With the weakening of the Middle East’s performance, experts and governments return to light the warning to a possible expansion of the Lebanese terrorist organization in Latin America. According to recent investigations, about 400 group commanders were sent to countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, in an attempted restructuring outside the conflict zone with Israel.
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GUGA CHACRA:
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Last week, those that lead to the interruption of the group’s financing mechanisms in the region. The main focus of the investigation is in the area of the triple border – located between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina – already known to be a sensitive zone of illicit action of extremist organizations.
The US diplomatic offensive occurs after the loss of influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the organization suffered hard casualties in clashes with Israel last year. Israeli military operations, including unprecedented attacks with explosives hidden on electronic devices, would have eliminated a significant part of leadership and destroyed between 60% and 70% of the group’s long range missiles.
Nevertheless, the current Hezbollah leader Naim Qasmoum, said recently he will not deliver the weapons to the Lebanese government, as the ceasefire agreement provided for. “No one can get the weapons out of resistance,” he said last month. Experts also question the possibility of group members – the world’s most powerful non -state military organization – integrate the Lebanese regular army.
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“I can’t imagine the Shiite soldiers integrating with a force led by Christian military chiefs,” said Israeli expert Ely Karmon, senior researcher at the International Institute for the Fight against Terrorism, who for years acted as an advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
Brazil in the radar
In Brazil, the alliance between local criminal factions and Hezbollah worries experts. According to Martín Verrier, secretary to combat drug trafficking and terrorism of Argentina, there is a growing relationship between groups such as the first command of the capital (CCP) and the Lebanese organization. The agreement, he said, of course: The CCP offers protection to Hezbollah members arrested in Brazil and, in return, receives weapons.
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Verrier also warns that the current financing scheme can evolve into military actions in the region. In 2022, a Venezuelan state plane Emrasur was retained in Argentina with Venezuelan and Iranian crew suspected of spying. The investigation revealed links with the Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marse, named as the mastermind of the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, in the middle of honeymoon in Colombia.
– There is no doubt that when Hezbollah faces Iran’s financing difficulties, its main support, seeks resources and expands to other regions. In Latin America he already has a structure that can welcome him, ”said Verrier.
Andean axis in formation
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In addition to the triple border, a new Hezbollah axis of action would be forming in the west of the subcontinent. Saudi intelligence sources indicate that Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela already house dozens of group commanders. For Venezuelan-American expert Vanessa Neumann, president of the Asymmetric Institute, the expansion of acting in Andean countries is directly linked to drug trafficking and the dolarization of the economy in Ecuador.
– I believe there may be an increase in the violence of criminal cartels, an increase in misinformation campaigns to manipulate elections, and an attempt to influence multilateral actions. Latin America must be very attentive to these issues, ”he warned.
The presence of Hezbollah in South America is not new. The group is accused of planning two of the most lethal attacks ever registered in Argentina: against the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and against the headquarters of the Israeli Argentine Mutual Association (Amia) in 1994, which left 85 dead and over 300 injured.
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Given this history and recent movements, analysts and governments reinforce the need for regional cooperation to monitor terrorist activities and dismantle connections with organized crime.
