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Paraguay and Brazil discuss measures to fight smuggling

Men lugging shiny stereos, new tires and heavy bundles on their backs stream like ants across the Friendship Bridge, where smugglers lower contraband from Paraguay on ropes to Brazilian runners on the riverbank below.

No one checks passports and anyone asking questions is hustled away in this smugglers' haven near the "Triple Border," where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet -- and where contraband electronics, toys, drugs and arms flow across porous borders.

Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met in Asuncion on Monday and vowed to boost legitimate trade and to strengthen cross-border cooperation in fighting smuggling in the Triple Border. They also signed a pledge to build another bridge on the Parana River separating their countries.

But neither broached one thorny issue: a wall Brazil had planned to build on its side of the Friendship Bridge.

When announced in March, Duarte called the wall a "shameful" proposal. Silva's office said ahead of his visit that no wall will now be built, but did not say why the wall was scrapped.

"Convergence, not divergence, is the solution to our problems," Silva said on Monday, sounding conciliatory as he spoke of boosting bilateral trade, which Brazil's foreign ministry said totaled US$1.5 billion last year.

Both leaders said greater trade would help the poor in both countries. Paraguay is South America's poorest country after Bolivia, while Silva noted that giant Brazil is home to 44 million poor -- "10 times more than in Paraguay."

Paraguay's major trading city is Ciudad del Este, some 320 km east of Asuncion. It is an enormous mecca of shops bristling with whiskey, cigarettes, computers and clothes, and is considered one of South America's leading smuggling centers.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency announced last year a move with the tri-border countries to create units investigating trade based money-laundering here.

While US government reports have sporadically raised suspicions the area is a fundraising source for radical groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, authorities have said they have never found proof.

Many merchants here are Brazilians of Syrian and Lebanese descent, or Asians who live in Foz de Iguacu and work on the Paraguayan side. They vigorously defend their business as legitimate and launched a post-Sept. 11, 2001, campaign rebutting the accusations.

Duarte said his government has made inroads fighting corruption considered a drag on Paraguay's stagnant economy. On May 8, he opened a conference of Latin American customs directors here and said his government has recently seized US$60 million in pirated and contraband goods.

"Many powerful groups now can no longer do as they please," he said.

A day before he spoke, however, contraband runners called sacoleiros were lugging tractor tires, bags of baby diapers and electronics unchecked on Friendship Bridge.
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