This article begins by first tracing how international terrorism in the post-9/11 period has impacted Brazil before moving on to diagnose and analyze the legal and institutional design of the Brazilian anti- terrorism structure while also outlining and understanding its key limitations. In order to do so, I rely primarily upon interviews with members of the Brazilian government, including both the Military and Federal Police. I also use declassified and open source documents as well as the relevant legislation on the subject. Focusing on international terrorism after nine eleven, I observed that the problem of international terrorism also occurs within Brazil and map the structure and design of the current anti-terrorism apparatus in the country while also identifying some of its limitations. I then analyze some of the more serious shortcomings of the current Brazilian regulatory system as regards the issue of combating terrorism. Having formulated this understanding of the design of the existing legal and institutional framework on the subject, I conclude that the current legislative drafts being debated in the Brazilian Congress do not respond to the real needs of the country when it comes to the prevention and mitigation of international terrorism and terrorist attacks. These failures reflect both the absence of a strategy as well as specific legislation to fight and prevent terrorism in Brazil. In order to rectify this problem I argue that it is essential to design comprehensive legislation that falls clearly within the framework of criminal justice and which not only incorporates the basic principles of due process and democracy but is also aligned with human rights and humanitarian law. Both these principles and legal branches are best prepared to address the complex cases associated with international terrorism and cannot – and indeed, should not be - in any manner seen as a barrier to countering terrorism in Brazil.
Brazil; terrorism; political violence; counter-terrorism; legislation