US General to Senate: Terror Groups Benefiting from Latin American Drug Trade

emora1983

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Colombia: Maicao, Hezbollah money-laundering center | Fausta's Blog

Fausta's Blog

In the Colombia-Venezuela border town of Maicao, which is also near the Caribbean and has a free-trade zone and the third-largest mosque in the Americas, Hezbollah financing evolves beyond Colombia’s Muslim communities

Today, Hezbollah is the most powerful political movement in Lebanon — and its influence stretches all the way to Maicao. Each year, millions of dollars of drug money are laundered in Maicao, where some community members openly proclaim their support for Hezbollah. Recent U.S. Treasury Department actions have slowed the flow of cash to terrorist groups, but financiers have fled and new networks have reconstituted that are harder to identify.

This mirrors, as Spain’s ABC has reported, chavismo’s alliance with the FARC Colombian guerrilla becoming an essential factor of the illegal trade,

The way it works is a money launderer today may work for 5-10 different drug trafficking groups. Those groups in turn pay taxes or fees to terrorist groups to operate in their territories, proliferating terrorism and violence in Colombia and the Middle East. Likewise, sympathizing launderers may make sizable voluntary donations to Hezbollah.

The article states,

The launderers may not even realize they are ultimately funding terrorism organizations.

And yet, “the conversation switches to Arabic when it involves transferring drug money to terrorist groups abroad.”

It makes perfect sense for Maicao to be a location for this:

• a commercial center because of its free-trade zone,
• large Muslim population where Hezbollah operatives may go unnoticed
• geographic location near both the Caribbean and Venezuela, the departing point for much of the drugs.

I wonder how this fits in with the FARC negotiations in Havana, considering the links to Colombia’s FARC, El Salvador’s FMNL, and their connection to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah Leader: America Surrendered

breitbart

By William Bigelow 4 Dec 2013

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, absolutely giddy after Iran bamboozled the P5+1 nations into signing a one-sided nuclear agreement, is clear that two of his dreams have been realized: the U.S. has seen its global power reduced and Israel cannot bomb Iran because America would prevent it.

On Tuesday, Nasrallah, speaking on Lebanon’s OTV, said the agreement prevented a Middle Eastern war: "The number one winner in this deal is the people of this region ... I can not say that this agreement has annulled the choice of war permanently but I can say it has pushed it away for a long time." He continued without American permission, Israel would not bomb Iran, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has asserted that America was against any war in the region. Nasrallah chortled of America’s demise: "The wars they fought in Iraq have failed, in Afghanistan they reached a dead end and the wars on Lebanon and Gaza foiled the New Middle East scheme, and now they have failed in Syria. They were not able to topple the regime in Iran, but I cannot claim that they did not succeed in shaking its economic situation."

Nasrallah claimed that not only has U.S. monopoly on power waned, but Iran rebuffed the American attempt to discuss issues outside the nuclear program. He also ripped Saudi Arabia for its hostility to Iran, saying the Saudis won’t talk to Iran because of American pressure and are committed to unseating the Assad regime in Syria. He said, "There is a Saudi decision to try and change the events on the ground until January 22 ... they will fail … If you monitor all the Saudi-financed media outlets, the Saudi war against Iran has never stopped. The Saudis waged wars against the Iranians in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Gulf, Iraq and Syria, and of course through its proxies, because it does not dare to wage a direct war."

Nasrallah protested that Hezbollah does not take marching orders from Iran, asserting, "Right now, Iran is the most important state in the region and it is consulting with us and it sometimes endorses our viewpoint on certain issues.”

Kuwaiti Newspaper: Obama Negotiating with Hezbollah Terrorists

breitbart

By Joel B. Pollak 

The Obama administration has entered secret talks with the Hezbollah terrorist group, mediated by Great Britain, according to a report in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai, as relayed by the Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

The State Department lists Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Thirty years ago, Hezbollah bombed a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241. Hezbollah is currently helping to prop up the Assad regime in Syria, in a war that has claimed over 100,000 civilian lives. The organization is also dedicated to Israel's destruction.

According to the report, President Barack Obama opened the "secret indirect talks" to discuss "the fight against al-Qaida, regional stability, and other Lebanese political issues." Hezbollah is supported by Iran and has been involved in terrorism throughout the world. It has also been active in other conflicts, laundering money through the trade in illicit diamonds the fueled the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, for example.

Israeli attack destroys Russian missiles headed from Syria to Hezbollah

By Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

Israeli military forces destroyed a cache of Russian missiles that the Syrian government was reportedly prepared to deliver to the militant group Hezbollah, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday.

The officials stressed that the surface-to-surface Russian-made missiles were under Syrian military control in a stockpile at a port near the Russian naval base at Latakia.

The officials said this attack is expected to follow the usual pattern of several other Israeli strikes against Syrian missiles that were apparently on their way to Hezbollah – neither the Israelis, Syrians nor Hezbollah are likely to acknowledge the missiles ever existed or the strike ever occurred.

Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles in Lebanon, much of the weapons coming through Syria. Hezbollah has controlled the Lebanese government for years and this spring joined the effort to defeat rebels trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Hezbollah's presence in Syria is said to have been a key to turning back rebel advances in a two-year war that has left more than 100,000 people dead.

The Israeli Defense Ministry refused comment on the reports of the new attack, Reuters said, but Lebanon’s military reported that six Israeli jets flew over Lebanese territory on Wednesday.

Keep reading on  worldnews >>

What does Chavez's death mean for Hezbollah?

Obama Gives Hezbollah 200 Armored Personnel Carriers

visiontoamerica

It’s only fair that with the Muslim Brotherhood getting 200 Abrams tanks, Hezbollah should get 200 armored personnel carriers. While tragically there was no money available to provide security for the US mission in Benghazi, there’s always room for giving billion dollar weapons packages to the terrorists who attack US embassies.

In 1983, Hezbollah carried out the suicide car bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut killing 63 people, including US soldiers, and wounding 120. The suicide vehicle of choice was a delivery van. But now Hezbollah will be able to attack the next US embassy in style with the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier.

When Hezbollah overturned the Lebanese government and replaced it with a coalition dominated by the Shiite terrorist group, backed by Iran, there were worries that this might prevent Lebanon from receiving US aid.

But those worriers had clearly never met Obama who will never unfairly deprive Islamic terrorists of the weapons that they are entitled to under the Post Continues on frontpagemag.com >>

Iran and Hezbollah in Latin America

crethiplethi.com

Just the Facts/ By Sarah Kinosian

On November 15, the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management released a report that examines "the increased presence and influence of Iran and Hezbollah in Latin America and their relationship with drug cartels." It also looks at the turf wars between Mexican drug cartels and the threat they pose to the Southwest border.

The 50-page document, titled “A Line in the Sand: Countering Crime, Violence and Terror at the Southwest Border,” determines that "While Latin American bases serve as a finance mechanism for Hezbollah, it is believed the ability exists to turn operational if the need arises. There is no doubt that the enemy is at our doorstep and we must do something about it now."

While cited evidence from congressional reports, experts and news articles supports some of the report's findings regarding increasing Iranian presence in the region, the subcommittee's broader claims about established links between Mexican drug cartels and Hezbollah/Iran posing an imminent threat are largely unsubstantiated.

Several previous government statements and investigations on transnational crime take note of Iran and Hezbollah's engagement in the region, indicating it is something officials are aware of and monitoring, but show no solid transnational links between the groups or an immediate threat to homeland security.

"A Line in the Sand" details Iranian political and economic involvement in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, funding sources for Hezbollah in the region, incidences of criminal links between Hezbollah-supporting individuals and/or Colombian and Mexican drug trafficking organizations, and a failed 2011 Iranian assassination attempt on the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S.

With regards to Iran, much of the report relays what several other government sources and analysts have found:

• Hezbollah receives funding from individuals, primarily within the large Lebanese population in the region and especially those in the tri-border area between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, who support the group, providing a large portion of its extra-state financing.
  • Of note on this matter is that according to the State Department, this has been occurring since the mid 1980s. However, Iran is Hezbollah’s primary funding source, donating at least $200 million in 2008, with income from criminal enterprises in general only representing a sliver of the group's financing.
• Individuals who support Hezbollah are involved with criminal networks and illicit activities.
  • An important note to this point is that while the cases of individuals arrested for drug trafficking and human smuggling highlighted in the report were linked to Hezbollah, the document did not identify any of them as actual members of the group.
• Iran has increased its cultural and political presence in the hemisphere and now has 11 embassies in the region.
• Iran has been able to circumvent sanctions because of its economic partnership with a few countries in the region, most notably Venezuela. It is either economically involved or looking to become economically involved with several countries in Latin America.
• Iran has strengthened ties with Venezuela, with which it is ideologically aligned. According to testimony from analyst Douglas Farah, a 2011 Univision documentary showed Hezbollah training Venezuelan troops.
  • A testimony from Ambassador Roger Noriega, visiting fellow from the American Enterprise Institute, claims Hezbollah cells and Sinaloa cartel members are operating together in Venezuela, but cites unnamed sources and fails to footnote this part of the testimony.
• In 2011 Iran attempted to hire an alleged member of the Mexican Zeta cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington D.C. for a fee of $1.5 million. The Zeta operative turned out to be a DEA informant and the plot was foiled.

Aside from more detailed expansion on these points, the report in many cases uses these findings t make overreaching conclusions are often not sourced, cite the same subcommittee's previous report or cite individual's previous testimonies with unchecked sources.

In his opening statement to present the report, subcommittee Chairman Michael McCaul sets the stage for the report, claiming "Iran’s strategic migration and its relationships in Latin America are a clear and present danger to American national security" and that it "is also attempting to lay the foundation for military and covert operations within the U.S. by partnering with Mexican drug cartels."

Nowhere in the report are either of these statements corroborated. As security analyst Steven Dudley from Insight Crime and Samuel Logan from Southern Pulse both contend, Mexican criminal groups are not likely to commit acts of political violence in the U.S., much less involve foreign governments.

The document goes on to state, “Iran and Hezbollah have been involved in the underworld of Latin America long enough to become intimately familiar with all of its inhabitants and capitalize on their capabilities.”*

It substantiates this claim with a testimony from former DEA executive Michael Braun, who says, "If you want to visualize ungoverned space or a permissive environment, I tell people to simply think of the bar scene in the first Star Wars movie. Operatives from FTOs (foreign terrorist organizations) and DTOs (drug trafficking organizations) are frequenting the same shady bars, the same seedy hotels and the same sweaty brothels in a growing number of areas around the world. Based upon over 37 years in the law enforcement and security sectors, you can mark my word that they are most assuredly talking business and sharing lessons learned."

According to the report, the 2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador was the result of these links established in "shady bars." The incident is the strongest established connection between Iran and Mexican drug cartels that the report examines.

While the plot was real and revealed developments to which policymakers should pay attention, many analysts and major media were skeptical of the details and whether the incident truly denotes Iranian-Zeta links. As Adam Isacson pointed out on border fact check blog, there was no evidence that the Zeta organization knew about the plan.

Insight Crime looked at the details of the case and concluded the failed plot served to show the lack of intimate contact and knowledge between Iran and the Mexican cartels, which many analysts have said are "not interested in committing acts of political violence on U.S. soil." Analyst James Bosworth also examines the case on his blog, saying "the clearly amateurish nature of Iran's involvement here shows that we have less to fear. The fact that an Iranian Qods-linked official is poking around the border looking for Zetas sicarios and ends up with the DEA informant suggests that Iran and Hezbollah have far less ties to the Mexican organized crime scene than some analysts would want you to believe."

In the "2012 Terrorism and Transnational Crime Report," Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said "It remains to be seen whether this alleged plot is indicative of greater crime-terrorism cooperation or a one-time departure from conventional IRGC-QF tactics." He did however note that the plot indicates some Iranian officials are more willing to conduct an attack in the U.S., but said nothing about established links to Mexican cartels.

Other government reports and statements acknowledge Iran and Hezbollah's presence as a potential threat, but not as an imminent danger. Similarly none of the security reports note any direct transnational connection between terrorist organizations and Mexican drug cartels, or highlight Iran's involvement in Venezuela as a threat to national security.

In the "World Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community" Clapper acknowledges the potential for links, but admits that the extent of connection between the groups is unclear. There is no discussion of Venezuelan-Iranian ties as a threat.

The State Department's 2010 "Country Report on Terrorism," published in August 2011, denied the existence of transnational terrorist groups actively operating in the country, saying, "There were no known operational cells of either al-Qaida- or Hezbollah-related groups in the hemisphere."

Similarly, the 2011 "Country Report on Terrorism" indicates no threat of a transnational terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere and discovered "No known international terrorist organization had an operational presence in Mexico and no terrorist group targeted U.S. citizens in or from Mexican territory." It found "no evidence of signs of ties between Mexican criminal organizations and terrorist groups."

The findings from the House's Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012, passed by the body in September, follows the general trend of government statements by recognizing Hezbollah presence, funding sources and some involvement in illegal activity, but states no known operational links between Hezbollah and Mexican drug cartels, other than the assassination plot and a money laundering scheme between the Zetas and Lebanese Canadian bank, which has since been shut down.

"A Line in the Sand" also concludes that "the FARC is operating with Iran and Hezbollah in Venezuela, and the Venezuelan Government is complicit in these operations." For this reason, the subcommittee gives the recommendation that "the U.S. government should consider designating Venezuela a state sponsor of terrorism."

In an interview with Polifact, Vanda Felbab-Brown of the Brookings Institution, who testified in 2009 for the House subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs on illicit economies, organized crime, and their impact on U.S. and global security, said, "Allegations of al-Qaida, Hamas, and Hezbollah contacts with the FARC or these groups' penetration of the Latin American drug trade have not proven robust."

Kevin Casas-Zamora, former vice president of Costa Rica, added, "If Venezuela was indeed harboring a serious Hezbollah operation we would surely know it by now. The U.S. has had for years an official policy of toning down the confrontation with Chavez, but a serious terrorist threat is the one thing that the U.S. would not countenance."

When asked directly about Iran's involvement in the hemisphere during testimony to the Senate in March, former Southern Command leader General Doug Fraser highlighted the continued financial support the organizations receive from the region, saying, “Our concern remains their traditional connections with Hezbollah and Hamas, who do have organizations in Latin America. Those organizations are primarily focused on financial support to organizations back in the Middle East, but they are involved in illicit activity."

As far as the threat of these groups to U.S. security, he did comment on the connection between these groups and illicit activities in the region and said it is something SOUTHCOM will "continue to look for as we watch in the future, that connection between the illicit activity and the potential pathway into the United States," echoing the watchful caution presented in SOUTHCOM's 2012 posture statement.

Towards the end of the section on Iran, “A Line in the Sand” says "it is believed the ability exists to turn operational if the need arises. There is no doubt that the enemy is at our doorstep and we must do something about it now.”

The 2010 "International Terrorism and Transnational Crime: Security Threats, U.S. Policy, and Considerations for Congress," along with other government reports, supports this statement to a degree, noting the potential of Hezbollah supporters in the region to become more involved. It says, “If the organization decided to attack U.S. or Israeli interests in West Africa or South America, it is possible that these sympathizers could play a concrete role.” However no reports give the sense that "the enemy is at our doorstep."

The United States government, along with several security experts, has conducted many investigations into this issue. The overall conclusion seems to be that while the threat of Hezbollah in the hemisphere is there, it is relatively small and something that is being monitored.

-------------------

Also Iranian and Hezbollah Involvement in Criminal Activities in Latin America >>

Hezbollah admits launching drone over Israel

who gave the drone to hezbollah?

Reuters TV

A still image taken from Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) video footage shows what they say is a small unidentified aircraft shot down in a mid-air interception after it crossed into southern Israel on Oct. 6, 2012.

By NBC News wire services

The leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group has claimed responsibility for launching the drone aircraft that entered Israeli airspace earlier this week.

The rare admission Thursday by Hassan Nasrallah raises regional tensions at a sensitive time when the group's backers, Syria and Iran, are under pressure.

Israel shoots down unidentified drone

Earlier Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of launching the drone.

The unmanned aircraft was shot down by Israel, but the infiltration marked a rare breach of Israel's airspace. Hezbollah had been the leading suspect because of its arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons and a history of trying to deploy similar aircraft.  More >>

Hezbollah claims to release CIA names

The Washington Post/ Greg Miller

Escalating its confrontation with the CIA, the militant organization Hezbollah released what it said were the names of agency officers working in Lebanon in a television broadcast that aired there last week.
The exposure creates new security risks for CIA officers in a country where American espionage operations had already been damaged by Hezbollah’s capture of a group of agency-paid informants.

The names of the purported CIA members were broadcast Friday on the Lebanese television station al-Manar as part of a report that claimed to expose the agency’s spying efforts as well as its collaboration with Israel.

CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said the agency “does not, as a rule, address spurious claims from terrorist groups. I think it’s worth remembering that Hezbollah is a dangerous organization, with al-Manar as its propaganda arm. That fact alone should cast some doubt on the credibility of the group’s claims.”

Youngblood declined to comment on whether the report was accurate or whether the agency had or would remove officers from a country that has long been an espionage crossroads in the Middle East.

More >>

Penetracion Iranì en America Latina

Luego, la inclusion de Cuba por parte de Estados Unidos en la lista de los paises que promueven el terrorismo se ratifica rapidamente. La pregunta es cuando le estan pagando a Raul por basificar en La Habana a Hezbollah.

gusanomarielito

Report: Hezbollah opens base in Cuba

From Cuba Libre

Hezbollah flag.

Shiite terror group to use operations center to launch attack on Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper reports.

Hezbollah has established a center of operations in Cuba in order to expand its terrorist activity and facilitate an attack on an Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the attack is meant to avenge the death of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah. The organization alleges that Israel was behind his 2008 assassination.

According to the report, three Hezbollah members have already arrived in Cuba with the purpose of establishing a terrorist cell there. The cell is to include 23 operatives, hand-picked by Talal Hamia, a senior member tasked with heading the covert operation. 

The operation, titled "The Caribbean Case," was reportedly allocated a budget of $1.5 million. The Cuba base is to be initially used for logistics purposes, including intelligence collection, networking and document forgery.

Hezbollah has been active in South America for quite some time now, primarily in Paraguay, Brazil and Venezuela, the report notes.

Source: Ynetnews

#Hezbollah Sets Up Base Near Mexican Border

A terrorist organization whose home base is in the Middle East has established another home base across the border in Mexico.
"They are recognized by many experts as the 'A' team of Muslim terrorist organizations," a former U.S. intelligence agent told 10News.
The former agent, referring to Shi'a Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah, added, "They certainly have had successes in big-ticket bombings."
Some of the group's bombings include the U.S. embassy in Beirut and Israeli embassy in Argentina.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/05/05/hezbollah-sets-base-near-mexican-border?cmpid=NL_FiredUpFoxNation_20110506#ixzz1LagGr0pB

Plans to invade Israel prepared

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Terrorists looking to occupy Jesus' home region of Galilee

US declares Lebanese bank a major money launderer

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A Lebanese bank was accused by the U.S. government Thursday of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug profits for a smuggling organization with ties to Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese group the U.S. has labeled a terrorist organization. 

Full story

US declares Lebanese bank a major money launderer

Lebanon: Hezbollah on the rise