The Venezuelan-Iran axis of terrorism

An intimate relationship.....

Hatred and terrorism.

The main common denominator between Iran and Venezuela is the hatred of the United States held by both leaders, Chavez and Ahmadinejad, since there are no religious or cultural similarities between the two countries. Their common objective is the strengthening of a global political alliance against the U.S.

Hugo Chavez has visited Iran nine times, while Ahmadinejad has been in Latin America three times, always accompanied by members of the Venezuelan government. Hezbollah has established centers of ideological indoctrination and collection of funds in the Venezuelan island of Margarita. It has to be remembered that in 1992 Hezbollah was responsible for the bombing of the Buenos Aires, Argentina, synagogue, causing the death of 20 and wounding more than 200 persons. In 1994 another explosion in a Jewish community in Buenos Aires killed 80 persons and wounded 300. In both cases police investigations established the responsibility of Hezbollah.

In December 2008 Turkish authorities detained an Iranian vessel bound for Venezuela after discovering lab equipment capable of producing explosives packed inside 22 containers marked "tractor parts." This was probably one of several shipments of thi type.


Collaboration between Venezuela and Iran is in four main areas: Political/Military, Energy, Financial and Commercial.

POLITICAL/MILITARY

A. The main political objective is destabilization and terrorism of the U.S. and Israel, aligned with groups such as Hamas and Hizballah. A weekly flight from Tehran to Caracas brings Islamic terrorists to Venezuela, where they are given identities and go on north to Mexico, where they are trained by Mexican drug traffickers and aided to cross the border into the U.S.

B. Together Venezuela and Iran have established a $2 billion Fund to “help” Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, in exchange for political influence. In June 1 of this year Ahmad Vahidi visited Bolivia as a guest of the Ministry of Defense of the country. Vahidi was the mastermind of the explosion in Argentina oin 1994, in the jewish community of Amia, that caused more than 80 dead.

C. Chavez has opened the doors of Latin America to the Iranian extremist government. With his help the largest recipients of Iranian funds have been members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (ALBA), a highly politicized regional trade and integration organization created by Chavez. As of 2007, Iran had announced 19 projects for Nicaragua. Iran is thought to have been a major contributor to Venezuela’s nuclear energy research and development. By 2010, it had, according to Iranian-owned news source Press TV, carried out over 80 projects in Venezuela. In 2007 Iran invested 1.5 billion USD in various Bolivian industries. Since 2008, Iran has loaned Evo Morales, in Bolivia, at least 780 million USD. In 2009 Iran extended a credit line to Ecuador worth 40 million USD. Moreover, between 2007 and 2008, trade with Ecuador jumped from 6 million USD to an astounding 168 million USD. Ahmadinejad also promised to invest 200 million USD in Ecuador in years to come. In 2009, Iran’s credit line to Cuba was boosted to 500 million USD.

D. In April 2008 Iran and Venezuela signed a Memorandum of Military Cooperation and Iranian military advisers were sent to Venezuela (United Press International)

E. Altough this is a report that has to be further documented, Iran is planning, according to Die Welt to build a missile base in Venezuela. The German daily earlier reported that Iran and Venezuela signed an agreement last October to build the base. Now, citing “security insiders,” it says the two nations have agreed on the location for the base and have begun planning for it. It states that engineers from a construction firm owned by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards visited the site in February, accompanied by the head of the Guard’s air force. Iran reportedly will be deploying Shahab 3 rockets, with a range of 800 to 930 miles, Scud-B missiles, with a range of 180 to 205 miles, and Scud-C missiles, with a range of 185, 310 or 435 miles. This would leave America outside of Iran’s range. However, the Federation of American Scientists states that a modified variant of the Shahab 3 has a range of 1,200 miles. This would put Miami just within reach of Iran’s rockets. Once Iran has a missile base in Latin America, it will be relatively easy for it to upgrade the base as it upgrades its missiles.

ENERGY

In the energy sector Chavez promised to give Iran some 20,000 barrels a day of gasoline and, in fact, made some deliveries. This is the reason why the state company, Petroleos de Venezuela, has just been the object of mild sanctions by the U.S. State Department. Since Iran requires about 160,000 of gasoline per day, the Venezuelan gasoline supply was no solution. Venezuela has promised Iran to invest up to $800 million in the development of the giant iranian gas field PARS.

Another aspect of the Venezuelan-Iranian oil link is the Iranian presence in the Venezuelan heavy oil region of the Orinoco River. In this area Iran is simply obtaining much information from the Venezuelan oil industry without giving much back, since they do not have the technology or the capital to contribute effectively to the Venezuelan oil industry.

FINANCIAL.

According to former New York District Attorney Henry Morgenthau, 2008, the Iranians have set up a bank in Venezuela called the International Development Bank, an affiliate of the Iranian state bank Saderat. The main purpose was to launder money. By linking with Venezuelan banks that have branches in the U.S. they have been able to penetrate the U.S. financial sector and laundered, says Morgenthau, some $300 million in illegal funds.

COMMERCIAL

In the commercial sector Iran has established a car factory in Venezuela but, so far, there are few Iranian cars (they are old FIAT models) in the streets. A bicycle factory is rumored to be a center of political indoctrination. The exploration for Uranium is being done with help from Iranian personnel but this activity is probably less important than generally assumed.

.WHAT SHOULD THE U.S. RESPONSE BE?

The points listed below are taken from Backgrounder paper #2362, January 2010, by Heritage Foundation's Dr. Ray Walser. As a Venezuelan, I am in essential agreement with them, as they are not designed to harm the country but to weaken the regime that harms the country.

. Add Venezuela to the State Sponsors of Terrorism List.
Congress should pass a resolution calling for placing Venezuela on the state sponsors of terrorism list and the Obama Administration should promptly proceed with adding Venezuela to the list. While largely symbolic because of existing restrictions on arms sales and technology transfers, it would give the U.S. greater authority to monitor financial transactions with Venezuela. The U.S. should make sure that the full rigor of the law is applied to Venezuela's commerce and trade in order to prevent Venezuela from acting as a front for Iran or other terrorism-friendly regimes.

· Launch a Real Public Diplomacy Effort Against Chavez.
The U.S. is losing the battle against massive disinformation spawned by Chavez. If the Obama Administration wishes to preserve the security of the hemisphere, it must move to more proactive rebuttals with skilled public affairs efforts.

· Enhance U.S. Capacity Building to Counter Terrorism and Drug Trafficking in the Americas.
The threat posed by Chavez and his allies is far from overt. It lies in the asymmetrical contest that pits the lesser accumulation of threats, such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and money laundering, to erode U.S. power and influence.

· Improve Security for Friends.
The Administration should make clear its commitment to supporting and defending friends, such as Colombia, from either overt aggression or intimidation by Venezuelan military forces or indirect aggression through Venezuelan support for the FARC.

Conclusion.

Today the U.S. Congress is being much more proactive in this task, due to the new correlation of political forces. This is a good moment to increase the pressure on the regime of Hugo Chavez, since he is greatly weakened at home and abroad. In this respect the most militant U.S. congressmen are Connie Mack, Ileana Ross-Lethien and Richard Lugar.



NOTE: This information is taken mostly from existing Internet sources. There is nothing here that can be considered as confidential or propietary information.









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