«--Previous Post | Blog Index | Next Post--»

Hezbollah Operating From Venezuela?

Eighty-five people were killed in Buenos Aires in July 1994, when a truck filled with explosives detonated outside the Jewish Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA). Since then, conspiracy theorists have had a field day speculating about who was responsible, but it is generally believed to have been the work of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia group listed on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups. The presence of Islamist militants, including Hezbollah, in South America—in particular, in the anarchic Tri-border Region, where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay meet—has long been suspected. According to the Los Angeles Times, though, terrorism analysts fear that Hezbollah is expanding its base in Venezuela.

Hugo Chavez's government enjoys warm relations with Iran, Hezbollah's financial and ideological patron. The countries have established numerous business ties, and in March 2007 agreed to flights between their capitals on IranAir—flights that include a layover in Damascus. (The State Department complained early on that passengers arriving in Caracas seldom were checked against immigration databases or had their passports stamped. Venezuela has reportedly stepped up security procedures as a result.) In June, the US government accused two Venezuelans of working with Hezbollah, obtaining finances and arranging travel. Such activities may represent things to come.

From the Times:

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...

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.

In June, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas A. Shannon said Iran "has a history of terror in this hemisphere, and its linkages to the bombings in Buenos Aires are pretty well established."

"One of our broader concerns is what Iran is doing elsewhere in this hemisphere and what it could do if we were to find ourselves in some kind of confrontation with Iran," Shannon said...

Agents of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah have allegedly set up a special force to attempt to kidnap Jewish businesspeople in Latin America and spirit them away to Lebanon, according to the Western anti-terrorism official. Iranian and Hezbollah operatives traveling in and out of Venezuela have recruited Venezuelan informants working at the Caracas airport to gather intelligence on Jewish travelers as potential targets for abduction, the Western anti-terrorism official said.

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from blmurch.

Comments

Where is the evidence for such a claim? Oh . . . unnamed officials making unsupported accusations and by citing that which is apparently "well established" [by someone I guess]. Yeah . . . must be true . . . all of it. Conveniently this may give us reason to invade Venezuela. Funny that . .

Posted by: Johnny Sanchez on 08/28/08 at 12:16 PM Respond

This blog/article is based on some fairly circumstantial evidence. While it may be true that there is a link between Hezbollah and Venezuela, I wonder if it is worth anyones time to spread this culture of fear. Are people supposed to be afraid of a Hezbollah attack on the U.S. with the aid from Venezuela if the U.S. invades Iran? Is not this exactly the sort of fear mongering rhetoric that gets the U.S. into wars--Iraq and Al Qaeda teaming up? The U.S. is in a world of enemies of its own making and rather than gazing speculatively into the shadows, Motherjones has to continue to do what good journalists/citizens always do. That is to continue to shine the light on these issues by providing context, insight, and understanding. Personally, I think you could have left the military Hugo Chavez baseball card to some other news resource. If there are going to be conspiracy cases made, it can be made by Venezuela on the U.S. backed coup which is a fact rather than blind speculation.

Posted by: Derek on 08/28/08 at 12:33 PM Respond

This is just nothing but Jewish lies. Hugo is against the big capitalists in America(many are Jewish and seek to protect their wealth along with the goys). This is nothing but propaganda against peoples liberation movements. Shame on Bruce for this report. Couldn't Bruce have a report about the campaign in California to overturn the gay marriage decision instead? Why has Bruce gone so right wing? Perhaps he would enjoy writing for "World Net Daily"?

Posted by: Aaron on 08/28/08 at 5:42 PM Respond

OK, perhaps this article, based as it is on assumptions and vague data, is fear-mongering. But can you, for one minute, realize that what this administration has done for any credible information, is make all of us wary of ALL information, some of which may be true, and some of which may be false. We have totally lost our faith in our government to the point where it becomes like the boy who cried "wolf". We cannot believe anything, because we have been lied to or have the impression that we have been lied to, too many times. How are we to begin to sort out what is truth and what is lies? We no longer have a basis for doing so. For all of us who have lived through the drum beats for the war in Iraq and the drum beats for the potential war with Iran, it is getting harder and harder to know what is truth. Is it possible that this works to the advantage of future terrorists as well as work to the advantage of the fear mongers? This could be true, but based on our past experiences with this administration, how are we to know? And then, how do we react to this? What is needed now is someone to restore our faith in our government--faith that is sorely lacking on the GOP side.

Posted by: Rachele Levy on 08/29/08 at 7:04 AM Respond

Faith?

I don't think so. What we need is open government and access to verifiable facts.

People who have faith in government invite totalitarianism.

Posted by: Tocque Deville on 08/30/08 at 7:40 PM Respond