Hezbollah Expands Its Operations in South America
Oct 25, 2025
The terrorist group Hezbollah has for long had its operatives in South America, drawn from the large Lebanese and Palestinian populations that are found especially in Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela. Hezbollah has worked with, and now appears to have taken over, certain crime networks dealing in drug trafficking, while enjoying the protection of Venezuela, first under Hugo Chavez, and then under his successor, Nicolás Maduro. Now the group has been sending both drugs to its agents in Europe for sale on the lucrative markets there, and money made by its criminal operatives in South America to Hezbollah in Lebanon, replacing the funds that are no longer available from cash-strapped Iran. More on the Hezbollah penetration of South America, that has caught the attention of Congress, can be found here: “US Senators Sound Alarm Over Hezbollah’s Expanding Operations in Latin America,” by Ailin Vilches Arguello, Algemeiner, October 22, 2025:
As Iran grapples with mounting international sanctions, US lawmakers have warned that Lebanese Hezbollah, the Iranian regime’s chief proxy force in the Middle East, is turning more to its overseas financial networks to finance illicit operations, while expanding its footprint across Latin America, particularly in Venezuela.
At a Senate Caucus on International Counternarcotics Control hearing on Tuesday, both Republican and Democratic senators discussed how Hezbollah has firmly entrenched itself in Latin America’s criminal networks under the protection of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who provides “a safe haven” for the Iran-backed terrorist group.
According to multiple expert witnesses, under the protection of Maduro’s regime, illicit activities including narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and passports-for-terrorist schemes have thrived, making Venezuela the “most important facilitator for Hezbollah in Latin America.”
The next time you hear someone expressing outrage over the attacks on Venezuelan boats that the Trump administration believes are being used by narco-traffickers, remind them of all the criminals — drug traffickers, money launderers, passport forgers — Venezuela has been protecting, and especially, they should be told that Venezuela is Hezbollah’s most valuable ally in all of South America. And that is why Trump’s promise to use, if he deems it necessary, the CIA to attack the narco-traffickers inside Venezuela should be encouraged. Let no part of Venezuela be safe for Hezbollah.
Trump would garner much more support for his policy of attacking narco-traffickers, and of enlarging that sea campaign with attacks on Venezuelan soil, were he to spell out for the public the connection between that country, and many of its traffickers who are providing a financial lifeline to Hezbollah.
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