State Dept: Hezbollah Raising Funds Through Drug Cartels in South America But ‘No Credible Information’ of Terrorist Operations There

June 10, 2010 05:36


Huh? However, as CNSNews.com has reported, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) says the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hezbollah is linked to drug traffickers in South America’s tri-border region, which includes Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, and is using the proceeds from trafficking cocaine into Europe and the Middle East to finance its operations.

By Edwin Mora at CNSNews.com


The State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator told members of a Senate panel on Tuesday that there is “no credible information” to indicate that the international terrorist organization Hezbollah has an “operational presence in Latin America.”

However, as CNSNews.com has reported, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) says the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hezbollah is linked to drug traffickers in South America’s tri-border region, which includes Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, and is using the proceeds from trafficking cocaine into Europe and the Middle East to finance its operations.

“In the Western hemisphere, Hezbollah has tapped into Muslim communities to raise funds … we do note, however, that we have no credible information to indicate that Hezbollah has an operational presence in Latin America,” testified Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism.

Benjamin testified on June 8 before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs to assess Hezbollah.

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