Iran, Hezbollah’s Presence Grows in South America

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Iran, with the support of its proxy, Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, has increased its capacity for action through illicit activities in different strategic points of Latin America, with relevant cases in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Paraguay.

In April, Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told the press that the country was on high alert and pointed to the presence of Hezbollah in the Triple Border region between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, but also in Chile’s Iquique northern region, Argentine news site Infobae reported. According to Infobae, Bullrich delivered a confidential report to her Chilean counterpart Carolina Tohá, with alleged activities in Chile of Hezbollah, stressing the presence of the Barakat family, who are believed to provide financial and logistics support to the Shiite group.

“Hezbollah’s presence in Latin America has been documented since the 1990s,” Fabián Calle, professor of International Relations at Argentina’s Austral University, told Diálogo on June 19. “The organization, which controls southern Lebanon with the support of Iran, expanded throughout the world with the shelter of Lebanese communities, the result of the exodus caused by the civil war between 1975 and 1990.”

According to political scientist and senior fellow with Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Emanuele Ottolenghi the presence of Hezbollah in Chile and Bolivia “is documented,” he told German news media DW. Ottolenghi added that Hezbollah’s networks are fed by the growing drug trafficking in South America, a situation they take advantage of “for laundering activities.”

“For years these terrorist groups have been detected in the Triple Border [Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay], but recently intelligence reports have detected the expansion of criminal networks in Bolivia and Chile, which have connections with the Hezbollah group under the support of Iran, which is trying to strengthen its presence in Latin America,” said Calle. “This situation is framed as activism. The Iranian regime’s defiant stance threatens the international balance of power.”

Iran sees South America as fertile ground for exporting its revolution because of the region’s geographic proximity to the United States, reported IranWire, a collaborative news website run by professional Iranian journalists in the diaspora.

“This group [Hezbollah], particularly linked to Iran in Lebanon, benefits in some places in our region, especially at levels of little institutionalism,” Calle added. “Taking advantage of the scarce presence of the state and some poorly controlled niches, it began to use those areas in various activities from smuggling and forged documentation to the planning of terrorist attacks.”

In April, French weekly Le Point reported that the Muslim extremist group could be operating in the Colombian city of Bogotá from a religious center, as a front to expand Iranian influence in the region.

The mosque referred to by Le Point is the Ahlul Beyt Islamic House, located in the Nicolás de Federmán neighborhood. It is a cultural center that offers prayer spaces, a library, and introductory courses to Islam.

According to Le Point, one of the reasons for the alleged incursion of Hezbollah in Colombia would be drug trafficking money, which in recent years has become an important source of financing for the terrorist organization.

“This action by Hezbollah is to connect with groups involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized crime networks, which seek to erode the rule of law in Latin America,” Calle said.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña told Infobae in May, during an official visit in Washington, that he has reports that terrorist operations in the Triple Border have decreased because intelligence agencies are doing a much better job than they had done decades ago.

However, he clarified that “we must always keep our eyes open. There is a close link between organized crime and terrorism. That link is very dangerous.”

“The terrorist and subversive activities of Hezbollah, and partly of Iran, are based on the Lebanese Shiite communities scattered around the world,” Ely Karmon, a researcher at the Counter-Terrorism Institute of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, told DW. “In Latin America they are concentrated in Shiite communities living in free trade areas.”

In view of this situation, Calle stressed that it is essential for intelligence agencies and security forces in the region to exchange information to neutralize drug trafficking organizations and groups linked to terrorism.

“That Argentina has alerted Chile of the alleged operation of money movements linked to Hezbollah, is of utmost importance in the framework of regional cooperation,” Calle concluded.

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Source link : https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/iran-hezbollahs-presence-grows-in-south-america/ Author : Publish date : 2024-07-29 07:01:53 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source .

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