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8-17-19 A French commercial pilot claimed that materiel was assembled off the coast of Venezuela, on Isla Margarita--today a free-trade zone controlled by Hezbollah--with a growing presence of Hamas, al-Qaeda and ISIS fugitives among an Arab community of some 12,000. Isla Margarita appeared in a report by the assassinated Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman as part of what is now called “Latin Arabia,” from Surinam to Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, the Argentine-Brazil-Paraguay Triple Frontier Region and Trinidad-Tobago.
The arms would be sent by boat to the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe or Martinique, also hosting communities of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians, especially those who had fled the Lebanon civil war in the 1970s and ‘80s. “From these French territories, flights considered as domestic could freely arrive in Paris without security or customs controls,” claimed the pilot.
At the time we turned to the Élysée Palace and were assured that President François Mitterand himself knew nothing of this deal.
A few days later we learned that the “delegate general of Palestine” (aka “ambassador of Palestine”) to France, Ibrahim Souss--considered a master concert pianist rather than an agent of terror--was hauled into the Quai d’Orsay Foreign Office, allegedly to discuss the islands’ “traffic” issue.
If Le Parisien and our pilot source are correct, the arms supply to Abu Nidal through France into Europe could have been used in his terrorist organization’s subsequent deadly itinerary resulting in at least 400 murdered victims and many more wounded:
• November 23, 1985: EgyptAir Flight 648 hijacking and stand-off in Malta, 58 killed.
• December 27, 1985: Simultaneous shootings at the El Al ticket counters in Rome and Vienna airports, 20 killed, 138 wounded.
• September 5, 1986: Pan American flight 73 hijacking, 20 killed, 120 wounded.
• September 6, 1986: Attack against the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul, 22 killed.
• July 11, 1988: Attack on a Greek cruise ship, 10 killed, 98 wounded.
• December 21, 1988: Pan American flight 103 explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland, claimed by Abu Nidal among other suspects, 270 killed.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Did-French-Caribbean-serve-as-Palestinian-terrorists-arms-route-598783#/
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2-9-19 Hezbollah has a long and sordid history in Venezuela. A cocaine-smuggling ring active throughout the 2000s led by a Hezbollah-linked Lebanese national named Chekry Harb—a drug trafficker and money laundering kingpin who went by the nickname “Taliban”—used Panama and Venezuela as critical hubs in an operation that sent narcotics from Colombia to the United States, West Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Proceeds from the cocaine-trafficking ring were laundered into Colombian pesos or Venezuelan bolivars, with Hezbollah netting between 8 and 14 percent of profits.
Hezbollah’s reliance on sympathizers within its diaspora communities, including in Venezuela, has significantly minimized the group’s potential exposure to detection. Venezuela’s border security officials and law enforcement, amid the country’s general desperation, have been largely unwilling to resist bribes and kickback schemes offered by Hezbollah members. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/09/hezbollah-is-in-venezuela-to-stay/
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2-12-19 Islamic Republic has had close relations with Venezuela for some time now. Iran’s close ties with the Nicolás Maduro regime and the previous president Hugo Chávez, have enabled Iran to extend its military and financial presence, primarily through its proxy Hezbollah.
These bonds strengthened starting 2005 between Ahmadinejad and Chávez. However, a strong Hezbollah support network has existed in Venezuela for a long time. Hezbollah has had cells in Venezuela since the 1990’s according to a July 2003 report by Mark Steinitz, the then-director of the terrorism analysis office in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
Margarita Island off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela serves as a hub for drug trafficking and Hezbollah as well as other Islamist extremists such as Hamas. Margarita Island is being used by Iranian and Iranian-linked militants as a base of operations. Steinitz further added that “attention has focused on the group’s presence among Lebanese Shia in the 12,000-strong Arab community on Margarita Island.” There are large Syrian and Lebanese diaspora communities in Venezuela which serve as valuable sources of revenue and offer support to Hezbollah and Iran. Antonio Salas an author who infiltrated terrorist groups in Venezuela in 2010 revealed that there were “as many as six terrorist training camps, mostly run by Venezuelan military officers, spread around the capital city of Caracas and Margarita Island.”
Venezuela is one of many Latin American countries in the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). According to Joel Hirst, ALBA has solicited the aid of Iran and Hezbollah to train their military in asymmetric warfare. Venezuela became interested in asymmetric warfare in 2006 under Chávez. Terrorism is a part of asymmetric warfare, and Venezuela’s participation “has allowed Hezbollah to plan, fundraise, train, coordinate and carry out operations, mostly fundraising and intelligence collection.”
In 2015 General John F. Kelly, the then-Commander of the United States Southern Command, testified that the Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah has long viewed Latin America as a venue by which they can attack Israeli or other Western targets. Kelly further stated that nations such as “Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia restrict defense ties with the United States and have sought in some cases to eliminate the US military presence from their countries.” This reduced U.S. presence in Venezuela provides an opportunity for Iran to utilize its proxy against the U.S. General James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, stated in 2013 that “ Iran may be more willing to seize opportunities to attack in the United States in response to perceived offenses against the regime.” Iran’s strategic position in Venezuela, and its freedom of action there, can help to facilitate such an attack.” Iran having established strong ties in Venezuela, has been able “to establish a military industrial footprint” in the form of military-to-military agreements between Iran and Venezuela.
According to Martin Rodil, an expert in Latin American politics, Venezuela agreed to provide Iran with “intelligence infrastructure such as arms, identification documents, bank accounts, and pipelines for moving operatives and equipment between Iran and Latin America.” Coviassa (the state airline in Venezuela) and Iran Air (the state airline in Iran) were used to transport military technology and personnel from Iran to Venezuela. Conviassa personnel claimed that radioactive materials and missile system components were on these flights. This operation continued from 2007 to 2011; these flights and their passengers were never inspected. Ordinary citizens were unable to obtain a seat on these flights; instead, these seats were reserved for “Iranian agents, including Hezbollah, the IRGC, and other intelligence personnel.”
According to Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, the then-Commander of the United States Southern Command, who testified before Congress in February 2018, “Lebanese Hezbollah maintains an established logistical, facilitating, and operational presence in this region that can be quickly leveraged with no warning.” He further stated that “Venezuela has long provided a permissive environment for narco-terrorist groups and Lebanese Hezbollah supporters and is a transit country for the smuggling of illicit drugs and Special Interest Aliens (SIAs).” Special Interest Aliens are foreign nationals from a country with potential or known terrorist links.
Matthew Levitt, the director of The Washington Institute's Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, wrote that in 2011 a prominent member of Chávez’s government was accused by the media of issuing passports to members of Hezbollah and Hamas. U.S. officials have stated that Venezuelan officials have issued fake cedulas (Venezuelan version of a social security card) to people from Middle Eastern countries who would not have qualified for these documents. These documents make it possible for them to then get a Venezuelan passport and consequently a U.S. visa. These documents have made it possible for members of Hezbollah to join and form cells within the U.S. as was done with the Charlotte, North Carolina Hezbollah cell. https://en.radiofarda.com/a/would-a-new-venezuelan-government-kick-out-hezbollah-/29765060.html
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4-2-19 According to reports, more than 120 soldiers from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army arrived at Venezuela’s Margarita Island to deliver humanitarian aid and military supplies to the government forces. https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/chinese-army-arrives-in-venezuela-just-days-after-the-russian-miltary/
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4-2-19 Rosoboronexport, the state corporation for arms sales, said in a statement it built the centre under a contract with Venezuelan state-owned firearms manufacturer CAVIM.
Russian-made simulators will allow local pilots to practice flying helicopters that Moscow has supplied to Caracas. These include the Mil Mi-35M Hind, a gunship known in Russia as the “flying tank” for its durability under fire, the Mi-26T heavy transport helicopter and the Mi-17V-5, a transport helicopter that can be equipped with machine guns and rockets.
At the opening ceremony for the helicopter centre on Friday, Venezuelan defence minister Vladimir Padrino López said a flight simulator for the Russian-made Su-30MK2 fighter jet would be installed in another city and a factory to produce Kalashnikov assault rifles under license would open soon after years of delays. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/02/russia-opens-military-helicopter-training-centre-venezuela/
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The container port (PCCP) China is building in the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal, at Colon--on Isla Margarita, is 30 percent done and it is the biggest Asian investment in the Isthmus until now.
In only nine months the project executed 310 million dollars in values, of the 1.1 billion included in its first stage, reported spokespersons of the construction, in charge of state China entity Communications Construction Company, one of the biggest construction and design enterprises of China and the second largest dredging firms of the world. https://panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com/blog/news-from-panama/biggest-chinese-investment-panama-makes-progress/
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6-12-2017
China Landbridge, a privately owned company based in the northern Chinese port of Rizhao, bought Panama’s largest port, at Margarita Island, in May last year and announced that it wanted to expand and modernise the facilities. The new high-speed, deepwater port will be called the Panama Colón Container Port (PCCP).
In line with China’s grand One Belt, One Road global strategy, the plan is to capitalise on the doubling in the capacity of the canal, which can now handle the New Panamax container ships that can transport up to 14,500 teu (twenty-foot equivalent units). That work was completed in June last year. The first stone of port was laid on 7 June by Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela, who commented that the port was the most important Chinese investment in Panama so far. Ye Cheng, president of Landbridge Group, said during the ceremony that the port would become one of the most important in the world. He said: “Landbridge’s ports in Asia and Oceania together with PCCP on Margarita Island will be efficiently connected to exploit maritime cooperation, contributing to the economic development of all countries.” http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/chinese-firm-starts-w7rk-1bn-panama7nian-meg7aport/
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2018. What will it mean for the region to have PCCP able to accommodate the new type of Neo-Panamax vessels?
Jorge Serrano Evers, Managing Director of Panama Colón Container Port (PCCP): The key differentiating factor in this industry is being able to offer greater productivity, and we are going to use all the latest, state-of-the-art Chinese technology for this project. For example, our provider for gantry cranes is ZMPC, which has captured 90% of the American market. We will also be using the latest RGTs, which are the smaller cranes, as well as the newest information systems . Being able to handle larger amounts of cargo is important because the current trend in shipping is focused on larger volumes. https://www.thebusinessyear.com/panama-2018/ground-breaking/interview
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