Hezbollah appears in Latin America

From an article by Ely Karmon, November 7, 2006, published on the IDC Web site, 14/11/06 ...

On October 23, 2006 the Baruta Municipality Police found two explosive devices near the US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. One of the bombs was found in a box containing leaflets making reference to the Lebanese radical Islamic group Hezbollah. ...[The] Police, said they arrested ... Jose Miguel Rojas Espinoza, a 26 years old student of the state-run Bolivarian University ... that was founded by President Hugo Chavez.

An organization calling itself the Hezbollah America Latina (Hezbollah LA) took responsibility for the attack on October 25 on its website and promised that it will stage other simultaneous attacks with the same goal of publicizing the organization. It presented Rojas as “the brother mujahedeen, the first example of dignity and struggle in the cause of Allah, the first prisoner of the revolutionary Islamic movement Hezbollah Venezuela.”

Several months ago, probably in June or July, a website presenting itself as the mouthpiece of Hezbollah LA has began to be active .... Interestingly, the website is written in Spanish and in chapateka, a mixture of the Indian maya language and antique Spanish. Although the website is claiming activity of Hezbollah LA in El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, México and Chile, actually the backbone of the organization is Hezbollah Venezuela, the second active group seems to be in Argentina and the others are practically inactive, at least on the Internet.

...It is probably not by chance that the Latin American Hezbollah seems to flourish in [Venezuela and Argentina]....Venezuela was considered for many years one of the bases of the Lebanese Hizballah in Latin America. ...They have become visible at a moment in which “the strange liaison” between Hugo Chávez and the Iranian president Ahmadinejad has become an item of international interest. Chavez has come out in support of Iran's nuclear program as well as denouncing the war in Lebanon, accusing Israel of a “new Holocaust.” At the Non-Aligned Movement summit, which was held in Cuba leading up to the Iranian leader's Caracas visit, Venezuela and Iran channeled the tide of global anti-US sentiment into support for Iran's right to nuclear energy.

The recent wave of anti-Semitism in Venezuela, as reflected in analyses at a September 2006 Caracas conference on the Middle East conflict and its local repercussions, made the Jewish community rather nervous. Some at the conference feared that Chavez's attacks on Israel may lead to attacks on local Jews. Already, graffiti is appearing on the Mariperez synagogue with increasing frequency. Some even accused Chavez of bringing in Hezbollah to indoctrinate Wayuu Indians in the west of the country. According to Jewish activists, the wave of anti-Semitism comes from official and pro-government media and Chavez's failure to repudiate these media and the anti-Semitic graffiti represents the “crux of the problem.”

....The present Argentinean government is not sympathetic to radical organizations or regimes, but in this country there are many active groups and movements of the radical right and left which have often expressed anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli as well as anti-US views and activities. The ... difficulties in the long investigation and prosecution of the terrorist bombings of the Israeli embassy and AMIA building ...[demonstrate] the tolerant background to such radical endeavors.

...The Simon Wiesenthal Center ... discovered ...the Hezbollah Venezuela’s website which calls for “Jihad in Latin America” ...[in] July 2006....However, it seems that the Venezuelan authorities have not attempted to challenge Hezbollah Venezuela or to explain the government’s silence even after the bombing attempts at the US embassy and the new threats emitted on its website.

....Another factor influencing the growing attraction to radical Islamist terrorist groups could be the successful campaigns of Islamic proselytism in the heart of poor indigene Indian tribes and populations by both Shi’a and Sunni preachers and activists.

...Latin America is searching for its own identity and the common people are clearly looking forward to a totally different spiritual change. ...twenty to thirty years ago, Catholicism claimed almost 90% of the total population in Latin America whereas today the numbers are now only between 55% and 65%. Latin America is a fertile area for Islamic dawah and Islamic values are already present in Latin American culture....

...Possibly, local sympathizers or activists of al-Qaeda evaluate that the opening of the “bombing propaganda campaign” by Hezbollah LA presents a good opportunity to begin their own campaign of recruiting and indoctrination in Venezuela and other Latin American countries.

...the short history of Hezbollah Latin America does not permit yet to draw a clear conclusion regarding the real character and goal of the group. .... Darnott, the Venezuelan leader, denies any link to the Lebanese Hizballah and indeed the religious and ideological substratum of his documents is very poor and superficial. In the case of the Argentinean “branch” the Shi’a and Iranian link is quite obvious and could prove more dangerous.

However, in view of the first terrorist attempt, even if it was only for propaganda purposes, several worrying aspects should be stressed. The special permissive atmosphere in Venezuela could send a message to the group... and to more dangerous terrorist organizations that their activities on its soil or from its territory are tolerated or even politically permitted.

There is a growing trend of solidarity between leftist, Marxist, anti-global and even rightist elements with the Islamists. The fact that the Lebanese Hizballah has sponsored a strategic conference of anti-global groups and movements in Beirut in September 2004, already pointed to this potentially dangerous coalition for the future.

Finally, there is the possibility that the Lebanese Hizballah, and al-Qaeda, to recruit "converted" Latin American terrorists for their operational terrorist international activity; as they did in the past in the Middle East and Europe.