BRAZIL WILL SEEK RATIFICATION OF LAST THREE

UNCLAS BRASILIA 000064

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER ASEC PREL BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL WILL SEEK RATIFICATION OF LAST THREE
COUNTERRORISM CONVENTIONS

REF: 04 STATE 269653


1. (SBU) Poloff delivered talking points to Ministry of
External Relations, Transnational Crimes Office Chief Marcus
Pinta Gama. According to Pinta Gama, the GOB hopes to ratify
the last three outstanding international counterterrorism
accords this year. Of the three, the most urgent
ratification, he explained, was the Convention for the
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Although a 2004
Congressional hearing on the Convention was postponed,
following his own discussions with key Deputados, Pinta Gama
believed Congressional passage was feasible during the "first
semester" of 2005.


2. (SBU) Regarding the Safety of Maritime Navigation
Convention and the Protocol on Fixed Platforms, Pinta Gama
noted that the GOB did not intend to push these two through
Congress as strongly as the Terrorism Financing Convention.
However, he felt that both could be ratified by the second
half of 2005.


3. (SBU) In Pinta Gama's view, the most critical
legislative step Brazil needed to take on the topic of
terrorism was revision of Brazil's military regime era
National Security Law. While the 1978 law provided the tools
to punish terrorists and terrorist financiers, Pinta Gama was
uncertain Brazilian judges would allow the law, if put to the
test, to be applied since it preceded Brazil's 1988
Constitution. A Working Group, he added, had been proposed
to develop a national policy and structure for more effective
counterterrorism, including review of existing legislation.
The new legislation, as Pinta Gama perceived it, thus could
be crafted to be in conformity with the Inter-American
Convention against Terrorism.

Danilovich