 kilometer barrier along its border with Bangladesh. Various Indian rebel groups have been using bases in Bangladesh, and the local government has been reluctant to shut them down. That’s partly because of the large number of illegal migrants moving from Bangladesh to India.
For comparison, the oft-talked about, but never really implemented, US-Mexico border fence would be a full 1000km shorter than India’s Great Wall . And appropriately, the debate surrounding India’s wall echoes familiar arguments and issues from south of the US border.

For starters, much like the US-Mexico border, illegal aliens provided the initial impetus but stemming terrorism is the new argument that’s finally got things done -

INDIA is accelerating the construction of a 2,500-mile fence to seal its border with Bangladesh amid growing fears that its Muslim neighbour could become “a new Afghanistan”.
Indian officials and western diplomats have been alarmed by an increase in terrorist attacks by militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda and by the Dhaka government’s failure to crack down on them.

India’s cabinet has decided to speed up work on the 8ft security fence, which is intended to keep out terrorists and arms smugglers.

On the illegal alien side of the argument a few reports give us an idea of both the numbers involved and the efficacy of the wall -

Delhi has claimed there are 20 million Bangladeshis in India illegally. [link]

Officials say that the fence has already stemmed the flow of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants attempting to cross into India from about 65,000 annually a decade ago to just 10,000 this year. [link]

While terrorism from the Bangla border is relatively minor (well, as “minor” as anything related to terrorism can be), it’s a real threat and is growing over time -

Delhi is increasingly concerned about infiltration by militants from a country with a large, poor Muslim population that was scooped from India by partition. It accuses Bangladesh of harbouring insurgent groups fighting for accession from India from its northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Manipur.

There are also concerns about the rise of radical Islam after the spate of bombs and violence in Bangladesh. “Militancy is a new dimension,” Mr Singh said. “Earlier people came for employment. Now we’re getting reports that they’re coming for terrorist activities.” [link]

“Dhaka [the capital of Bangladesh] seems to have taken some measures against fundamentalists, but not with regard to Indian militants,” said Sabestian. “Militants from Tripura and other states in the region continue to get support and abetment across the border.” [link]

And, of course, the terrorism argument has been levied in post-9/11 US. Even if the terrorists themselves aren’t the border crossers, the infrastructure that supports other illegal aliens has been leveraged.

Finally, as we’ve seen with Mexico, few walls truly cut both ways. The Bangladeshi’s seem to recognize that the alien and terrorist flow is decidedly unidirectional and thus so is the application of force -

Around 25,000 men are fanned out along the frontier on the Bangladeshi side, and they speak of the Indian Border Security Force as if it were an enemy.

…The fence being built by India around Bangladesh is creating tension in places, and occasionally there have been exchanges of fire.

On the “lawfare” side, the Bangladeshi’s contend the wall violates the a clause of a treaty which established India’s recognition of Bangladesh. That treaty guaranteed that India would erect no military / defensive structures along the border in the spirit of friendship -

Most of the time it has been seen that the BDR raises 1975 guidelines when it comes to building fences along the Indo-Bangladesh border. India has consistently conveyed that the 1975 border guidelines are only guidelines which relate to the demolition of defensive structures. They do not apply to the building of a fence, which is a physical barrier intended to put a stop to smuggling and other illegal movement across the border.” He further said: “The fence has no defence potential whatsoever. India believes that a misinterpretation of the 1975 border guidelines, which were drawn up in a spirit of friendship and understanding to guide the two forces, is stalling legitimate development activity.” [link]





…India, which shares a 4,095- km-long border with Bangladesh, wants fencing along the borders, while Bangladesh opposes it in particular areas, especially where India proposes to erect the barricade within 150 yards (about 200 meters) of the zero line.

Bangladesh argues that erection of the fence within 150 yards of the zero line violates the 1975 boundary agreement between the two countries, which stipulates that no barricade can be set up by either country within this distance of the border. [link]

I suppose that although good fences might make for good neighbors, the idea that the Joneses are tossing up a wall to keep you out can feel like a slap in the face. Oh well, life can be tough.

http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004220.html

FYI:
re: legislation

Note that SECURING THE MEXICAN SOUTHERN BORDER is included in much of the legislation that we're going through!!

The USA SECURING MEX SOUTHERN BORDER!!!

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

FYI:
re: legislation

Note that SECURING THE MEXICAN SOUTHERN BORDER is included in much of the legislation that we're going through!!

The USA SECURING MEX SOUTHERN BORDER!!!

Sis,
I think we should petition against mexico wanting to secure their border. After all, aren't those people just coming into meheeco to work and support their familes? And they have a right to be there.
How rude of our neighbors to even think they should secure our borders!

SIPPY!

Please, read it again!!

The congress has legislation {more than a few} that states:
WE SECURE THE MEX SOUTHERN BORDER!!

This crap is in many proposed bills! And, furthermore, we've found that this has been proposed some years ago as well.

Plans were in the pipeline!!!

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

SIPPY!

Please, read it again!!

The congress has legislation {more than a few} that states:
WE SECURE THE MEX SOUTHERN BORDER!!

This crap is in many proposed bills! And, furthermore, we've found that this has been proposed some years ago as well.

Plans were in the pipeline!!!

Sis, sorry, I should have stated I was being sarcastic as hell.
I did read the article. I find it interesting however that we are the only country on the planet who seems to not be allowed to build a fence and protect our borders.

Didn't Bush just buy about 99,000 acres in Paraguay recently? Guess he does not want illegals treading on his new ranch!