Jihadists, Narcoterrorists and the Chavez Connection

President Obama's visit to South America could help focus attention on Iranian-Venezuelan terror collaboration, according to Roger Noriega, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs under President George W. Bush.

Noriega (who also served as U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States) writes in the Washington Post that both regimes "are conspiring to sow Tehran's brand of proxy terrorism in the Western Hemisphere."

Last August, Noriega writes, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosted senior leaders of Hizballah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) at a secret summit in Caracas. Those present included Hamas Supreme Leader Khaled Meshaal; PIJ Secretary-General Ramadan Abdullah Shallah; and Hizballah's chief of operations, whose name is kept secret.

The idea for the summit came from a meeting last May in Damascus between the Iranian and Venezuelan ambassadors to Syria. The number two Venezuelan diplomat in Syria, Ghazi Nassereddine Atef Salame, "is a naturalized Venezuelan of Lebanese origin who runs Hizballah's growing network in South America - which includes terrorist operatives and drug traffickers," Noriega writes.

Nassereddine allegedly does business with four companies run by Walid Makled, an accused cocaine smuggler indicted in the United States who is currently in jail in Colombia. Makled reportedly claims to have evidence showing the complicity of top Chavez cronies including his military commander in cocaine smuggling.

But the Colombian government wants to extradite Makled to Venezuela rather than sending him to New York to face drug charges, and Washington seems prepared to acquiesce. The fact that Makled has evidence that could shed light on Nassereddine's Hizballah network "should spur U.S. diplomats to renew their push for Makled's extradition to the United States," according to Noriega.

The former U.S. diplomat says that two Iranian terrorist trainers are on Margarita Island in Venezuela instructing operatives from around the region. Radical Muslims from Colombia and Venezuela receive spiritual training at a cultural center in Caracas named after the Ayatollah Khomeini and 19^th-century South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar. Some "are dispatched to Qom, Iran, for Islamic studies," Noriega writes. The most fervent recruits in Qom "are given weapons and explosives training and are returned home as 'sleeper' agents."

Read the full article here. Read more about Chavez and his connections with Iran here and here.

Reader comments on this item

Good old Hugo

Submitted by Fred Baehr, Mar 23, 2011 03:30

Chavez is a dictator and is expanding into terrorism. He bought 30 billion dollars worth of Russian arms last year. What does he need that much firepower for? To spread revolution and unrest around the region of course, all the while maintaining tranquility at home through the application of his 18 months of rule by decree against his domestic enemies all over Venezuela. Yet this cheap piggish thug is the darling of Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey and a host of others. Why? Because, in Stone's words. he is trying to help the South Americans get out from under the clutches of the United States, and the World Monetary Fund, who are the real faces of evil in the world. How twisted is that? But that is the opinion most popular on college campuses and progressive salons around the country. Now he's importing islamist terrorists to help his cause. How great. I'm sure Oliver et al think this is a good move and will applaud the deaths of any Americans that may result. Unless of course it happens to be someone they care about personally, in which case they will undoubtedly find a way to put the blame on American imperialism. Look at what some of our news organizations have said about the Israeli family slaughtered in their sleep. They were at fault for living in their settlement as "occupiers". I hate it when I can predict such sick stuff so accurately.

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