Ep. 6 | The Iran-Hezbollah-Venezuela Nexus (with Joseph Humire)
In this episode, we turn our attention back to the subject of foreign interference in Venezuela, and set our sights on the actors that compose the Middle Eastern origin of the Venezuelan crisis: Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, a political party in Lebanon whose militant wing is designated as a terrorist organization by a number of countries abroad, has a deeply rooted history in Latin America through diaspora communities that are co-opted by the group to minimize the exposure or detection of its illicit activity in the region.
Apart from its expressed explicit support for Nicolás Maduro’s illegitimate dictatorship, international investigations have uncovered links between the Hezbollah and Venezuela dating back to the Hugo Chávez presidency. These links include include the delivery of thousands of counterfeit Venezuelan passports and visas to Hezbollah affiliates by Venezuelan immigration authorities. Meanwhile, Hezbollah is largely funded by Iran, a regime that has been gradually creating an entry point into Latin America through Venezuela over the past fifteen years.
In this episode, we’re joined by global security expert Joseph Humire, Executive Director of the Center for a Secure and Free Society, a national security think tank that specializes in trans-regional threats in the Western Hemisphere. Joseph testifies frequently before the U.S. Congress on national security issues and before other bodies of parliament in Europe and the Americas. He’s a regular national security commentator on English and Spanish language news outlets, and has been following Iran’s growing presence in Latin America very closely over the past several years.
Included among the many topics we discuss in this episode are Turkey’s growing support for the Maduro regime, as well as the role of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, Maduro’s primary money launderer, a regime partner in an uncovered food-for-gold scheme, and a key player in the emerging Hezbollah-Venezuela relationship.
Read more from Joseph Humire and the SFS:
Iran, Turkey, and Venezuela’s Super Facilitator: Who is Alex Saab?
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