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Hezbollah in Latin America

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Hezbollah in Latin America
LeaderHussein Ahmad Karaki
Dates of operation1980s–present
AllegianceHezbollah
HeadquartersCiudad del Este, Paraguay
Active regionsSouth America and North America
IdeologyShia Islamism
Antisemitism
Part ofHezbollah
Allies Venezuela
 Iran
'Ndrangheta
Camorra
Primeiro Comando da Capital
Opponents Argentina
 Brazil
 Paraguay
 United States
 Israel[1]
Designated as a terrorist group by United States[2]
 Argentina[3]
 Paraguay[4]
 Colombia[5]
 Honduras[6]
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Hezbollah in Latin America[a] is a splinter organization of the Shia Islamist Lebanon-based group Hezbollah which operates in throughout South America.[7]

History

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The group was established in the 1980s in the tri-border region of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina which was considered a safe haven for the group's operations of smuggling, recruitment, and plotting of attacks.[8] They expanded into Venezuela with some degree of sponsorship from the Venezuelan state.[9] They also receive funding from the Iranian state to conduct operations against U.S. and Jewish interests in South America with many of the members of the group being Arab Muslims who either immigrated or were born in South America.[10] The establishment was also seen as a way for Iran to get more leverage against the U.S., with this formation being taken as the setting up of a South American proxy terrorist network.[11] The group's headquarters are in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.[12] In September, 2023, the United States Department of State designated Hezbollah in Latin America and other operatives associated with them as terrorists.[13] The leader of Hezbollah in Latin America is Hussein Ahmad Karaki, who also goes by the aliases of Abu Ali, Rami, and Sa'ad az-Aldin, who masterminds most if not all attacks by Hezbollah in Latin America including the attack against he Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building in 1994 and attacks against Jews in Brazil in 2023, where he also recruited Brazilian criminals to commit these attacks.[14] He also works with alongside mafias such as 'Ndrangheta and Camorra and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) from Brazil in order to expand drug smuggling operations and money laundering operations.[15]

In 1994, Hezbollah in Latin America bombed the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building.[16][17] Though a Palestinian Jihadist group took responsibility as a front for Hezbollah.[18]

In 2021, members of Hezbollah in Latin America were planning on assassinating an Israeli national in Colombia as revenge for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani which was apart of a larger operation of revenge attacks by Hezbollah.[19]

Terrorism after October 7th

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After the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and throughout the Israel–Hamas war, Hezbollah was accused of planning to carry out terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli civilians in South America.[20]

In November 2023 two men who had links to Hezbollah in Latin America and the main group of Hezbollah were arrested by Brazilian police.[21] One of the men was arrested in the international airport in São Paulo after coming from Lebanon into Brazil.[22] The plan that the men had was to attack Jewish communities in Brazil, but the plan was foiled with assistance from the Mossad intelligence agency.[23][24] In addition to these arrests, the Brazilian police executed 11 search warrants in relation to the recruitment of extremists in Brazil.[25]

Revenue

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Most of the group's international revenue comes from Iran, with some funds being laundered from Venezuela. Some of the revenue that is gained by Hezbollah in Latin America goes towards the main group in Lebanon to make up for loss of funds in Lebanon.[26] A lot of the funds they receive in South America come from the smuggling of illegal items through the tri-border of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay which is used to fund terroristic activities. Many of these items include drugs, stolen goods, weaponry, and pirated content which is funneled through money laundering.[27][28] The group also funnels cocaine through Colombia and Venezuela.[29] Selling illegal goods make up around 60–70% of all of the group's revenue.[30] Another main way that Hezbollah in Latin America finances itself and the main Lebanese operation is through the establishment of false businesses, extortion, counterfeiting, and scamming with can produce, including the other array of illicit activities, around 20 million USD which is around one fifth of Hezbollah's annual budget of 100 million USD and 1/3 of what Iran contributes to Hezbollah in total.[31] Hezbollah in Latin America has been compared to MS-13 and the Mexican cartels with the Maduro Regime helping support Hezbollah in Latin America through the already prosperous Venezuelan–Lebanese in Venezuela being used as a starting point for them. Frequently, without the broader Lebanese community's knowledge of these covert operations, a network of logistical experts—including entrepreneurs, lawyers, and accountants—has developed within the diaspora in Venezuela. This network serves as a support system for Hezbollah, assisting in the raising, concealing, transferring, and laundering of illicit funds, some of which are used to finance its global terrorist activities. In Venezuela, Hezbollah's support network functions through compartmentalized, familial clan arrangements that integrate into the illicit economy controlled by the Maduro regime, as well as the regime's political structures and bureaucracy. Many of these clans are assimilated into the Venezuelan state and society through the extensive Lebanese and Syrian communities, which also extend into neighboring Colombia.[32] Not only do they have operative areas in Latin America, but they do operations involving illicit activities in areas of Mexico since the early 2000s, with the smuggling of illegal immigrants and Lebanese foreigners in Mexico to the United States to provide monetary support to Hezbollah in Latin America and the main Hezbollah operation in Lebanon, one case being when the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a Lebanese national by the name of Mahmoud Youssef Kourani in Dearborn, Michigan, in May of 2003 on the grounds of housing an illegal immigrant in which further investigation found he himself immigrated from Mexico to the United States in 2001 after he arrived in Mexico via an illegally obtained travel visa that he got after bribing a Mexican official in the Mexican embassy in Beirut where he funneled 40,000 USD to Hezbollah operatives.[33] Hezbollah in Latin America has worked with Mexican drug cartels using Lebanese nationals to negotiate alliance contracts with Mexican crime bosses, gangs, and cartels in order to gang access to drug routes on the Mexico–United States border to smuggle drugs from the tri-border region of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina to the Isthmus of Panama or just across the Pan-American Highway into Mexico then into the United States using the same falsified documents that Mexican cartels use with 60% of their drug ties having to deal with the Mexican cartels according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, these routes include the World Trade International Bridge between Nuevo Laredo and its sister city, Laredo, Texas, as well as Interstate 35 and Highways 59, 359 and 83, which act as branches into the United States in from the Texas via the Texas–Mexico border that is used by Mexican syndicates, running from southern Texas to cities across the U.S. and as far north as the Canada–United States border.[34] Some weaponry that Hezbollah in Latin America uses can be traced back to Russian suppliers though Russia denies any involvement in the funding of Hezbollah in Latin America, saying that the weapons could have been placed in their hands by accident.[35]

Sanctions

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Hezbollah in Latin America is sanctioned and designated as a terrorist organization by multiple countries and agencies.[36]

The United States have issued many sanctions against the group, but they have been more limited in South America compared to its Lebanese sector.[37] These sanctions also targeted a member of Hezbollah in Latin America by the name of Amer Mohamed Akil Rada who is considered the main operative behind the AMIA bombing.[38] This action was considered a way by the United States government to continue to combat Hezbollah operations as United States Department of State Spokesman Matthew Miller stated that the sanctions underscored the United State's commitment to not let the facilitators and financers of Hezbollah to continue to operate.[39]

The of Argentina's Ministry of Security under a joint investigation with both Brazil and Paraguay stated that the leader of Hezbollah in Latin America is Hussein Ahmad Karaki.[40] They also stated that Karaki took direct orders from the then-leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, before Nasrallah's assassination by the Israel Defense Forces, where Karaki also resides in Lebanon, his birthplace.[41] He masterminded the AMIA bombing where he was present in Buenos Aires on the day of the attack and bought the van using a fake Colombian passport that identified him as "Alberto León Nain", later that day he left via a flight, hours before the explosion. Karaki left from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery to the city of Foz do Iguaçu. Karaki speaks Spanish and Portuguese.[42]

References

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  1. ^ Ottolenghi, Emanuele (2023-10-28). "Hezbollah's Terror Threat In Latin America". Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  2. ^ Miller, Matthew (2023-09-12). "Designating Hizballah Operatives and Financial Facilitators in South America and Lebanon". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  3. ^ "Argentina designates Hezbollah as terrorist organisation". 2019-07-18. pp. BBC News. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  4. ^ Ottolenghi, Emanuele (2019-08-29). "From Latin America to West Africa, Hezbollah's complex web of connections is fuelling its terrorist activity". The National. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  5. ^ Pamuk, Humeyra; Griffin, Oliver (2020-01-20). "Much work remains in Colombia's fight against coca cultivation, Pompeo says". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  6. ^ "Honduras declares Hezbollah a terrorist organization". Reuters. 2020-01-20. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  7. ^ Ortega, Aurora (2022-03-28). "Hezbollah in Colombia Past and Present Modus Operandi and the Need for Greater Scrutiny". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  8. ^ Hudson, Rex (2003). "TERRORIST AND ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPS IN THE TRI-BORDER AREA (TBA) OF SOUTH AMERICA" (PDF). Library of Congress. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-11-07. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  9. ^ Guarin P., Jeferson (2020-12-30). "FARC-Hezbollah: The success of Venezuela-Iran proxy groups and their convergence in the Americas". Security and Defence Quarterly. 31 (4): 117–134. doi:10.35467/sdq/130934. ISSN 2300-8741.
  10. ^ Gato, Pablo; Windrem, Robert (2007-05-09). "Hezbollah builds a Western base". NBC News. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  11. ^ "US says Iran increasing activity in Latin America". Reuters. 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  12. ^ "Hezbollah operations in South America: what we know". France 24. 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  13. ^ "Designating Hizballah Operatives and Financial Facilitators in South America and Lebanon". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2024-12-17.
  14. ^ Peirano, Nataniel (2024-10-25). "Patricia Bullrich: "Hussein Ahmad Karaki es el jefe operativo de Hezbollah en Latinoamérica"" [Patricia Bullrich: “Hussein Ahmad Karaki is the operational head of Hezbollah in Latin America”]. DefOnline (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  15. ^ "Hussein Ahmad Karaki: La amenaza terrorista de Hezbollah en América Latina". Azteca Noticias (in Mexican Spanish). 2024-11-04. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  16. ^ Levitt, Matthew (2013). Hezbollah: the global footprint of Lebanon's party of God. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. pp. 106 and 123. ISBN 978-1-62616-201-3.
  17. ^ Noriega, Roger F.; Cárdenas, José R. (2011). The Mounting Hezbollah Threat in Latin America (Report). American Enterprise Institute.
  18. ^ Chalk, Peter, ed. (2013). Encyclopedia of terrorism. Vol. 2: M – Z. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-30895-6.
  19. ^ "Hezbollah in Colombia Past and Present Modus Operandi and the Need for Greater Scrutiny". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  20. ^ "Hezbollah operations in South America: what we know". France 24. 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  21. ^ Phillips, Tom (2023-11-08). "Two with suspected Hezbollah links held in Brazil over alleged terror plot". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  22. ^ "Police in Brazil foil an alleged attack Israel claims was planned by Hezbollah". Associated Press. 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  23. ^ "Israel's Mossad says helped Brazilian police foil alleged Hezbollah attack". Al Jazeera English. 2023-11-09. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  24. ^ Toueg, Gabriel (2023-11-08). "Brazil nabs suspected Hezbollah operatives said planning attacks on Jewish targets". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  25. ^ "Brazilian Police Arrest Two People, Thwart Hezbollah Attack". Voice of America. 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  26. ^ Hussein, Rikar (2018-12-13). "Western Officials Discuss Hezbollah's Latin Efforts". Voice of America. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  27. ^ "Hezbollah in South America: The Threat to Businesses". Stratfor. 2018-02-05. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  28. ^ Rodríguez, Henry M. (2024-09-21). "Hezbollah and its illicit activities in Latin America". Latinoamérica 21. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  29. ^ Cengiz, Mahmut; Pardo-Herrera, Camilo (2023-04-25). "Hezbollah's Global Networks and Latin American Cocaine Trade". Small Wars Journal. ISSN 2156-227X. OCLC 229127994. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  30. ^ Mohnblatt, Debbie (2022-10-19). "Jihad in Latin America: Illicit activities in the region fund Hezbollah". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  31. ^ Treverton, Gregory F.; Matthies, Carl; Cunningham, Karla J.; Goulka, Jeremiah; Ridgeway, Greg; Wong, Anny (2009), "Terrorism and Film Piracy: Known Cases", Film Piracy, Organized Crime, and Terrorism, RAND Corporation, pp. 73–96, doi:10.7249/mg742mpa.11, ISBN 978-0-8330-4565-2, retrieved 2024-12-21
  32. ^ Humire, Joseph M. (2020). Hezbollah’s Support Network in Venezuela and Ties to the Maduro Regime (Report). Atlantic Council. pp. 5–10.
  33. ^ Schorr, Eric J. (2013). Hezbollah & Iran in Latin America – A Threat Just Beneath the Surface (Report). International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT).
  34. ^ Conery, Ben (2009-03-27). "EXCLUSIVE: Hezbollah uses Mexican drug routes into U.S." The Washington Times. ISSN 0732-8494. OCLC 8472624. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  35. ^ Fleischman, Luis (2013-05-01). Latin America in the Post-Chavez Era: The Security Threat to the United States. Potomac Books. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1ddr6rx.13. ISBN 978-1-61234-602-1.
  36. ^ Humire, Joseph M. (2020). Policy Recommendations (Report). Atlantic Council. pp. 13–14.
  37. ^ Ottolenghi, Emanuele (2016-11-28). "Sanctions against Hezbollah in Latin America too often limited". The Hill. ISSN 1521-1568. OCLC 31153202. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  38. ^ Chehayeb, Kareem (2023-09-12). "US sanctions Lebanon-South America network accused of financing Hezbollah". Associated Press. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  39. ^ "US sanctions Hezbollah operatives in South America and Lebanon". Al Arabiya English. 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  40. ^ mondemanola (2024-10-25). "Argentina señala a supuesto "jefe operativo" de Hezbollah en América Latina" [Argentina names alleged Hezbollah 'operational chief' in Latin America]. CNN en Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  41. ^ "Argentina identifica a jefe de Hezbolá para Latinoamérica". Deutsche Welle (in Spanish). 2024-10-25. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  42. ^ Calatrava, Almudena (2024-10-25). "Argentina señala al libanés Hussein Karaki como jefe de Hezbollah en la región; pide captura" [Argentina names Lebanese Hussein Karaki as head of Hezbollah in the region; calls for arrest]. Associated Press. Retrieved 2024-12-21.

Notes

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  1. ^ Spanish: Hezbolá en América Latina, Portuguese: Hezbollah na América Latina, Arabic: حزب الله في أمريكا اللاتينية
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