Courtesy of Talk Left there is this article about Brazil's plans to strengthen their fingerprint and photographing policy towards American visitors.
I've essentially said my piece about it here, although I will continue to follow developments in the story. As several have noted, this would not have stopped Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui (assuming that the latter is guilty of something other than a visa overstay) as they were traveling on passports from nations included in the visa waiver program. Brazil's entrance requirements operate under rules of reciprocity: any nation that requires Brazil's citizens to have a visa to enter, Brazil requires that country's citizens to have a visa to enter Brazil.
I'm on my third Brazilian visa. My first was for ninety days and my second was for five years. Both of them were free and took me all of fifteen minutes (including the filling out of forms) to obtain. My current visa required me to leave my passport with the consulate overnight, but it was still relatively easy to obtain, although it cost me $45 (now it's $100). Having assisted my in-laws in getting visas to the US for a visit they made in 1996, I can understand the anger Brazilians feel about this issue, although I can't justify the Brazil fingerprint policy - or at least the reckless way it was implemented. Regarding the US visa process, I don't think I have ever seen a process more humiliating, except perhaps when I had to deal with the INS on Mércia's behalf. Her parents own some ten houses, a very large farm and provided reams of evidence to show that they had strong ties to their community and would most definitely return to Brazil. We purchased health insurance policies for the duration of the trip and showed it to the consular officials in Rio. They still made it difficult for them, but they evenutally got the visas and they returned on time. Several years ago a successful businesswoman who wanted to take her four year old grandchild to Disney World was granted a visa, but the child was denied a visa. There was a bit of dust kicked up in the late 1990's when a US citizen, who was a former consular official conducting visa application interviews at the consulate in São Paulo claimed that his supervisor had a policy to deny applications to applicants based on race using code words for the visa application rejections. I don't know what came of it, but I can assure that it received a lot more attention in Brazil than in the US.
When I've entered Brazil, I have always been treated with respect and courtesy. I have never been subjected to intrusive questioning, nor have been treated aany differently. I cannot always say the same for those who Brazilians I know who have entered the US with legitimate visas. Nothing occurs in a vacuum. Nations less powerful than the US will continue to engage in retalitatory policies where and when they are able to do so, especially when they feel that they have been treated unfairly and often times even when it may not be in their best interests. The sad fact of all is that such reactions - as the policies to which they are reacting - are completely and utterly indiscriminate and in my opinion, do little more than breed fear and resentment and don't make anyone any safer anywhere. More and more walls get built around us. Kind of flies in the face of globalization. Maybe someday we'll learn that breeding trust among allies is a better way to ensure our security than building walls. That trust should also include the member nations of the Organization of American States who unanimously invoked the provisions of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (commonly known as the Rio Treaty) for the first time in history in response to the September 11 attacks.
The Miami Herald has an interesting and enlightening collection of responses from foreign media in response to the new US policy.
Comments