Iran’s direct support for the repressive and illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela has grown dramatically recently. In its highest visibility form, this support was seen with the sanctions-busting Iranian oil tankers sailing through North American waters this summer.
Additionally, Iran’s national Mahan Air, an airline linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) made nearly 20 trips to Venezuela in a brief period this year. In return, the Iranian terror-regime got nearly half a billion dollars in Venezuelan gold bars in its “oil for gold” exchange.
But Iran is getting much more than just gold from Maduro.
We now have a report from a highly respected Washington, D.C. think tank that shows direct ties between Iranian terror proxies Hezbollah, and the Maduro dictatorship, as well as the involvement of the IRGC in Venezuela and the rest of Latin America.
The report, published by the Atlantic Council and the Center for a Secure Free Society, notes that Maduro’s regime has resisted U.S. pressure and sanctions by forming “an extensive relationship with several foreign terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah and its terror sponsor the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
As the Washington Free Beacon says, “The relationship is centered on keeping the anti-U.S. Maduro in power and solidifying Iran’s terrorist footprint in Latin America, which has long served as an operational hub for Hezbollah forces.”
In return for the lifeline provided by Iran’s oil and gasoline shipments, the report claims, Maduro has opened Venezuela to Iranian operatives and terror affiliates like Hezbollah. This new report of Iranian-Venezuelan terror links in the Western Hemisphere should renew concerns about threats at the U.S. southern border.
According to the report, “The Hezbollah support network in Venezuela is embedded to the Maduro regime’s illicit economies of drugs, weapons, gold, contraband, etc. moving through a trade-based money-laundering network (TBML) based out of Colombia and Panama.”
But the ties extend beyond just Hezbollah, notes the report. Iran’s IRGC is also active in Venezuela and the rest of the region. The terrorist regime’s paramilitary force operates in Venezuela “due to the heightened capability of Hezbollah’s support network,” says the report, adding, “Hezbollah’s influence within, and infiltration of, Lebanese expat communities gives Iran a gateway to grow its footprint in Venezuela.”
The Free Beacon notes that “By integrating itself into Venezuela’s rogue economy, Hezbollah and other Iranian affiliates have been able to launder the money needed to fund their operations.” It notes further that:
Hezbollah has gained the ability to obtain “countless government ID documents” from the Maduro regime, allowing the terror group’s operatives unfettered travel across the region.
Fortunately, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice exposed some of this network this summer, writes The Free Beacon, when it indicted Adel El Zabayar, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, for working to establish “a crime-terror pipeline that the Maduro regime used to facilitate a ‘cocaine-for-weapons’ scheme between Hezbollah and Colombia’s FARC.”
However, this threat is only continuing to grow and metastasize. Much more U.S. attention needs to be directed to this growing threat in America’s backyard.
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Are there any in Venezuela who regret voting for Maduro, now that life there is not exactly pleasant for what used to be the middle class? We have a lot in this country who think socialism will be great! Way too many!
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Biden and Harris plan to steal your money
I don’t have anywhere near that clout as these ppl but I’m even getting flack from Google games for spreading Infowars links on their stupid games world chat lines… whatever… I’m trying as best I can givin my current situation… http://www.jobztalk.com
Well, the Colombians HATE mooslimes, so much so, they aren’t allowed In Colombia, but they always hitch a ride to Ortegaland and he helps them through to the border!
The UNITED STATES has already put it’s citizens in peril by letting Muslims in America.! We’re going to be dealing with this when they have enough people to mount an offensive. Right now the Muslims are busy undermining our government right along with the dumbocraptic party. How stupid can politicians be?
Anyone even thinking about voting for the Leftwing stooges Biden and Harris had better look at what happened to the suckers in Venezuela who cheered Chavez./Maduro and the Bolivarians.
Be careful what you wish for, because once you hand power to Socialists, you NEVER get it back.
TIME FOR THESE SCREWED FOLKS OF VENEZUELA STAND UP AND RUN THIS BASTARD RIGHT OUT OF THERE COUNTRY AMD WE SHOULD BACK THEM UP TO PROTECT OUR BACK DOOR FROM FOREIGN ENEMIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST!
elimination time
You can thank Obama for Iran’s ability to do anything of this nature since he financed them with free money under the guise of doing a nuclear deal with Iran. Obama through the last few years of his administration was anti Israel, pro Muslim Brotherhood and who knows how many more he supported. He showed his support for everything against the United States in fact. His eight years in office took us to new levels of tyranny and losing precious freedoms guaranteed by the constitution which he ignored many times in doing things known to be against what the founders set forth with our inalienable rights especially our 2nd amendment rights. November 3rd please vote red and regain what the founders gave us.
And, you can thank Hussein Obama, George Soros, and the communist muslim demonRAT party, which is why they want to banish our borders and keep them open for more invasion by them. Obama ushered in islam into our White House, Eric Holder in as his DOJ, Valarie Jarrett as his chief of staff, many others in his cabinet, as he appointed/placed islamic judges all over our country, muslims into the highest offices in our DHS, IRS, FBI, DOJ, CIA, NSA, NIA, and every branch of our government, and into all of our 50 states. They are getting the military “foothold”, a military term for a takeover, inside our government and our country.