"Convinced that the reports were ridiculous, and afraid that a defensive posture would only fortify impressions of Foz Do Iguacu as a forbidding place, Gonzalez said in an interview that he and his advisers decided that humor was the only way to dispel the terrorist cloud hovering over this area known as the "Triple Border," near the intersection of the Paraguayan, Argentine and Brazilian frontiers.

"In more than 160 foreign magazines and travel brochures, the city paid for advertisements with captions such as, "If he can find the time to come see the waterfall, why can't you?" under a photograph of bin Laden. Another ad juxtaposed photographs of Saddam Hussein, bin Laden, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the caption: "Foz Do Iguacu; All the world wants to see it, including them."

"Civic officials published public notices of "terrorist meetings" and invited journalists to attend. Tourism officials in November organized Humor at the Falls, an international festival at which artists submitted nearly 2,800 cartoons poking fun at everything from the world's water problems to sex to al Qaeda.