Iran is very interested in Latin America, an area just a few kilometers from the “Great Satan”, the United States of America. In June 2023, President Ebrahim Raisi visited three Latin American nations, including one located just 90 miles from the US border.
The trip's main objective was to strengthen Iran's strategic and economic ties in the Western Hemisphere by openly defying the United States. During the visit, which included stops in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, the Iranian president praised these countries “for their resistance to US pressure and for sharing values contrary to the international order” based on democratic principles.
During the trip, Raisi emphasized the evolution of Latin America, previously considered “the Americans' backyard”, towards a recovery of independence on the part of each country. He emphasized the growing “harmony” between Iranians and the Latin American people since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, citing a common spirit and ideals. However, Iranian efforts to penetrate the region are not limited to diplomatic relations.
“Psychological warfare”
According to a study carried out by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Iran receives support from terrorist organizations and pro-Iranian groups to expand its ideological influence in Latin America. Hezbollah is deeply involved in fundraising, propaganda and smuggling operations, while other organizations, such as Al-Tajammu, play a significant role in expanding Iranian influence through the Internet and social media. Hezbollah's influence on the media is evident in its powerful international media apparatus, as reported by think tank Spanish International Observatory for Terrorism Studies (OIET).
Through its al-Manar television station and other platforms, such as HispanTV and al-Mayadeen, Hezbollah promotes its ideology and the values of the Iranian Islamic revolution, reaching an international audience, including Latin Americans. Iran uses “large-scale psychological warfare” through social networks, satellites and Spanish-language media to promote Iranian interests and attack the West and Latin America.
Hezbollah and CCP
Jorge Serrano, member of the Iran advisory team at the Intelligence Committee of the Peruvian Congress, emphasized the key role of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (VEVAK) behind these activities. Regarding Iranian ambitions in Latin America, already discussed in 2018 in the article Narcos and Jihad, the lies about extremism in Brazilthe links between Iran, its representatives Hezbollah and Hamas and the destabilizing activities in Central and South America are currently highlighted.
In particular, Hezbollah's involvement in illegal activities such as drug trafficking, and links with criminal organizations such as the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in Brazil, the largest criminal organization in the country, with around 11,000 members, present mainly in the areas of São Paulo and the Triple Border.
This border area between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay has been identified as a nerve center for a wide range of criminal activities ranging from drug and weapons trafficking, merchandise smuggling, intellectual property theft, document forgery up to money laundering.
The area is recognized as an important money laundering center to support the activities of organized crime and terrorist networks, with significant financial and regional security implications, generating a turnover of approximately US$43 billion [R$ 214 bilhões na cotação atual] per annum. Illegal activities have been documented for over 40 years.
And terrorist organizations like Hezbollah have found the right environment in the Triple Border where, thanks to alliances with criminal organizations, they can count on access to financial resources to subsidize attacks; independence from state sponsorship; possibility of building economic power by compensating for the lack of public support; access to specific skills (money laundering, document forgery); facilitation of cross-border movements (use of human trafficking routes); and contact with a wide range of potential recruits already in the criminal world.
Since its creation in the 1980s, Hezbollah has received significant support from Iran, both economic and military. In addition to this support, the group financed its activities through various illegal activities on a global scale. In Latin America, several investigations have revealed strong links between Hezbollah and drug trafficking organizations, including the Colombian FARC and the Mexican Los Zetas and Sinaloa cartels. These ties facilitated the exchange of weapons between Hezbollah and Mexican cartels, as well as the teaching of tunneling techniques similar to those used between Lebanon and Israel.
Hezbollah is involved in various illicit activities, including cigarette smuggling, drug trafficking and illegal diamond trade from West Africa, especially Sierra Leone. In the case of cigarette smuggling, the anti-terrorism operation Smokescreen from the USA revealed a deal that yielded between US$1.5 and US$2.5 million, which was invested in military equipment and other needs of the group. Over the years, it has also been revealed that despite Hezbollah's criminal activities, in 2017 the Obama administration allegedly obstructed investigations about the group's international drug trafficking network in order to preserve Iranian nuclear agreements.
The investigation known as Project Cassandra and led by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) revealed a vast cocaine trafficking network operated by Hezbollah, but DEA arrest warrant requests were allegedly obstructed or delayed so as not to compromise agreements with Iran. Through multiple wiretaps, undercover operations, and informants, and with the help of 30 other U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies, the DEA reportedly uncovered a vast cocaine trafficking network run by Hezbollah that ran from South America to Europe and the Middle East, as well as other routes into Venezuela. and from Mexico to the United States.
However, the Obama administration, following the January 17, 2016 Iran Nuclear Deal, obstructed continued investigations and actions against Hezbollah so as not to harm relations with Iran. Project Cassandra's efforts were gradually delegitimized, with DEA agents encountering resistance and delays in requests for authorization for investigations, prosecutions and arrests. This prevented the blocking of Lebanese terrorist activities, demonstrating an intentional limitation of investigative actions against Hezbollah by the Obama administration.
Synthetic drugs
According to DEA investigations, Hezbollah acquired synthetic drugs from Mexican drug cartels to sell initially and mainly in the Middle East — where, after learning chemical processes, it set up several laboratories to produce amphetamines — to finance its operations and its economy, also finding a partner and ally in the trafficking and production of narcotics in the Assad regime.
In particular, psychostimulant tablets of fenethylline, a compound derived from the molecular duplication between methamphetamine and caffeine, known as CaptagonBiocaptagon and Fitton, but also as “Captain Courage”, Abu Hilalain [Pai de Dois Crescentes, n.d.t.] because of the two letters C (Captagon's initial) engraved on the pills, “cocaine for the poor” and “jihad drug”, due to their widespread use by fighters in Syria, including ISIS.
Syria, write analysts Carmit Valensi and Orna Mizrahi, from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), became a narcostate for which drug revenues are among the main sources of income: in 2022, drug exports from Syria amounted to between US$25 billion and US$30 billion; in contrast, annual revenues from legal exports are about US$800 million (a pill costs no more than three cents to produce).
In some cases, drugs are transported through Syria and in other cases through Lebanese ports and airports. According to the Center for Operations Research and Analysis (Coar), a Cyprus-based consultancy firm, in 2020, authorities in several countries seized Syrian drugs with a market value of no less than US$3.4 billion. . Hezbollah has patiently built a global network of illicit financial activities and terrorist plots, repeatedly striking targets in the West and other countries in collaboration with the Iranian state.
The special concern with Latin America is motivated by the fact that many countries in the region do not consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization, thus limiting the action of local authorities. Open support from local authoritarian regimes aligned with Tehran, such as Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela, has turned this area into a forward operating base for Iran.
Hezbollah and Iranian fronts mix with radical pro-Palestinian activism, gaining access to political leaders and coverage for their activities. Hezbollah's long association with organized crime provides it with extensive ties to local criminal syndicates, facilitating access to weapons, explosives and corrupt public officials. However, the designation of the “Party of Allah” as a terrorist organization, without distinguishing between “political wing” and “military wing”, is still a challenge.
Souad Sbai is an Italian journalist, politician and essayist. Born in Morocco, but an Italian citizen since 1981, she graduated in Literature with a thesis on Islamic law at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. She has a PhD in European and Mediterranean higher education from the Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli.
© 2024 La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana. Published with permission. Original in Italian: “Narcos and terrorism, dangerous friendships between Iran and Latin America”.
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