Israel Matzav

Hezbullah partners with Mexican drug kingpin, Iran launders money through Venezuela, State Department buries head in sand

In April, it will be seven years since I first warned about Hezbullah activities in Mexico. Now, with the State Department still ostrich-like burying its head in the sand, the chickens are coming home to roost. Adam Kredo reports on Hezbullah's partnership with a Mexican drug kingpin and Iran laundering billions of dollars through Venezuela (Sanctions? What sanctions?), while the State Department continues to pretend not to see anything (Hat Tip: Sunlight).

Iran’s foothold in the country is expected to grow exponentially under the rule of Chavez’s likely successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

[Roger] Noriega and other experts warned House lawmakers at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday that Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah is gaining power in Venezuela.

Hezbollah, which carries out terrorist attacks on Iran’s behalf, has helped Tehran access Venezuela’s sophisticated financial sector, experts said.

“It’s easy to say billions have been laundered through various Iranian enterprises and institutions through the Venezuelan economy,” Noriega told the Free Beacon in an interview Thursday. “The Iranians have seized on this as a way to evade sanctions.”

Hezbollah has not only infiltrated Venezuela’s governmental bodies. The organization has also established terrorist training facilities on the country’s Margarita Island, according to Noriega.
Hezbollah has been able to form from this Caribbean haven “a marriage of convenience” with various narcotics traffickers and drug gangs that bring the terrorist “threat to our doorstep,” Noriega told lawmakers Wednesday.

The Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, ringleader of the deadly Sinaloa Cartel, is known to have spent time on Margarita Island where he likely established ties with Hezbollah, according to Noriega.

“Our [belief] is that the brokered a relationship, a collaboration between Hezbollah and that narco group,” said Noriega, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American states from 2001 to 2003.

Read the whole thing. If you're an Israeli, it's obvious to you why this is so bad, but if you're an American, think about this: There have been hundreds of thousands of converts to Islam in Mexico over the last few years. What if some of those Mexicans stealing across the border into the United States are adherents of 'radical Islam' who are forming Hezbullah cells in the United States? What if? You can bet that it's happening. And now, President Obama is granting them amnesty so that they can stay in the US.

What could go wrong?

Labels: drug cartels, Hezbullah, Iran sanctions regime, Islam, Mexico, Venezuela

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:35 AM