What links Hezbollah and Venezuela?
US Secretary of State says terrorist cells drawn to embattled South American country
Donald Trump’s administration has sought to ratchet up pressure on embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by claiming his regime supports Iranian-backed Hezbollah cells operating in his country.
Mike Pompeo told Fox Business: “People don’t recognise that Hezbollah has active cells. The Iranians are impacting the people of Venezuela and throughout South America. We have an obligation to take down that risk for America.”
Pompeo said the ongoing political and economic crisis risks turning the Latin American country into a no-man’s land, effectively controlled by Cuba, Russia and Iran.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The US has long considered Hezbollah a terrorist organisation and “sanctions on people in Venezuela linked to Hezbollah have been imposed as far back as the George W. Bush administration”, reports Jon Sharman for The Independent.
“Washington also believes Latin America has served as a base of fund-gathering for the group for some years, including through drugs and money-laundering schemes,” says Sharman.
Last month Fox News reported that “as Iran and Venezuela become increasingly isolated and sanctioned by the US and much of the international community, the two governments are said to be tightening their bond - with the help of Tehran's proxy group, Hezbollah, in the middle of the action.”
Venezuela’s former president Hugo Chavez formed tight links with Iran under Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in the 2000s and Fox claims that Iran and Hezbollah are said to provide “strategic advice” to the Venezuelan regime “for safe keeping”.
Right-wing US news site Breitbart adds that “under Maduro, Hezbollah, in particular, has established itself as a force in Latin America, dominating drug trafficking routes and using senior Maduro officials such as Minister of Industries and National Production Tareck El Aissami to expand recruitment efforts into the Western Hemisphere”.
Donald Trump became the first leader to formally recognise Venezuela’s national assembly president Juan Guaido as interim president in January. He has since been joined by EU leaders, while Russia and China continue to back Maduro.
The latest intervention by the US’ most senior diplomat is consistent with the administration’s increasingly hostile approach towards Iran.
Last year Trump reimposed sanctions on Tehran, in breach of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama, labelling the government “a murderous dictatorship that has continued to spread bloodshed, violence and chaos”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
The death of Hassan Nasrallah
In the Spotlight The killing of Hezbollah's leader is 'seismic event' in the conflict igniting in the Middle East
By The Week UK Published
-
Putin's fixation with shamans
Under the Radar Secretive Russian leader, said to be fascinated with occult and pagan rituals, allegedly asked for blessing over nuclear weapons
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Israel's suspected mobile device offensive pushes region closer to chaos
In the Spotlight After the mass explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies assigned to Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon, is all-out regional war next, or will Israel and its neighbors step back from the brink?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Drugs and death threats: Venezuelan gangs in Colorado
In the Spotlight 'Troubling signs' that Latin American gangs are penetrating into the American heartland
By The Week UK Published
-
Chimpanzees are dying of human diseases
Under the radar Great apes are vulnerable to human pathogens thanks to genetic similarity, increased contact and no immunity
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published