'There Is No Limit to Our Concern About Terrorism at the Olympics', Says Brazilian Minister

11/24/2015 - 09h22

At a time when the Islamic State carries out attacks against countries such as France and Russia, Cabinet minister Ricardo Berzoini defended on Monday (23) that the country accepted help from international counterterrorism intelligence agencies to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks at the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In the opening ceremony of the International Seminar on Confronting Terrorism in Brazil, held in Brasília, Berzoini said that there is "no limit" to the government's concern and said that international cooperation is "essential to address this subject".

Berzoini's speech contrasts with President Dilma Rousseff's statement at the G20 meeting, in Turkey. At the time, after the bombings in Paris, Rousseff said that Brazil is "a long way off" from recent attacks.

According to her, modern terrorism is very focused on Europe. On Sunday (22), the French Government offered to the Brazilian President the country's intelligence and information services for the Olympic Games.
 
"Recent events and others show that we can never be too careful and all precautions could not be enough. Countries that already have a history of confronting this issue were the target of significant attacks. In this field, there is no limit to our concern and we will take all steps within the reach of the Brazilian authorities," he said.
 
According to Berzoini, Brazil should have the same concern about the risk of a terrorist attack as the countries with a history of this kind of violence.
 
He said that as the events involve larger delegations and bring greater complexity of political positions, the government efforts should be intensified compared to what has been done in the 2014 World Cup.
 
Wilson Trezza, head of Brazil's Intelligence Agency Abin, who also attended the seminar, said that there is no country in the world which is "100% ready" to deal with the risk of terrorist attacks.

However, he believes that the risk assessments made by the federal agency do not show - right now - terrorism as one of the main threats to the Olympics in Rio.
 
"Of course that we work to avoid any mistake, and regarding terrorism, we work as if we had a specific threat. We always work as if there was something to happen," he said.

"There is no country in the world which is 100% prepared. We had an example in the United States and now in France, but we believe, by the work we do, that we have all the conditions to say that we are prepared."
 
He highlighted that so far the Brazilian intelligence agencies have not found any Islamic State cell in the country, but he reminded that Abin monitors, with the help of international agencies, potential suspects of having ties to terrorists.
 
p(tagline). Translated by JULIANA CALDERARI

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