Bin Laden? Money for Hezbollah? What is the US interest in the triple border?

The news that the United States has returned their attention to the Triple Border region, stipulating a reward of US $ 10 million (R $ 56.4 million) for information that leads to the interruption of financial mechanisms and transfers to the terrorist organization Hezbollah, has again placed the area of ​​Diva between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay in international evidence.

But what is the reason for the “tri-border area” to draw so much attention from the American authorities? THE Infomoney He made a short guide on the topic. Follow below:

What is the triple border?

The area is a point where three countries meet: Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. This region, where there is the confluence of the Iguaçu and Paraná rivers has important cities such as Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil), Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) and Puerto Iguazú (Argentina) and has a history of little control of flow, products and money flows. Thus, in addition to natural beauty, which attract tourism, it is also a place that provides activities such as drug trafficking, smuggling and, supposedly, terrorist activities, generating concerns between the governments of the three countries.

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What is the connection of the region with the Arab peoples?

Since the 1960s, intense commercial activity on the region’s border has attracted a significant population of Arabic origin, with a predominance of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Egyptians. Foz do Iguaçu, for example, concentrates the second largest Arab language community in Brazil, with approximately 22,000 immigrants and descendants, behind only São Paulo. Almost all of these Arabs has Islam as a religion, especially the Sunni and Shiite currents. In Ciudad del Este, on the other hand, they live around 9,000 Muslims, most of them Shiite. Already in the city of Puerto Iguazú there is no significant Arab community.

What is the reason for association with terrorism?

In investigations by terrorist attacks at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires (March 1992) and the Israeli Argentine Mutual Association – Amia (July 1994), who killed more than 100 people and left hundreds of injured, evidence that terrorists planned attacks in the triple border area and that they would at least use the region to enter Argentina. The suspicions were not officially confirmed. The Jihad Islamic and Hezbollah Organization Groups and the Iran regime were held responsible for the attacks. In 1998, two suspects were allegedly arrested recognizing the US and Israel embassies in Asuncion, Paraguay, for possible attacks. In 2018, Brazil arrested a Hezbollah financier and extradited him to Paraguay to be sued by 2020.

From 2009 to 2012, the Triple Border region was included in the Country Reports on Terrorism Terrorism Sanctuary list of the US State Department.

In 2023, PF launched Operation Trapiche, against suspects of terrorism linked to the Hezbollah radical group. Two men were arrested and 11 search and seizure warrants were served in São Paulo, Minas Gerais and the Federal District. According to the investigation, the group planned to promote attacks against buildings of the Jewish and Israeli community in Brazil, including synagogues.

Is it true that Osama Bin Laden was in the region?

In 2003, Veja magazine reported that Osama Bin Laden would have spent in 1995 three days in Foz do Iguaçu, the Brazilian city of the triple border, where he would have met with members of the Arab community in a city mosque. The report cited as a source a high employee of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN), on the condition of remaining anonymous. The text claimed to be a video of a lecture by the future al-Qaeda leader, when he would have spoken about his experience in the Afghanistan war while fighting the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Another curiosity is that Khalil Mohamed Binladin, one of the terrorist’s brothers, and three of his nephews had denied nationality requested in 2003 because they could not prove permanent residence in Brazil.

Do countries assume that there are activities related to terrorism?

Although the treatment given to Islamic militant groups varies according to the ideological line in power in each country, both Paraguay and Argentina, at different times, have officially recognized Hezbollah as a terrorist group. This is not the case with Brazil, although in the management of Jair Bolsonaro there was a better reception of the American narrative about the risk that the region poses. In February 2025, the former president said that if he returns to power, he will authorize the installation of an American base in the area. There is a group of discussions about border security since 1998, which has been called 3+1 in 2002, with the inclusion of the US in conversations. But there is no formal and documented recognition of international terrorist activities from the region;

How would this connection happen?

As there is no conclusive evidence of groups of groups that practice international terrorism in Southern Cone countries, the main charges are alleged to the financial contribution to these organizations. This is, by the way, the target of the reward announcement announced this week. As the border area is known for the performance of organized crime, the circulation of suspicious money is also. And it is common for immigrants to send money to family and friends resident in Lebanon or Palestinian territories. It is these remittances, many of them of low value, which motivate much of the accusations of financing terrorist activities.