http://www.irishcentral.com/topics/Iran
“Iran gains power in Latin America as Obama administration looks on; a brave leader speaks”
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 06:44 PM
SNIPPET: “With little notice in the main stream media, Iran has been cementing it’s relationships with regimes in Venezuela & Bolivia, both countries under the control of strongmen friendly to communism. Iran is a main funder of terrorism throughout the world, For them to gain a foothold in Latin America, does not bode well for peace in our hemisphere.
Recently I spoke with Bolivian elected representative Senator Carmen Gonzales. She has had the courage to stand up and speak out about the repression besetting her country and it’s ever closer alliances with Iran. She has been the object of continual harassment by the government for her vocal opposition; including being buried in lawsuits (18) designed to silence her.
Tell us about Iran’s influence in Bolivia?
The influence of the Iranian theocracy in Bolivia is very wide and deep. Iran has inked many agreements with Bolivia, both known and unknown to the Bolivian people. I have demanded to know the extent of these agreements, but as of yet there has been no response from the leadership. Iran is interested in our mining industry, gas and uranium. Iran is interested in expanding its influence in Latin America, to provoke the United States. It is very advantageous to Iran to have the friendship of the Bolivian regime, with all of its natural resources, including uranium and being strategically placed in the center of the continent.”
SNIPPET: “I am also worried as a Bolivian, what may happen to the Jewish community here.
Recently, the Iranian defense minister was with our ruler, Evo Morales. That same minister is under orders for international prosecution, accused by an Argentine federal judge to be part of the deaths of hundreds of Jewish-Argentine AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in 1994).
So, it is very dangerous for the Jewish community the fact that Bolivia has relations with Iran.”
SNIPPET: “Since Bolivian leadership has signed agreements with Iran as well as Venezuela, there is clear worry that these countries can serve as bases for terrorist activities against neighboring countries and become a springboard for jihadism. With Iran racing toward nuclear weapons capability, there is no doubt in many circles, that technology can filter to enemies of the US. The exporting of nuclear weapons technology to Latin America would cause huge political disruption to this region.”
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/08/13/venezuela-as-iranian-terror-route-worries-us.html
“Venezuela as Iranian Terror Route Worries US”
Aug 13, 2012
Houston Chronicle| by Stewart M. Powell
WASHINGTON
SNIPPET: “”There’s pretty much of a general consensus within the intelligence community that Iranian-backed cells providing financial support to Hezbollah could easily convert to operational cells and light up the place,” says U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, a Republican whose district stretches from Austin to Houston.”
SNIPPET: “McCaul said Hezbollah is fundraising with impunity in the tri-border area surrounded by Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, where some 30,000 Lebanese expatriates and immigrants live among a population of 800,000.
He said enterprising businesses there are being required to tithe as much as 2 percent of gross revenues to the Lebanon-based terrorist organization.”
SNIPPET: “Congressional investigators working for the GOP majority estimate there are now “at least hundreds of Hezbollah operatives” in the U.S., said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.”
SNIPPET: “But the State Department’s annual report on terrorism concluded “there were no known operational cells of either al-Qaida or Hezbollah in the hemisphere.””