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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu May 05 2011 - 22:07:23 EDT
http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/873-bin-ladens-cousin-arrested-in-ecuador
Bin Laden's Cousin Arrested in Ecuador?
Written by Elyssa Pachico
The arrest of an alleged cousin of Osama bin Laden, accused of running a
human trafficking ring in Ecuador, is another sign of how lax visa policies
have fed the growth of such smuggling networks.
Besides claims in Ecuadorian and Colombian media, there is little evidence
that Eritrean national Yaee Dawit Tadese, alias "Jack Flora," is indeed part
of the extended bin Laden family.
Tadese was reportedly arrested March 10 during a raid in Quito, in a joint
operation by Ecuadorian police and Colombia's elite anti-kidnapping squad,
known as GAULA.
According to Guayaquil-based newspaper El Universal, the arrest of Tadese
and 66 other nationals from Asia, Africa and the Middle East was part of an
investigation into a human smuggling ring. Tadese was reportedly deported to
the U.S. on March 12, as he was wanted by Interpol on terrorism, drug and
human trafficking charges.
Colombian police told El Tiempo that Tadese managed a network that
trafficked migrants from Africa, using two popular routes running from
Somalia to either Ecuador or Venezuela.
Regardless of Tadese's alleged family ties, the arrest is a reminder of how
much human trafficking has expanded in Ecuador since 2008. That was the year
that Ecuador waived visa requirements for almost every country in the world,
allowing visitors to enter the country and automatically gain a 90-day pass.
As a result, Ecuador has seen the growth of Colombian, Russian and Chinese
organized crime groups operating within its borders. This includes smugglers
moving human cargo from Ecuador to Central America, then onwards to the
United States. As noted by El Comercio, migration police have seen an
explosion of African and Asian nationals moving through the country, with
156 reported arrivals from South Africa during the first quarter of 2011.
A 2009 report by the International Assessment and Strategy Center found that
Ecuador's lax visa policies may have also increased the smuggling of Asian
and African migrants from the Andean nation to the U.S. The report quotes
one unnamed U.S. official who maintains that, "In every major case of
non‐Mexican and non‐Central American illegal immigrants entering the United
States in the past year the migrants have transited Ecuador."
In August 2010, concerns about human trafficking arose after an Ecuadorian
citizen was one of two survivors of the brutal slaughter of 72 migrants by
the Zetas in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Shortly afterwards, Ecuador created visa
requirements for nine countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia.
Migration from these countries saw huge boosts after Ecuador suspended visa
requirements in 2008. Ecuador registered only 11 migrants from Bangladesh in
2007, which soared to close to 300 visitors in 2010, according to migration
police.
The pegging of Yaee Dawit Tadese as a member of the bin Laden family also
speaks to a concern sometimes voice by analysts and political commentators:
that Asian and Middle Eastern terrorist networks are using Latin America as
a refuge. While Hezbollah activity at the border between Brazil, Argentina
and Paraguay has been well documented, there otherwise have been no reported
cases of groups like al-Qaida succesfully using Latin America as an entry
point into the United States.
That Tadese was reportedly deported to U.S. on terrorism charges, along with
four other men of Pakistani origin, will likely do much to feed these
concerns.