Triple frontera: congelan bienes de una organización que financiaría a Hezbollah

El gobierno argentino congeló bienes y dinero de integrantes de una organización presuntamente ligada a la agrupación chiita Hezbollah, de fuertes vínculos con Irán , tras una maniobra para lavar 10 millones de dólares en un casino de la localidad de Iguazú, en el área conocida como la Triple Frontera, entre la Argentina, Brasil y Paraguay.

Si bien Estados Unidos e Israel repetidamente advirtieron sobre la existencia de un circuito de financiamiento entre la Triple Frontera y Medio Oriente, se trata de la primera vez que el Gobierno toma una medida directa de congelamiento de bienes y fondos en territorio argentino por las ramificaciones de esta organización de origen libanés, a la que se responsabiliza por el ataque a la AMIA.

Según datos recopilados en las entidades financieras que fueron advertidas de la maniobra, el dinero provino del denominado Clan Barakat, que opera en la triple frontera y que se le atribuyen vínculos con Hezbollah.

Ya en 2006 Estados Unidos había señalado al líder del clan Barakat como un «financista terrorista clave en América del Sur».

La maniobra
En este caso, las alertas fueron generadas desde la Unidad de Información Financiera (UIF) y remitidas a unas 50.000 entidades, entre bancos, casinos, casas de cambio y financieras, a partir del intercambio de información sobre lavado de activos relacionados con el crimen organizado o el financiamiento del terrorismo.

La unidad se nutre, entre otras fuentes de información, de las notificaciones de la Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), un organismo que depende del Departamento del Tesoro norteamericano; en el marco de un acuerdo de cooperación entre la UIF y la Fincen, que es el organismo análogo en los Estados Unidos.

Las alertas giradas a las entidades pedían que se informara si se registraban operaciones vinculadas al clan Barakat, liderado por Assad Ahmad Barakat, quien años atrás fue detenido en Brasil y luego extraditado a Paraguay.

El clan tiene su centro de operaciones en la exgalería Page (hoy galería Uniamérica) ubicada en Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

Los Barakat, según información de la cual también dieron cuenta medios en Paraguay, estarían involucrados en delitos de contrabando, falsificación de dinero y documentos, extorsión, tráfico de estupefacientes, tráfico de armas, lavado de activos y financiamiento del terrorismo.

Tras girar las alertas, la UIF detectó que los miembros del clan habrían realizado, en un casino de Iguazú, cobros por supuestos premios que, en su conjunto, superarían los 10 millones de dólares, sin declarar ni el ingreso ni el egreso de los fondos al cruzar la frontera.

Los casinos son una vía conocida de lavado de dinero a través de diferentes métodos, por ejemplo, la compra de premios a un valor más alto del real, para luego cambiarlo por efectivo. Así se pierde el rastro del dinero sucio y se puede justificar como fruto de la suerte en las apuestas.

Las autoridades sospechan que los fondos terminaron en Medio Oriente, de acuerdo con la información recibida desde el extranjero.

Luego de detectar la maniobra en Iguazú, y a partir de las advertencias llegadas desde los Estados Unidos y otras agencias de inteligencia financiera, el Gobierno tomó la decisión de congelar en la Argentina los fondos y bienes de unas 14 personas vinculadas al clan Barakat, que habían cruzado repetidas veces la frontera a través del puente internacional Tancredo Neves, que conecta Iguazú con Brasil.

En la mira
Estados Unidos pidió en los últimos años que la Argentina, Brasil y Paraguay intensifiquen el control sobre las operaciones financieras en la Triple Frontera, en especial sobre los grupos que los norteamericanos identifican como financistas de agrupaciones terroristas en Medio Oriente.

El año pasado, Robert Pittenger, un fuerte defensor de Donald Trump, visitó la Argentina para reforzar los acuerdos en materia de seguridad entre Estados Unidos y el gobierno de Mauricio Macri.

Pittenger participó en Buenos Aires del foro regional sobre inteligencia y seguridad, que tuvo el aval del Congreso de los Estados Unidos, y que en la Argentina impulsaron el Ministerio de Seguridad y la UIF.

Meses antes, en junio de 2017, representantes del Departamento del Tesoro visitaron la Triple Frontera para recopilar información sobre la oficina que se montó en el lugar para supervisar las operaciones financieras.

El foro de seguridad convocó, entre otros, a Emanuele Ottolenghi, experto en terrorismo de la Fundación para la Defensa de las Democracias de Washington, que publicó diferentes informes que sostienen que en la Triple Frontera se blanquea dinero que proviene de la venta de las drogas y que termina por financiar a Irán o a grupos como Hezbollah. Una tesis que comparte con Joseph Humire, del Center for a Secure Free Society, otro de los invitados al foro, que transmitieron su mensaje a las autoridades del gobierno de Mauricio Macri.

De Ciudad del Este a Medio Oriente
¿Qué es Hezbollah? Es un movimiento político de origen libanés cuyo nombre significa «partido de Dios», que está compuesto por grupos de chiitas que pretenden la eliminación de Israel y que responden al liderazgo de Irán en Medio Oriente
El nexo con la AMIA: La Justicia argentina acusó a los grupos radicalizados de Hezbollah de estar detrás del atentado contra la AMIA . Es lo que se conoce como «la pista iraní»
El clan Barakat: Los Estados Unidos acusaron a los miembros del clan familiar Barakat, con asiento en Ciudad del Este, de pertenecer a una organización criminal que financia las actividades de Hezbollah en Medio Oriente
La maniobra: La Unidad de Información Financiera detectó que miembros del clan Barakat realizaron un presunto lavado de 10 millones de dólares en el casino de Iguazú

La Nación

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