{"id":256577,"date":"2022-03-07T11:38:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T16:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=256577"},"modified":"2023-02-04T06:36:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T05:36:46","slug":"exclusive-report-irgc-and-hezbollahs-presence-in-south-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/exclusive-report\/exclusive-report-irgc-and-hezbollahs-presence-in-south-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Report: IRGC and Hezbollah\u2019s Presence in South America"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IRGC\"
File Photo: The IRGC was dedicated as Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Administration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Iranian regime\u2019s involvement in virtually all crises and hotspots in the Middle East is clear. Yet, the destructive operations of Tehran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)<\/a> and its extraterritorial Quds Force stretch throughout the globe. Their operatives work under different banners to implement the regime\u2019s \u201cUniversal Islamic Revolution\u201d doctrine, which is essentially the creation of an Islamic Caliphate. One area that has become the Iranian regime’s \u201czone of operation<\/a>\u201d is Latin America.<\/p>\n

The regime\u2019s network of terrorism and mafia gangs in South American countries have emerged as a result of decades of corruption and underdevelopment in those countries. In recent years, the IRGC and its proxy terrorist group, Hezbollah, have been able to circumvent international sanctions and earn hard currency by strengthening their foothold in Latin America.<\/p>\n

A regime that hangs people for having several grams of drugs in Iran runs one of the largest drug empires in Latin America through its terrorist proxy group Hezbollah. This report sheds light on some aspects of the Iranian regime\u2019s presence in South America and how this ominous presence endangers people in those counties as well as global peace and security.<\/p>\n

Decades of chronic failures in Latin American countries such as corruption, organized crime, and political violence have helped the Iranian regime make concrete efforts to export its ideological and political influence in the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

On January 9, 2017, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi<\/a>, the head of IRGC\u2019s cultural and social affairs, who was also the commander of the IRGC\u2019s Basij militias, acknowledged the security cooperation between Iran and many countries in Latin America. \u201cA team from Latin America came to our country to receive training in how to establish the Basij,\u201d he told the state-run TV, adding that the trainees \u201cgravitated toward Islam and were commending Iran\u2019s resistance and achievements.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2009, Naqdi helped Venezuela\u2019s Ministries of Defense and Interior train their notorious militias, known as the colectivos\u2019. In 2015, Fox News released Naqdi\u2019s photos at a 2009 meeting with Venezuela\u2019s then-president Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela.\u202f\u202f Years later, the results of Naqdi\u2019s support became evident on the streets of Venezuela as the colectivos’ imposed a heavy crackdown on innocent protesters.<\/p>\n

On 22 November 2020, Hussein Salami, the IRGC Commander-in-Chief, acknowledged: \u201cToday, the power of the Islamic Revolution has removed America from its strategic base. Today, the Basij discourse has spread in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Latin America, and parts of Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

This so-called show of \u201cpower\u201d amounts to terrorist operations, like the foiled assassination plot of Saudi Arabia\u2019s ambassador to the United States in 2011, the recent arrest of two Iranian operatives in Colombia in November 2021, and the AMIA bombing in Argentina in 1994.<\/p>\n

In March 2020, months after the elimination of Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC Quds Force Commander, Southern Command\u2019s Admiral Craig Faller raised<\/a> the alarm about possible retaliatory attacks: \u201cSome Hezbollah supporters cache weapons and raise funds, often via charitable donations, remittances, and sometimes through illicit means, such as drug trafficking and money laundering. Having a footprint in the region also allows Iran to collect intelligence and conduct contingency planning for possible retaliatory attacks against the U.S. and Western interests.”<\/p>\n

In his March 2021 Statement<\/a>, Admiral Faller declared, \u201cHizballah\u2019s Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), its external operations arm, is responsible for at least three high-profile attacks in the region and three other planned operations that were disrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, Tehran\u2019s primary external operations unit for exporting the Islamic Revolution, maintains operatives in foreign embassies, charities, and religious and cultural institutions to enhance ties globally,\u201d Admiral Faller added.<\/p>\n

It is crucial to review Tehran\u2019s \u201cpattern of penetration\u201d in Latin America.<\/p>\n

During his testimony on March 18, 2015, before the U.S. House Of Representatives Committee On Foreign Affairs, Joseph M. Humire, co-Author \u201cIran\u2019s Strategic Penetration Of Latin America,\u201d revealed damning information about the Iranian regime\u2019s presence in Latin America.<\/p>\n

Mr. Humire said that \u201cthe Islamic Republic maintains Latin America as a strategic priority for its global positioning and has become increasingly important. The Islamic Republic seeks to build on its momentum over the last decade and expand its operations to move past its typical associations with the\u202fBolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA).\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Humire, Tehran\u2019s pattern of penetration has four essential layers. These layers begin at \u201can informal level through cultural exchange, which transitions to more formal diplomatic relations that allows for greater economic cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political posturing and numerous accords and agreements, most of which do not come to fruition, \u201callows the Ayatollahs to create the political and economic cover necessary to insert more operatives, create front companies, establish backdoor channels with the host government, and ultimately carve out spaces for their military and paramilitary officers to enter the region in support of the Islamic Republic\u2019s strategic interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humire testified that Tehran used \u201cits cultural penetration to gain access to prominent individuals within the Islamic and indigenous communities throughout the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce such contact is established, Iran bolsters its diplomatic presence, as is the case in Venezuela and Cuba, or establishes a new embassy, such as has occurred in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. In Bolivia, it has been reported that there are no fewer than 145 accredited Iranian diplomats living in the Andean nation. A number that far outweighs their overt interest or commerce with the Plurinational state,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The regime has increased the number of its embassies across Latin America. Once these embassies are established, Tehran builds several mosques and so-called \u201cIslamic\u201d cultural centers, acting as its eyes and ears on the ground.<\/p>\n

The mullahs’ embassies handle their network of espionage and terrorism in those countries. Under the pretext of commercial and cultural exchange, these emissaries of terror serve as conduits for procurement and illegal acquisition activities while serving as bases for Tehran\u2019s operatives who immerse themselves in local communities.<\/p>\n

In other words, as Humire put it, Tehran\u2019s \u201ccommercial and diplomatic presence establishes the plausible deniability necessary to build its capacity for the final layer of its penetration, which is a military and paramilitary presence, unprecedented in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

This method has allowed the regime to infiltrate several intelligence and defense services of countries or co-opt their services for its benefit. Sadly, the vast corruption in Latin America enables Tehran\u2019s ability to move through various layers of strategic penetration in different countries in the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah in Latin America\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hezbollah has been acting more openly, implementing the Iranian regime\u2019s strategy in Latin America. The group is not only involved in terrorism but also in organized crime and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

The \u201cSouth of the Border, A Threat From Hezbollah\u201d report<\/a> by Matthew Levitt in 2013 underscores \u201cthat Hezbollah has a strong presence in the countries comprising the Tri-Border Area. Activities such as counterfeiting and drug trafficking have been identified in Puerto Iguaz\u00fa, Foz do Igua\u00e7u, and Ciudad del Este in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.\u202f The authorities found that Sobhi Mahmoud Fayad, a Hezbollah militant from this zone, has sent more than $50 million to Hezbollah since 1995.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Small Wars Journal, \u201cHezbollah\u2019s presence in Latin America dates back to the group\u2019s foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn essential factor in the establishment of Hezbollah cells was the flow of Lebanese migrants arriving at the Tri-Border Area (TBA) connecting Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay during the 1960s and 1970s. The multi-generational diaspora and zones that facilitated trade for Lebanese migrants enabled Hezbollah militants to infiltrate the subcontinent and carry out their activities,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n

Once it consolidated its presence in the Tri-Border, Hezbollah found a safe haven to further extend its malign activities: Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u202f\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Hugo Ch\u00e1vez took power in 1999, a relationship began between him and Hezbollah, allowing Hezbollah to build a vast network to carry out illicit activities, such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and smuggling.<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to Small Wars Journal investigation, \u201cHezbollah established a crime structure in Venezuela that operates through compartmentalized, familial clans, such as Nassereddine, Saleh y Rada, that embed into the regime-controlled illicit economy and the regime\u2019s political apparatus and bureaucracy. Hezbollah has control in zones such as Margarita Island, where they operate freely.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a Wall Street Journal report in 2020, \u201cVenezuela\u2019s minister of industries and national production, Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah\u2014the son of a Syrian father and Lebanese mother\u2014has been\u202fthe point man<\/a>\u202fin expanding commercial and military ties with Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVenezuela is also accused of handing out false identities to Middle Eastern operatives so that they can travel around the region as Venezuelans,\u201d the WSJ report adds.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah earns significant profits through illicit business and smuggling in the tri-border area and other free trade zones in the region. Yet, in recent years and under the shadow of Western governments\u2019 inaction, Hezbollah\u2019s activities have spread far beyond these well-known hotspots and include not only logistics and financing but also terrorist operations. Through Hezbollah, the Iranian regime has created a robust intelligence network spanning the southern half of the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

According to a report<\/a> by Institute for National Strategic Studies Strategic Perspectives in June 2021, \u201cThe regime has successfully created a network of echo chambers with Russia, Vene- zuela, and the BCJE to push the anti-U.S. message far beyond the confines of any single member of the network.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHispanTV, teleSUR, and RT en Espa\u00f1ol\u2014along with hundreds of interconnected Web sites and social media accounts across multiple platforms\u2014are the main pillars of their current ef- forts. The small corps of superspreaders are key messengers in disseminating misinformation by reporting across the main outlets to amplify messages to portray Iran, Russia, and the BJCE as enlightened revolutionary forces fighting to end U.S. imperialism,\u201d the report adds.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah\u2019s Connection to Organized Crime\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

An example of Hezbollah\u2019s connections to transnational organized crime is the network run by Aymad Joumaa, a Lebanese national who leads a global money laundering and drug trafficking organization.<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which announced sanctions on Joumaa in January 2011, this individual coordinates \u201cthe shipments and sale of cocaine in Latin America before moving the funds through a Lebanese exchange house. Ultimately, he allegedly laundered the money through several used car dealerships and corporate entities that he controlled in Benin and Congo. OFAC claimed that the scheme generated more than $200 million in profits every month.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Iranian regime, through Hezbollah, has repeatedly attempted to cooperate with transnational organized crime groups in Latin America.\u202f The most egregious example of that strategy was the plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States in 2011.<\/p>\n

In October 2011, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged two Iranian men with attempting to recruit members of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

The plot’s mastermind was Golam Shakuri, a Quds Force official based in Iran. Shakuri supervised Manssour Arbabsiar, an Iranian American dual national, to hire members of a drug cartel and offer to pay them to assassinate the ambassador. The plot failed as Arbabsiar unintentionally approached a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration Agency, who posed as a cartel member and ostensibly agreed to carry out the bombing.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah\u2019s active presence in Latin America paved the way for Tehran to maintain its terrorist cells throughout the region, which ultimately enabled them to wreak havoc there.<\/p>\n

Argentina\u202f\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

A van bomb attack brought down the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building in 1994, killing 86 people and injuring hundreds more. This tragedy did not form overnight.<\/p>\n

The Iranian regime first sent Mohsen Rabbani, an intelligence operative, to Buenos Aires on August 27, 1983, almost eleven years before the AMIA attack. Rabbani not only laid the blueprint for how to carry out terrorist attacks in the Western Hemisphere but also for covering it up.<\/p>\n

As the leader of the at-Tauhid mosque, Rabbani began to search for potential targets for Iranian-backed terror attacks. During later testimony, three of Rabbani\u2019s students at the at-Tauhid mosque remarked that he had told them in 1990 to \u201cexport the revolution” and that “we are all Hezbollah.” That planning ultimately led to the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires on March 17, 1992, killing 23 people, as well as the AMIA Bombing.<\/p>\n

According to the late Dr. Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor of AMIA bombings who was later assassinated,\u202f Rabbani spent several years as the Imam of the At-Tahuid Mosque in Buenos Aires, where he recruited, proselytized, and created an intelligence system that would report to the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires and through it to Tehran.<\/p>\n

A report<\/a> by the Wall Street Journal on January 12, 2020, underscores that \u201cThere is reason to believe, for example, that the 2015 murder of Argentine federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman was an Iranian-backed operation. Nisman had been investigating an alleged Argentine coverup of Iran\u2019s role in the AMIA bombing. On the eve of an Argentine congressional hearing, where he was scheduled to deliver his findings, he was found dead in his apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guyana\u202f\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another Iranian operative who continued Rabbani\u2019s modus operandi was his closest cohort, Michael Seaforth, better known by his Muslim name Abdul Kadir.<\/p>\n

Kadir was a Guyanese politician arrested in 2007 in Trinidad and Tobago in connection with a plot to blow up jet-fuel supply tanks and pipeline at the JFK International Airport in New York City.<\/p>\n

Kadir developed an intelligence structure in Guyana and the Caribbean at the behest of Tehran, which was akin to Rabbani\u2019s network in Argentina. Kadir founded and directed the Islamic Information Center of Guyana. Therefore, he gained tremendous influence over the Islamic communities in Guyana and neighboring countries, through the Caribbean, and into diaspora groups in the U.S.<\/p>\n

According to Humire, \u201cIt was Kadir\u2019s long arm to the diaspora of the Afro-Guyanese in Queens, New York City who worked at the JFK International Airport that helped gain access to the target of this thwarted terrorist attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kadir was a native Latin American, operating as Tehran\u2019s agent of influence. Over time, Tehran has recruited several thousand agents of influence in Latin America and the Caribbean, training them not just in the Iranian city of Qom but also in Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Brazil.<\/p>\n

These agents operate under the pretext of cultural and religious promotion activities to provide operational and logistical support for terrorism.<\/p>\n

Kadir was a highly respected Shi\u2019a Muslim but coordinated with radical Sunni Muslims associated with the Trinidad-based Jamaat al Muslimeen (JAM) Islamic terrorist group. \u201cThis is important since the majority of the Muslim population in Latin America is Sunni, providing Iran and Hezbollah increased avenues of approach to the region,\u201d Humire testified before the U.S House in this regard.<\/p>\n

Colombia\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weeks after the Iranian regime\u2019s foiled terrorist attack in Kenya, Colombia\u2019s daily El Tiempo revealed<\/a> another Iranian failed terror plot. This revelation once again showed how Latin America has turned into the Iranian regime\u2019s field of operations.<\/p>\n

According to El Tiempo, an Iranian known as Assadi recruited two prison inmates while sharing a cell in Dubai sometime between 2017 and 2021. The three were serving time for prior convictions.<\/p>\n

Once released in March 2021, the two agents traveled to Colombia, spying on two Israeli businessmen and their families, identifying their homes, places of work, and routine movements.<\/p>\n

According to the local authorities, these agents had hired local hitmen to carry out an assassination, but Colombian intelligence foiled their plots.<\/p>\n

It was later revealed that Tehran\u2019s terrorists reportedly sought to target U.S. diplomats as well, noting that Colombian authorities had arrested and expelled two Hezbollah operatives \u2014 likely the same two guns-for-hire recruited in Dubai.<\/p>\n

The regime\u2019s presence in Colombia should come as no surprise, as the country hosts a large Iranian propaganda operation, shares a border with Venezuela, and is home to a strong Lebanese Shiite community with a history of involvement in terrorism financing. Colombia also has commercial, diplomatic, and security ties with the United States and Israel, offering a target-rich environment for the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n

Conclusion\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

The facts above only show the tip of the iceberg and the Iranian regime\u2019s increasing threat in South America. The current U.S. administration has engaged in a dialogue with the mullahs\u2019 regime, opting to curb Tehran\u2019s nuclear ambitions. Yet, this alarming information clarifies that there is no time to make mistakes, as mullahs are increasing their presence in the United States backyard.<\/p>\n

Since its foundation in 1979, Iran\u2019s ruling theocracy has tried to wreak havoc across the globe or export its domestic crises in order to hold its fragile grip on power at home. The mullahs have been squandering national wealth on terrorism, leaving ordinary Iranians in absolute poverty and misery.<\/p>\n

Negotiations with the terrorist regime in Tehran only emboldens it to continue its malign activities. The recent foiled terror plots in Africa, Europe, and South America are testaments that Tehran considers terrorism as leverage and exploits the current weak approach by Western governments to continue its malign activities.<\/p>\n

In order to neutralize the regime’s threats, the world community should maintain sanctions on the regime and increase its pressure on the ruling theocracy. The only way to stop Tehran\u2019s global terrorism is to bring it to its knees by exercising a decisive policy.<\/p>\n

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