Posted on 08/04/2020 3:10:28 AM PDT by Marinario
On the heels of the Third Western Hemisphere Counterterrorism Ministerial Conference in Bogota, noted journalist Jana Beris from Colombia’s daily newspaper El Tiempo conducted an extensive interview with SFS Executive Director Joseph Humire on the implications of the recent terrorist designation of Hezbollah (and other Islamist terrorist organizations) by the Duque government in Colombia.
The following is an unofficial translation of the interview:
JosephHumire, one of the foremost experts on Hezbollah and Iran in Latin America,doesn’t have any doubt: designating Hezbollah as a foreign terroristorganization isn’t just a political show—it’s a legal tool.
Atool for governments to effectively combat Hezbollah; one that gives them clearand powerful resources to arrest members, freeze their assets, restrict theirfreedom of movement, and to make it harder to plot and carry out terroristattacks.
Humire, the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS),told EL TIEMPO that Colombia’s designation, announced by President Duque at theThird Hemispheric Ministerial Counterterrorism Conference, is especiallyimportant because the country was one of the first in the region to have aHezbollah presence.
Q: Whatis the history of Hezbollah’s presence in Colombia?
A: Colombiais one of the countries in Latin America that has had a presence of Hezbollahfor some time. The first wave came through Lebanese migration to the Caribbeancost of Colombia, where large Lebanese communities have formed and have beeninfiltrated by Hezbollah. Ground zero for this infiltration started in Maicao,on the border with Venezuela. There is clear evidence backing up this point.
Q: Doesthis necessarily imply a link to terrorist activity?
A: Wehave to remember the attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina(AMIA) in Buenos Aires in 1994. Colombia is connected to this attack throughthe planning and logistics of the operation. Operatives moved in and out ofSouth America to plan and carry out the attack and the explosives used to blow upthe building came from the Middle East, passing through Colombia to get to theTri-Border Area.
Q: Althoughthis has never been published, correct?
A: Youare right, it hasn’t. But Argentine intelligence officials that investigatedthe AMIA case, long before the case was given to special prosecutor AlbertoNisman, confirmed this. It’s in the 1,500-page classified report fromArgentine intelligence that I have read and studied.
Q: Isthere more that connects Colombia to this attack that killed 85 people?
A: Theoperative that prepared the logistics for the attack, the communications, andthe movement of the explosives is a native Colombian, his name is Samuel Salmanel Reda el Reda, who was born in San Andrés. His birth name is Salman RaoufSalman. All of this is public information, identified by the late AlbertoNisman.
Q: Whereis he now?
A: He [Salman] is still up to the sameactivities. This past July, the US Treasury Department designated him as aSpecially Designated Global Terrorist and Argentine authorities responsible forthe AMIA case got an Interpol red notice on him.
Q: Doesthis mean he is very active?
A: Sincethe AMIA bombing, el Reda has done nothing but climb up the ranks [ofHezbollah]. There are some that believe he could be the number two or three-guyin Unit 910, Hezbollah’s elite, clandestine operations unit in charge ofplanning international attacks. It is the same unit that works closely with theQods Force of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Q: TheQods Force is in charge of Iranian “military activity” outside of Iran…
A: Exactly.But quickly returning to this man [Salman el Reda], let us be clear: aColombian born in San Andrés is a senior member of Hezbollah. And he doesnot only operate in Latin America. He is also suspected of having helpedorganize plots or attacks in Thailand, Bulgaria, and Cyprus. El Reda has beenoperating globally, but his infamy comes from the “success” he had in the AMIAattack [in Argentina].
The Argentine intelligence report also says el Reda has strong connections withthe “Colombian guerrilla forces,” although it does not specify further.
The section dedicated to him in the report is very extensive. We have to remember that Mohsen Rabbani, the Iranian diplomat supposedly involved in the preparation of the attack, who was mentioned by Nisman as the “mastermind” of the attack, and who is also wanted by Interpol, traveled very often to Colombia when he was in South America it was el Reda who arranged his trips and contacts.
Q: Howcan Colombia’s designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization affect itstense situation with Venezuela? Especially when it is known that Hezbollah isinstalled in Venezuela…
A: Today,if you designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, by extension you aredealing with the subject of Hezbollah’s presence in Venezuela, since they arelinked. Especially with Colombia, where there is movement of people across theborder between the two countries, although it is hard to know who is associatedwith Hezbollah since they change their identity and use fake names.
What is certain though, is Maicao is used as an entry and exit point and thatthere are Venezuelans [that move in and out of Maicao] who are directly linkedto Hezbollah.
Q: Arethere concrete examples?
A: Yes. For example, Ghazi Nasr al Din, a former Venezuelan diplomat under Maduro, who served in the Venezuelan Embassy in Syria, has Lebanese origins and now resides in Venezuela. He had to leave the government in 2012, due to U.S. sanctions for his ties to Hezbollah. And it is known that he often travels from Venezuela to Colombia, mostly by Maicao, operating from mosques and Islamic centers.
Further, we know that in Colombia there is a strong presence of militant Lebanese that support and/or are sympathetic to Hezbollah. What’s the most difficult is proving with certainty who is an actual member or operator of the organization. The bottom line is that when Hezbollah has supporters in Colombia’s Lebanese community, spaces are opened up for true Hezbollah operators to enter without anyone detecting them.
Q: Howcan the designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization help?
A: Forexample, if you have a [Lebanese] community where most of its members are goodpeople, you can’t start investigating all of its members just because a minoritymay be helping Hezbollah. But if Hezbollah is [legally] designated as a foreignterrorist organization, one can warn the community that any contact withHezbollah can be considered a crime and weed out the bad apples. Without adesignation, it is more complicated.
Q: So,the “terrorist” designation isn’t just for political reasons …
A: Notat all. You can’t criminalize the preparation of a terrorist act withoutcriminalizing being a member of a terrorist group.
Hezbollah’s entry, and its continual presence in Latin America is so advanced that it has managed to separate its networks. Their illicit drug trafficking network is separate from their terrorist network, from those responsible for planning an attack. That means if you think a Hezbollah operative may be planning an attack, you won’t be able to convict him if he didn’t commit another crime. Why? If there isn’t a clear definition criminalizing membership in a terrorist group, officials will have to wait until the operative committed another crime, such as falsifies documents, or is involved in money laundering or drug trafficking in order to convict him. This has already happened in the Tri-Border Area, Panama, and in Peru
But in order to combat terrorism, we must anticipate the terrorist acts before they take place and neutralize the threat. Terrorism works differently from organized crime [where you investigate after the crime has taken place], and thus, cannot be treated the same.
Designating Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization is the most effective legal counterterrorism tool. And if Latin America does this, they are also taking measures to protect their citizens from having to experience a tragic terrorist attack stemming from a conflict that is not theirs but exported from the Middle East by Hezbollah throughout the world.
For more, read the original Spanish article at El Tiempo. Download the unofficial English translation, below.
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