Great news: Iranian influence in Latin America 'growing'
It's been nearly six years since the picture above was taken, and Adam Kredo reports that
it's only gotten worse.
Iran’s growing influence in the region—and its effort to exert
influence over governments there—has fostered pressing security concerns
as the Iranians inch closer to the United States’ southern border,
according to these U.S. officials and Latin American leaders, who met
for several days this week at a summit organized by the Israel Allies
Foundation (IAF).
“It is troubling in some of the briefings we get, particularly on the
classified side, to see Iranian influence in Latin America,” Rep. Ron
DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs,
told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview. “A lot of these [Latin American officials] share the concern.”
“It’s a security risk for all of us,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis was one of several members of Congress and 20 Latin American
lawmakers from 14 different countries who met during the IAF summit,
which began on Sunday and ran until Tuesday morning.
Iran is becoming increasingly open about its presence in Latin
America and providing its officials with passports from Venezuela and
other countries, giving them free rein to travel throughout South
America.
Iran has forged close ties with countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, among others.
Luis Heber, a member of the Uruguayan senate, said that Iranian
agents—who some suspect are members of the country’s Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC)—have been spotted in his country holding Venezuelan
passports.
Officials have determined that there is “a clear penetration of Iran
in our country,” Heber said during remarks Sunday before U.S. lawmakers
and other Latin American officials.
“We’ve also seen Venezuelan passports in the hands of Iranians,” he
revealed. “The penetration of Venezuela by Iran is clear. There is
overwhelming information on this.”
...
“The threat level has increased, it’s more open,” said Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), vice-chair of the House’s Subcommittee on the
Western Hemisphere.
“The Iranian threat comes not from espionage as much, but from
influencing the ideology of their host country,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
“That’s what they’re aiming for and penetrating [these countries] so
they have a presence in Latin America right at the foothold of the U.S.”
Iran establishes consulates in these countries and then uses them as a
base to conduct espionage and other covert activities, Ros-Lehtinen
said.
“How is it they have Iranian consulates in Latin America?” she asked.
“It’s ridiculous to think all of sudden Latin Americans want to travel
to Iran. They’re not using it to issue their visas. Something is
happening that Iran is penetrating the Western Hemisphere and it’s not
for cultural exchanges or approval of travel docs.”
“This makes no sense … other than espionage, subterfuge, and illicit activities,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
This activity has intensified of late, several officials said.
This is what happens when the World's only superpower decides it doesn't want to be a superpower anymore.
Shabbat Shalom everyone.
Labels: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Iran, Iranian nuclear threat, Latin America, Peru, Venezuela
State Department decides Iran in Latin America not a threat
Adam Kredo reports that the US State Department has decided that
Iran doesn't pose a threat in Latin America.
“The final classified report you received reflects the view of the
entire Administration,” State Department Assistant Secretary Thomas
Gibbons wrote in a Sept. 5 letter to Rep. Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.), who
released the letter publicly late Friday.
The administration claims this view is held throughout the U.S. government.
“Our characterization of the Iranian threat in the Western Hemisphere
is shared by all relevant agencies within the executive branch,
including the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies,” Gibbons
wrote.
...“Iran’s involvement in the Western Hemisphere is a matter for concern,” the letter stated.
Duncan called this response troubling and criticized the State Department for stonewalling congressional investigators.
“The State Department has chosen to obstruct congressional oversight
of Iran’s deepening relations with countries in Latin America by sending
a letter that did not answer even a single question,” Duncan said in a
statement.
“The State Department owes the American people answers to these
questions on whether they still believe Iran’s influence is ‘waning’ in
the Western Hemisphere,” he said.
“Recent congressional hearings on this issue uncovered disturbing
evidence of Iran’s ability to recruit over a thousand students from
Latin America to travel to Iran for training, obtain fraudulent passport
documentation, exploit free trade zones and loose border security
measures, and cooperate with drug cartels and criminal networks,” he
said.
...
The State Department’s minority view of Iran is reflective of a
bureaucratic culture that downplays serious threats, said Roger Noriega,
a former State Department official and U.S. ambassador to the
Organization for American States.
“I have not read the classified report, but the unclassified document
is a joke,” said Noriega, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute. “Even after Benghazi, the culture of the State Department is
one of willful neglect.”
Iran’s proxy group Hezbollah has a foothold in the region and plans attack nearly “every day,” Noriega said.
“Based on documents and information that my team has obtained from
sources in the region, which we have shared with numerous U.S. Agencies,
I am convinced that Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist are plotting every
day to launch an attack against U.S. Interests in Latin America, aided
and abetted by Venezuela and other hostile regimes in the region,” he
said.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Argentina, Hezbullah, Iran, Islamic terrorism, Latin America, Mexico, United States, Venezuela
Can Latin America be saved
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, is headed for
Latin America on Wednesday to try to convince countries there to vote against the unilateral recognition of 'Palestinian statehood' in the UN General Assembly in September.
Ayalon will travel to Mexico City on Wednesday, for meetings there, followed by a trip to El Salvador where he will attend a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS). Israel has observer status in the OAS.
"We have realized that we can make a counter campaign," Ayalon said Tuesday. "We must conduct a counter campaign to the Palestinians, even though they have a comparative advantage in the General Assembly. We are not going to give up."
Mexico did not follow Brazil's lead late last year and recognize a Palestinian state, and its position on the matter is considered very influential with a number of Central American states that have not yet recognized a Palestinian state. Among these are El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama.
The wave of recognition of a Palestinian state that began with Brazil last year swept South America, with the exception of Colombia, but did not wash over Central America or the Caribbean states, who are also members of the OAS.
Colombia, Israel's closest ally in South America, is currently a member of the UN Security Council, and in various assessments being made in Jerusalem could very well vote with the US against a Palestinian state resolution in the Security Council.
While it is widely expected that the US would veto any such resolution in the Security Council, Washington is keen on not being isolated on the matter and is interested in getting other countries on the council to vote with it – thereby preventing it from having to use its veto.
Ayalon should at least be going to Honduras and Colombia. I'd even consider a trip to Argentina. Even though they have come out in favor of recognizing the 'Palestinian' reichlet, they are also familiar with the scourge of terrorism.
Labels: Argentina, Colombia, Danny Ayalon, El Salvador, Honduras, Latin America, OAS, unilateral declaration of statehood, United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Security Council
