From Other Site on the Line: 14 Jun 08

Who needs FARC when you have Hezbollah???

Cross posted from The Jungle Hut
http://jungle-hut.blogspot.com/2008/06/hezbollah-and-al-qaeda-in-venezuela.html

A note from Radarsite: The adjective 'insightful' has, I believe, been much overused, perhaps by myself as much as anyone else. However, if ever there was a time to use it it is now. Rita Vernoy, otherwise known as the blogger Jungle Mom is a brave and courageous missionary who brings a unique perspective and understanding to this important subject -- which so many of us (again, myself included) have inadvertently put on the back burner. Like the Middle East and the Balkans, South America presents us with a confusing labyrinth of political intrigues which serve to humble all but the most learned political observers. For this reason, and many more, the political turmoils in this region too often tend to take second place in our thoughts to those seemingly more pressing issues in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Lately, however, thanks to the recent ascent of the new group of leftist, anti-western, anti-American governments -- most vocally, of course, Hugo Chavez's Venezuala -- we are increasingly becoming aware of these "other threats" a little closer to home.

Thanks to Chavez's newest anti-Americanist alliances with Ahmadinejad (two of the most prominent oil producing nations in the world), and now, as we are learning, with the terrorist organization Hezbollah the threats mount daily.

To begin to understand these threats and what they mean to us, we must rely more and more upon "experts in the field" like Rita Vernoy. Although, she will most certainly be quick to counter this description, none the less she is there on the ground, dealing daily with the people involved. We have a lot to learn, and we are fortunate to have friends, whom we can trust, like Jungle Mom to teach us. -- rg

Those who have been reading my blog will know that I have been very concerned about the Iranian/Venezuelan connection for years. I have written several articles about this very thing here at The Jungle Hut.

My concern is for the Venezuelan people who are being endangered by Chavez and his liaisons, and also for the USA who needs to wake up to the fact that we now have enemies close to home, in our back yard, in the southern hemisphere.It is time we begin to take the Chavez regime seriously in regards to its unholy alliance with Iran. I found a very insightful article at Al arabiyah about this connection of Tehran and Caracas, well worth reading the complete article.The Venezuelan Vice-Minister of the Interior, Tarek el Ayssami, is recruiting young Venezuelans of Arab descent to be trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Here is a bit of background on Tarek el Ayssami, from VCrisis.
El-Aissami, a Venezuelan whose father is Syrian, was president of the ULA’s students union for two years up until July this year, when he failed to get reelected. Apparently, he had managed to get members of the guerilla installed in the student residences during this time. According to Gunson, of the 1,122 people living in one of the ULA’s residences, only 387 are active students and more than 600 have nothing to do with the university.El-Aissami had political control of the residences, which were used to hide stolen vehicles and conduct drug deals. In addition, the people living there would use balaclavas to commit crimes on the streets.As though that were not enough, el-Aissami’s father is the head of the Venezuelan branch of the Iraqi political party Baath, while his great-uncle Shibli el-Aissami was a prominent ideologist and assistant to the party’s secretary general in Baghdad during the Saddam Hussein administration. Guson points out that Tarek el-Aissami was unwilling to give a statement to the Miami Herald.

The following is a translation from Fausta's blog of an article written by Venezuelan investigative journalist, Patricia Poleo, who is a fugitive now living in Miami. Although I can not confirm everything in this article, I do know of some of the places mentioned I have observed an influx of Iranians in certain cities of Venezuela. I have observed the 'infamous' tractor factory in Ciudad Bolivar, which alarms all the locals. I know they were dancing in the streets on 9/11! Iran has been given mining concessions in much of Bolivar state as well as Amazonas.

Here is Fausta's translation.
Hugo Chavez pretends to cut back on his support of the FARC, when his "dangerous" associations go well beyond the Colombian guerrilla.Presently young Venezuelans are being recruited for training in Lebanon.Tarek el Ayssami, Venezuela's vice-Minister of the Interior, along with others affiliated with Hezbollah, such as Lebanon-born Gahzi Nasserddine currently the Business Liaison at the Venezuelan embassy in Damascus, along with [his brother by surname] Ghasan Atef Salameh Nasserddine (a) Abu Ali, are in charge of recruiting young Venezuelan Arabs affiliated to the PSUV [Chavez's own Venezuelan Socialist Party], to be sent to South Lebanon for combat training in Hezbollah camps.The purpose of the training is for preparing the youths for asymmetrical war against the United States.Once back in Venezuela, the youths are welcomed by two members of the Islamic Center of Venezuela, who were previously involved in illegally bringing Hezbollah Lebanese through the area of Margarita with fake passports. During February 2002, one of these men brought a group of Hezbollah members who came from Brazil, from Margarita, and then sheltered at the Islamic Center in El Paraiso.Once the Venezuelas return from their training in Lebanon they meet with radical youths from the PSUV affiliated with UNEFA [the university run by the Armed Forces] and the Unversidad Bolivariana de Venezuela [Venezuelan Bolivarian University].These groups and individuals are closely affiliated with the Hezbollah Organization in Venezuela, along with al-Qaeda Iraqis currently living in Venezuela. They are also related to the Palestinian Democratic Front, headed by Salid Ahmed Rahman, whose "official" office is located in Caracas's Central Park.

In the training camps now in Venezuela, they receive training in firearms, explosives and munitions provided by vice-Minister of the Interior Tarek el Ayssami.The Venezuelan training camps are located in: Monagas state, Maturin district. Miranda state, Los Teques, at a location called El Jari. Trujillo state, El Paramo. Falcon state, Churuguara, Sierra de San Luis. Yaracuy state, Yumare.From the start of President Chavez's government, terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaeda have used Venezuela as their bridge to other Latin American countries since Venezuela is an allied government.

At this very moment, a group of Iraqi activists from the al-Qaeda terrorist organization are touring Caracas and Venezuela. They are Mohammed Adnan Yasin Al Janabi, born in Baghdad, Iraq; Falah Amin Taha, born in Baghdad, Iraq; Muhi Alwan Mohammed Al Qaisi, born in Wassit, Iraq.They all arrived in Venezuela with temporary visas, are very dangerous and are experts in explosives.Other Hezbollah members in Venezuela with temporary visas are:
* explosives expert Abdul Ghani Suleiman Wanked, born in Lebanon in September 26, 1967, who is Hassan Nasrallah's right-hand man. Nasrallah has been the leader of Hezbollah since 1992 and is Secretary General of the Party of God (Hezbollah).
*Rada Ramel Assad, born in Barranquilla, Colombia on January 5, 1955. His Colombian passport was issued at the Colombian consulate in Beirut, Lebanon on November 13, 2006 and will expire on November 13, 2016.
*Abouchanab Daichoum Dani, also bearing a Colombian passport, born on September 22, 1982, His passport was issued on July 10, 2007, in Maicao, La Guajira, and will expire on July 10, 2007 [sic]. He is the organizer of the group currently touring Caracas.

As a Christian missionary, I find this alarming. The spread of islam has never brought peace and stability to a region. Do we need to add this to the South American situation which is already struggling against corruption and a resurgence of leftist, totalitarian leaders? The Christian missionaries are finding it more and more difficult to gain entrance visas to these countries, while moslems are entering in mass.

Related articles here at The Jungle Hut.
UraniumGhost Plane
The Rest of the Story
CaracastanVenezuela/Iran
The Shiite Indians of Venezuela
Obama says Chavez is manageable threat, and he is willing to approach Cuba and Chavez if elected. ( El Universal)

Candidate for the Democratic Party running for US President Barack Obama called Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez an "easily led" threat for the US security and expressed willingness to approach Venezuela and Cuba if elected president.
When queried if Chávez was a threat for the security of the United States and the hemisphere, Obama answered during the interview held in Denver, "Yes, I do think he is, yet a threat that can be managed," Reuters quoted. Yeah, that'll work!

Posted by Jungle Mom