Rubio: No more Iran Hezbollah presence in Venezuela following Maduro arrest
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The day after elite US forces captured wanted narco-terrorist and former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah would no longer operate in the South American state.
The Hezbollah terrorist organization, supported by the Iranian regime, is responsible for both the bombing of the US embassy, which killed 63 people, and the bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983, in which 241 US military personnel were killed.
Speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation, Rubio said, “It’s simple, okay? In the 21st century, under the Trump administration, we’re not going to have a country like Venezuela in our own hemisphere, within our sphere of control, and at the crossroads of Hezbollah, Iran, and all the other malevolent influences around the world. It’s not going to exist.” He also told NBC’s Meet the Press that, for Venezuela, that means “there is no longer an Iranian/Hezbollah presence there.”
Republican Senator PREDICTIONS TRUMP’S NEXT MOVE IN VENEZUELA Amid Hezbollah’s Influence: ‘IT WAS LONG PAST’
Hezbollah members salute and raise the group’s yellow flags during the funeral of their comrades Ismail Baz and Mohammed Hussein Shuhuri, who were martyred in an Israeli attack on their vehicles, in Shehabiya, southern Lebanon, on April 17, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
Walid Phares, an advisor to US presidential candidates and a leading expert on Hezbollah, told Fox News Digital: “Hezbollah has a long history in Venezuela and emerged as a major security concern in Latin America, particularly after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The origins of Hezbollah’s presence in Venezuela date back to the mid-1980s, when the organization began recruiting members from parts of the local Lebanese diaspora.”
He noted that Hezbollah gained more traction after the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez came to power in 2002. “During this period, Hezbollah’s presence became more visible, with reports indicating that some of its members had gained access to Venezuelan government institutions, including security agencies, often by obtaining Venezuelan passports and legal documents. These developments facilitated the spread of Hezbollah-affiliated networks throughout Latin America, extending to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, and reportedly reaching as far as the US-Mexico border.”
Phares said: “Hezbollah is believed to maintain a significant presence throughout Venezuela, including command and control elements in Caracas. In open source reports, Margarita Island is frequently mentioned as a logistics hub used for activities ranging from financial operations to intelligence gathering to alleged drug trafficking. Other publicly available reports include Hezbollah-related operations targeting Iranian dissidents abroad, including kidnapping attempts and intimidation campaigns in the West, and Iran.” Hemisphere suggests that Venezuela is cooperating.”
HIZBOLLA OPERATORS ARE SETTLEMENTING IN MADURO’S ‘ISLAND OF TERROR’ WHILE TOURISTS ARE ESCAPING
Hezbollah, which the US defines as a terrorist organization, attacked the US after capturing Maduro. Hezbollah said it “condemns American thuggery and terrorist aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” and “further affirms its full solidarity with the Venezuelan people, presidency and government in countering this American aggression and arrogance.”
The thorny problem of how to purge the Venezuelan state and society of entrenched Hezbollah agents was addressed by Phares. He said: “One option would be to rely on the post-Maduro transitional authority, which has promised to dismantle terrorist networks. But in practice, US intelligence and counterterrorism agencies are likely to play a leading role in detecting and disrupting pro-Iranian networks operating on Venezuelan soil.”
Matthew Levitt, a Washington Institute scholar who studies Hezbollah, told Fox News Digital: “It all depends on what kind of regime comes next. Trump’s statements leave this issue wide open. However, there is an opportunity to address the long-standing Hezbollah presence in Venezuela and the strategic relationship between Venezuela and Iran more broadly.”
Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and former deputy Secretary of State during Trump’s first administration, told Fox News Digital: “Among the many ways in which the Iranian regime and the Maduro regime coordinated until Maduro was arrested was providing a safe haven for Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah took advantage of the lack of rule of law in Venezuela, and more generally in parts of Latin America, to engage in money laundering activities linked to the drug trade.” used connections within the Maduro regime to provide Venezuelan passports to its members.”
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He noted: “It is no surprise that the plan to kidnap Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad involved taking him to Caracas by speedboat. Hezbollah and Iran knew that under Maduro they could operate there with impunity, spread anti-American propaganda, and plan anti-American attacks. Now that Maduro is gone, whether there are any consequences for the Maduro-Hezbollah relationship will depend on whether regime insiders are allowed to remain in power.”
