US fears Venezuela-Iran ties may be aiding terrorists

US intelligence shows Hezbollah kidnap scheme
By Chris Kraul and Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times

BOGOTA, Colombia - Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations.

Linked to deadly attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina in the early 1990s, Hezbollah may be taking advantage of Venezuela's ties with Iran, the militia's longtime sponsor, to move "people and things" into the Americas, according to a Western government terrorism expert.

As part of his anti-American foreign policy, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has established warm diplomatic relations with Iran and has traveled there several times. The Bush administration, Israel, and other governments worry that Venezuela is emerging as a base for anti-US militant groups and spy services.

Several joint Venezuelan-Iranian business operations have been set up in Venezuela, including tractor, cement, and auto factories. In addition, the two countries have formed a $2 billion program to fund social projects in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.

Those deepening ties worry US officials because Iranian spies around the world have been known to work with Hezbollah operatives, sometimes using Iranian embassies as covers, Western intelligence experts say.

In June, US Assistant Secretary of State Thomas A. Shannon said Iran "has a history of terror in this hemisphere, and its linkages to the bombings in Buenos Aires are pretty well established."

"One of our broader concerns is what Iran is doing elsewhere in this hemisphere and what it could do if we were to find ourselves in some kind of confrontation with Iran," Shannon said.

Fears about the threat from Hezbollah's global networks intensified after the slaying in February of Imad Mughniyah, a notorious leader of the militia, in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Hezbollah and Iran accused Israel and promised revenge, putting Western authorities on guard against attacks on Israeli or Jewish targets around the world.

Although the Bush administration is embroiled in political conflict with the Chavez government, allegations that Hezbollah and Iranian spies operate in Venezuela date to the 1990s, before Chavez took office.

The most concrete allegations of a Hezbollah presence in Venezuela involve money-raising. In June, the US Treasury Department designated two Venezuelan citizens as Hezbollah supporters and froze their US assets.

In March 2007, the intensified ties between Venezuela and Iran led to the start of weekly Air Iran flights from Tehran to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, that stop in Damascus.

The flights were highlighted in the US State Department's annual assessment of global terrorism, which noted in April 2008 that Venezuelan border officials at the Caracas airport often neglected to enter the arriving passengers into their immigration database and did not stamp passports.

The Venezuelans have since tightened up procedures, sources say.

Despite those improvements, the Air Iran flights also feature in recent intelligence gathered by Western antiterrorism officials. Agents of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah have allegedly set up a special force to attempt to kidnap Jewish businesspeople in Latin America and spirit them to Lebanon, according to the sources.

Iranian and Hezbollah operatives traveling in and out of Venezuela have recruited Venezuelan informants working at the Caracas airport to gather intelligence on Jewish travelers as potential targets for abduction, according to a Western antiterrorism official.

The allegations were reinforced by a public statement Aug. 21 by the Israeli government, which issued an alert to Israeli citizens warning that Hezbollah has plans to kidnap Israelis around the world.