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No word on how long that concern has been present, or increasing. But we reported on this here in 2006.
"Hezbollah presence in Venezuela feared," by Chris Kraul and Sebastian Rotella for the Los Angeles Times, August 26:
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations.
Linked to deadly attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina in the early 1990s, Hezbollah may be taking advantage of Venezuela's ties with Iran, the militia's longtime sponsor, to move "people and things" into the Americas, as one Western government terrorism expert put it.
As part of his anti-American foreign policy, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has established warm diplomatic relations with Iran and has traveled there several times. The Bush administration, Israel and other governments worry that Venezuela is emerging as a base for anti-U.S. militant groups and spy services, including Hezbollah and its Iranian allies.
"It's becoming a strategic partnership between Iran and Venezuela," said a Western anti-terrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive.
Several joint Venezuelan-Iranian business operations have been set up in Venezuela, including tractor, cement and auto factories. In addition, the two countries have formed a $2-billion program to fund social projects in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.
Those deepening ties worry U.S. officials because Iranian spies around the world have been known to work with Hezbollah operatives, sometimes using Iranian embassies as cover, Western intelligence experts say. [...]
See also: Nicaragua.
Hezbollah has long operated in the large Lebanese communities of Latin America. In addition to receiving a multimillion-dollar infusion from Iran, the militia finances itself by soliciting or extorting money from the Lebanese diaspora and through rackets such as smuggling, fraud and the drug and diamond trade in South America and elsewhere, Matthew Levitt, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Congress in 2005.
Three years ago, police in Colombia and Ecuador broke up an international cocaine-smuggling ring that functioned in Latin American countries, including Venezuela, and allegedly sent profits to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The lawless "tri-border" region connecting Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina has been a center of mafia activities and finance linked to Hezbollah, Western anti-terrorism officials say.
Hezbollah operatives based there participated, along with Iranian spies, in the car bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and a Jewish community center two years later that killed a total of 114 people, an Argentine indictment charges.
In the aftermath of that indictment, filed in 2006, Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors, chiefly the Revolutionary Guard, decided to shift from the increasingly scrutinized tri-border area to countries including Venezuela, Western anti-terrorism officials say.
"Hezbollah's overseas apparatus and the Revolutionary Guard [are] building new infrastructures in Latin America," the Western security official said. "It preserves the capability of Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guard to mount attacks inside Latin America. . . . It is very, very important to Iran and Hezbollah right now."
Posted by Marisol at August 27, 2008 1:00 AM
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l dont know why the US has not targeted that toad of a president of Venezuela as he is the cause of much of the all things bad.
Posted by: ZenaWarriorPrincess![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 27, 2008 2:17 AM
Chavez is an enemy, no doubt about it. But how we go about dealing with him is an admittedly tough situation, given our history in the region.
For the moment, it's imperative for us to continue and expand our support for Colombia as President Uribe prosecutes his war on Chavez's narco-terrorist clients, FARC and the ELN.
Interesting how Uribe's predecessors, Pastrana, the corrupt Earnesto Semper, Bentancourt and others all insisted Colombia's problems had to be solved through dialog...and nothing ever came of it, except the consolidation and expansion of narco-held territory.
Uribe comes in, promises a military solution, acts on his promises, and lo and behold, the fortunes of the narcos continues to decline, ever-larger areas of Colombia are pacified, with all the attendant life-style and economic benefits for the people, and the Colombian President has an approval rating hovering near 80%. Is there a lesson in there somewhere?
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party continues to thwart a free-trade treaty with our Colombian ally...and it's been documented that during the primaries, Obama operatives contacted FARC and offered to synthesize policies and strategies with the terrorist group.
Posted by: Cornelius at August 27, 2008 9:20 AM
In the good old Eisenhower days, Chavez would have been quietly murdered. It would have gone like this: the CIA goes to the Prez with documents showing terrorists under govt. protection with designs on America, dirty bomb materials or what have you and the Prez, sworn to defend THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA would have 'arranged' things. And rather than YEARS of yak and UN 'debates' and more Yak and slowly putting 'sanctions' into place etc etc etc... the threat would have been.....gone.
That is how a superpower acts and SHOULD act within its sphere of influence. I'm beginning to think Russia is showing us in Georgia how its done. We've made the power vacuum for Russia.
Posted by: poetcomic1 at August 27, 2008 10:09 AM
The Hezbollah tiger may eat Chavez last, but it will indeed eventually eat him. That will leave the rest of the non-muslim communities in the region to clean up the mess. Jihad comes to the jungles of the Amazon.
Posted by: SaracensAtTheGates at August 27, 2008 10:46 AM
Hezbollah are in Venezuela, Paraguway, Brazil, Canada, and throughout the US. A must-read book "The Lightning From Lebanon" details the enormous infiltration of Hezbollah throughout the US. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah devotees make up its "support infrastructure" in the US, the "sea" in which Hezbollah pirannas sweem. They are absolutely in the open. We all saw them in action on Aug. 12, 2006 as they held Hezbollah rallies in all major US cities on both coasts. 10,000 Hezbollah surrounded the White House demanding that the US rescue Hezbollah from Israel - which cowards Bush and Rice did. Not 1 counter-demonstrator! In downtown Seattle that day, there were 5 of us opposing a huge Hitler-Stalin joint rally by Hezbollah and the hard-left A.N.S.W.E.R.
But the most dangerous Hezbollah are the deap-buried "sleeper cells" silently hiding among those supporters, ready to strike. "It is the ones we don't know about that keep me awake at night", an FBI agent says. What are they waiting for? The delivery of nuclear weapons from Iran. The daily threats against Israel by Iran is a diversion: they keep the eyes on the prize, which is the United States. If they take over the US, they will own the world. Given the paralyzing pathological cowardice of the US even now when Iran does not have nukes yet, is there any doubt at all that it will surrender to the mullahs' mercy after the first 10 nukes go off in US cities?
The 6,000 Iranian nuclear centrifuges are spinning 24/7, and the clock is ticking on nuclear terrorism, and what are our idiot-boy Bush and the degenerate Rice doing? Recognizing the evil Albanian "Kosova" that replaced the crucified Serb Kosovo, goading Georgia into a murderous attack and causing and absolutely needless crisis with Russia, while giving Iran all the time it wants to prepare a nuclear jihad.
Ruslan Tokhchukov, EnragedSince1999.
Posted by: Enragedsince1999 at August 27, 2008 3:06 PM
Lebanon is now being run by Hezbollah. Some refer to Lebanon as Hezbullastan.
Posted by: American at August 28, 2008 11:57 AM
Hezbollanon?
Posted by: John C at August 28, 2008 11:08 PM
Venezbollah?
Posted by: John C at August 28, 2008 11:10 PM
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