On November 8th, 2023, Israel announced the thwarting of a potential major terrorist attack in Brazil, implicating Hezbollah as the perpetrator. Two suspects were arrested and charged by Brazilian security services, and Israel was later informed of the plot.
Against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution, the ruling theocratic Mullahs not only emphasized proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen but also saw a potential influence in black market operations in Latin America.
Hezbollah itself is taking the lead in the Islamic Republic’s activities in Latin America, and the group is linked to major terrorist attacks in the region. As Iranian influence grows in the area, the US should become increasingly concerned with Tehran and Hezbollah’s reach.
History of Hezbollah’s Presence in Latin America
Latin America currently has a lukewarm relationship with the United States, especially during the height of the Cold War, where numerous coups and wars took place with CIA hallmarks. Running illicit operations, particularly with drugs to evade sanctions, Iranian proxies, such as Hezbollah, became intertwined in the global south.
Hezbollah’s first known operation in Latin America was the Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1992. The same year, a bombing struck the Jewish Cultural Center in the Argentinian capital, killing 85 civilians.
In 1994, Chicanas Airlines Flight 00901, which was full of Jewish civilians in Panama, was blown up. The FBI linked the attack directly to Hezbollah.
In 2014, Hezbollah operative Mohammad Hamdar was arrested by Peruvian security services for scouting potential new attacks, and in 2017, the US stopped Samer el Debek, who also planned further attacks in Panama on behalf of the Iranian-backed militia.
Despite the numerous Hezbollah-linked plots being disrupted by local and American intelligence agencies, the militia’s foothold in the region remains undisturbed. The reason why Hezbollah remains unchecked in the global south is because the group is not labeled as a terrorist organization there compared to North America and Europe.
The Growing Captagon Drug Trade
Hezbollah is not only a proxy of Iran but also an arm of the Assad regime. Bashar al-Assad has turned Syria into one of the world’s largest narcotics states, with Captagon being the drug of choice for illicit black-market operations. Currently, the Captagon drug trade is lucrative, with several billion dollars being funneled to Iranian proxies per year from it.
Alongside the militia’s foothold in Latin America, Hezbollah has links with cartels, particularly in the more lawless border areas of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
A key money laundering scheme through the drug trade is the group’s means to slush fund income from drugs such as Captagon and cocaine into cars. Hezbollah-purchased cars would then go en route to Benin in Africa, where another growing sympathetic Lebanese community resides, and the proceeds from car purchases would then be exported back to the militia’s base of power in Southern Lebanon.
Recently, on September 12th, the State Department sanctioned three Hezbollah operatives and their Latin American-based financial companies that facilitate the group’s tri-continental drug network. Due to family-based networks deeply embedded in the growing number of Lebanese expats, the terrorist grouping now has a firm grip on money laundering in Latin America that the United States struggles to upend.
A Potential Front for Attacks
Ultimately, the most prominent Hezbollah foothold in Latin America isn’t the drug trade or money laundering. Still, the region can potentially be used to launch attacks, and local police and military, regularly bribed off, could be unable to stop them.
Brazil’s ever-growing Lebanese population, which is sympathetic to the organization, remains a significant obstacle to security and terror plots in the region, and with a turbulent economy and social strife, the militant group can flourish in black market operations in the country.
Venezuela’s ever-growing ties with the Iranian Mullahs also give Hezbollah a potential base to expand operations against the US, mainly as an axis has formed instead of a new geopolitical alignment.
Despite the Biden administration easing sanctions on both Venezuela and the Islamic Republic, both Maduro and Khamenei will look to take advantage of what they perceive as ‘weakness’ and continue to fund proxies such as Hezbollah to conduct their dirty work.
Hezbollah’s growing extension will ultimately become a national security issue unless addressed through geopolitical policies and intelligence capabilities. Already conducting attacks and profiting off hundreds of in Latin America, Hezbollah will continue to use the Global South to digress and evade sanctions.
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