Piracy, the Tri-Border Area and terrorism

In Paraguay, Piracy Bleeds U.S. Profits, Aids Terrorists

Some 25,000 Lebanese nationals live in the Tri-Border. American officials say Middle East terror groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah are receiving huge amounts of money from the region's illegal activities. So much that it has become a very important source of terrorist support. How important?

"It’s critically important from the standpoint of consistency," said Dennis Lormel, an investigator with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "The tri-border area is probably the most lucrative area for Hezbollah outside of the state sponsors."
...
"We had agents specifically assigned who overlooked Hezbollah and they recognized very quickly that they needed to focus on the Tri-border area," Lormel said. "Certainly with the corruption in the area and all the demographics and logistics, the Tri-border are is a very attractive area to operate from."

Authorities say that from the Tri-Border, Hezbollah launched the terrorist attacks that destroyed the Israeli embassy and the Jewish Cultural Center in Argentina in the 1990s, killing 114 people.

The situation has drawn the attention of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who says hundreds of millions of dollars coming out of the region is being laundered through New York banks.

"Huge Flow of Money"

"Between $50 million to $500 million goes to Hamas and Hezbollah," Morgenthau said. "On a quiet day, $4 trillion goes through New York, so it's relatively easy to hide a million or a billion dollars when you have this huge flow of money."

Unfortunately,

In Paraguay, however, Hezbollah is not considered a terrorist organization, and there are no laws against donating to terror groups.

Background posts:
Hezbollah in Latin America: history
Hezbollah in Latin America
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A Jacksonian's latest post on transnational terrorism

... is a must-read.

Anyone interested in the Caribbean and Latin America should read it,

Now we are getting somewhere! By placing high level Iranian agents in Argentina under Menem's rule, plus Monzer al-Kassar working there to help Syria, we now get Mr. Lasnaud to aid on a few things for arms shipments, mostly illegal ones, out of Argentina, which require high level connections to do so. With this we have a whole new list of folks to look at! The most tenuous connection, using Florida as a good geographic location for arms, narcotics and personnel movement has shifted from the present to the past. In Florida we hear from the latest cyber-jihadis about their wanting to do something the the JFK aircraft carrier's home base and the strip joints across the street from that base. That then takes us to Imran Mandhai and Shueyb Mossa Jokhan with their connection to El-Shukrijumah. Also going through Florida were the previous arms shipment to Jamaat al-Muslimeen in the 1990 coup and the more recent try with Mr. Glaude just after 9/11. Florida also proves to be the good base for French ex-pat Jean-Bernard Lasnaud and his outward connections to Carlos Menem, Monzer al-Kassar, and illegal arms shipments to places like Bosnia, which Mr. Kassar also shipped arms to during that period. Those connections shift the emphasis from al Qaeda, with the recent plotters, Mandhai, Jokhan and El Shukrijumah, thence onto JaM and its successful 1990 smuggling operation and the second, less so with Mr. Glaude, to that of Iran/Hezbollah and Mr. Lasnaud, Carlos Menem, and Monzer al-Kassar, plus a whole slew of Foreign Intel operatives from Iran and Imad Mugniyah.

It is a lengthy post, but is certainly informative.

Don't miss also my round-up of Latin American news.

Al-Qaeda in the Caribbean, Sandy Berger, and today's items

Via PJM, Al-Qaeda's Inroads into the Caribbean

The Jammat al-Muslimeen (Muslim Group) is Trinidad and Tobago’s most notorious Muslim organization. Although Trinidad’s ethnically and religiously diverse population, split roughly between descendants of African slaves and indentured servants from India and a sizable “mixed” community, includes Sunni and Shi’a Muslim immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East, the Jammat is known almost exclusively as a Black Sunni Muslim organization comprised mainly of Afro-Trinidadian converts to Islam. The group is led by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, a former police officer who was born Lenox Philip. The Jammat is best known for its violent 1990 attempt to overthrow the Trinidadian government over grievances related to land ownership, social and economic inequality, and government corruption [5].
...
The Waajihatul Islaamiyyah (Islamic Front), headed by Omar Abdullah, himself a Black Muslim convert, has also been identified as a potential threat by U.S. intelligence and Trinidadian authorities. Like the Jammat al-Muslimeen, the Wajithatul Islamiyyah is comprised mostly of Afro-Trinidadian converts to Islam. Local sources allege that Abdullah harbors extremist leanings. The Waajihatul has been accused of publishing material expressing support for al-Qaeda, but Trinidadian authorities have not provided conclusive evidence of any direct links with the group. He is often outspoken in his criticism of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the Trinidadian government’s policy towards Muslims. Trinidadian authorities also tie Abdullah to local crime and other illicit dealings [9].

The Jamaat al-Murabiteen (Almoravids, after the African Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Spain in the 11th and 12th Century) and the related Jammat al-Islami al-Karibi (Caribbean Islamic Group) are associated with one time Jamaat al-Muslimeen chief of security Maulana Hasan Anyabwile, formerly Beville Marshall. He split with Abu Bakr in 2001 over what Trinidadian sources allege was a personal rift with the group’s leader. Anyabwile hosted a radio show where he was known to criticize Trinidadian Hindus, Indian Muslims, and his former Jamaat al-Muslimeen associates for their purported failure in improving the lot of Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago. Local sources also allege that he is an extremist [10].

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Via Mike, Sandy Berger and the Clinton Cover-Up - Why It Matters

Berger had access to Archives documents that could be critical to understanding what information the Clinton Administration had, what options it considered, and what decisions it took on these sensitive subjects. In addition to primary documents, Berger had access to copies, and the only plausible reason for taking five copies of a single memo is that some had original notes on them from key officials, maybe from Berger or President Clinton.

For Berger to risk jail and disgrace, to then give up the right to practice his profession merely in order to avoid having to answer questions, he must be hiding something important. And if it is that important to him, it is also important to us.

The most likely explanation is that the material Berger destroyed points to a terrible mistake by Berger himself, by President Clinton, or by both. In dealing with al-Qaeda, did they overlook a critical piece of information or miss a chance to stop 9/11? Did the Administration's failure to take a more aggressive posture encourage al-Qaeda's later attacks?

When Fox News' Chris Wallace raised the possibility that Clinton's Administration might have done something more to prevent 9/11, Bill Clinton went into an inexplicable rage on national television. Wallace touched a nerve. So did the DC Bar.

Knowing what information Berger destroyed also might alter views of the current Bush Administration. Was the early support from both Bill and Hillary Clinton for going to war against Saddam based on something we don't know yet that was available to insiders in the Clinton Administration? Was it something that could come back to haunt Hillary and ruin her chances of winning Bill's third term?

--------------------------------------------------Via Maria, Senators Rebuke Joe Wilson Claims

The committee found that internal intelligence community notes of meetings in which Valerie Plame participated "did not mark her name with a (C) as would be required to indicate that her association with the CIA was classified," as both Plame and her husband have said. These aren't the only instances where Wilson's account did not square with the facts, the senators found.

Wilson has said in his book and in numerous public appearances that reports he reviewed from the U.S. ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, "indicated that there was nothing to the Niger-Iraq uranium story . . . This too is untrue," the committee found. On the contrary, Owens-Kirkpatrick wrote a cable to the State Department which said that the initial CIA reporting of a Niger-Iraq uranium deal "provides sufficient details to warrant another hard look at Niger's uranium sales."

Although Nigerien officials insisted in meetings with the Americans that no uranium would be sold to rogue nations, "we should not dismiss out of hand the possibility that some scheme could be, or has been, underway to supply Iraq with yellowcake from here," she wrote.

Perhaps the most damning conclusion of the Senate report has been known for nearly three years, but has remained classified until now. In the initial July 2004 report, the Senate committee reported that the intelligence community "used or cleared the Niger-Iraq uranium intelligence fifteen times before the President's State of the Union address and four times after, saying in several papers that Iraq was ‘vigorously pursuing uranium from Africa.'"

Despite that finding, Democrats led by Michigan Sen. Carl Levin blasted President Bush for the "16 words" in the January 2003 speech that described Iraq's efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, calling them an effort to "cherry-pick" intelligence and to "mislead" the country and the world in a "rush to war."

In fact, the U.S. intelligence community continued to believe in the veracity of the Niger uranium story for many months after the speech, and didn't call back its original reporting until June 2003 — well after the liberation of Iraq.

Meanwhile, via Larwyn, Plame To Sue CIA - The Irony And The (Near) Ectasy--------------------------------------------------
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Les enfants du paradis communiste

The title refers to an old French movie but the post has to do with the current propaganda trend in central New Jersey, which implies that the viewer should take it all in, in an attitude of child-like innocence.

First we had the Princeton "Human Rights" Film Festival, now there's the Che show at the Mason Gross Galleries in New Brunswick (emphasis on gross), gloriously promoted in the local paper as,

The continued power of Che Guevara as a symbol of hope and opposition across cultures is examined at Mason Gross Galleries.

I'll give you some data on the "symbol of hope and opposition": here's a list of 216 documented victims of Che Guevara in Cuba, 1957-1959 (pdf file). Here's another list compiled by Dr. Armando Lago for his book,

EXECUTED BY CHE IN THE SIERRA MAESTRA MOUNTAINS
ARUSTIDIO
MANUEL CAPITAN
JUAN CHANG
EUTIMIO GUERRA
DIONISIO LEBRIGIO
JUAN LEBRIGIO
EL NEGRO NAPOLES
CHICHO OSORIO
DOS "NO-IDENTIFICADOS'' EN EL 04/57

EXECUTED BY CHE IN SANTA CLARA CITY
RAMON ALBA
JOSE BARROSO
JOAQUIN CASILLAS
FELIX CRUZ
HECTOR MIRABAL
J. MIRABAL
FELIX MONTANO
CORNELIO ROJAS
ALEJANDRO GARCIA OLAYON
ALEJANDRO ROJAS
VILALLA

EXECUTED BY CHE AT LA CABA�A PRISON IN HAVANA
VILAU ABREU
HUMBERTO AGUIAR
GERMAN AGUIRRE
PELAYO ALAYON
JOSE LUIS ALFARO
PEDRO ALFARO
MARIANO ALONSO
JOSE ALVARO
ANIELLA
MARIO ARES POLO
JOSE RAMON BACALLAO
CEVERINO BARRIOS
EUGENIO BECKER
FRANCISCO BECKER
RAMON BISCET
ROBERTO CALZADILLA
EUFEMIO CANO
JUAN CAPOTE FIALLO
ANTONIO CARRALERO
GERTRUDIS CASTELLANOS
JOSE CASTA�O QUEVEDO
RAUL CASTA�O
EUFEMIO CHALA
JOSE CHAMACE
JOSE CHAMIZO
RAUL CLAUSELL
ANGEL CLAUSELL
DEMETRIO CLAUSELL
JOSE CLAUSELL
ELOY CONTRERAS
ROBERTO CORBO
EMILIO CRUZ
JUAN FELIPE CRUZ
ORESTES CRUZ
HUMBERTO CUEVAS
CUNY
ANTONIO DE BECHE
MATEO DELGADO
ARMANDO DELGADO
RAMON DESPAIGNE
JOSE DIAZ CABEZAS
ANTONIO DUARTE
RAMON FERNANDEZ OJEDA
RUDY FERNANDEZ
FERRAN ALFONSO
SALVADOR FERRERO
VICTOR FIGUEREDO
EDUARDO FORTE
UGARDE GALAN
RAFAEL GARCIA MU�IZ
ADALBERTO GARCIA
ALBERTO GARCIA
JACINTO GARCIA
EVELIO GASPAR
ARMADA GIL
JOSE GONZALEZ MALAGON
EVARISTO GONZALEZ
EZEQUIEL GONZALEZ
SECUNDINO GONZALEZ
RICARDO GRAO
BONIFACIO GRASSO
RICARDO GRAU
OSCAR GUERRA
JULIAN HERNANDEZ
FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ LEYVA (father of Pepe Hernandez)
ANTONIO HERNANDEZ
GERARDO HERNANDEZ
OLEGARIO HERNANDEZ
SECUNDINO HERNANDEZ
JESUS INSUA
ENRIQUE IZQUIERDO
OSMIN JORRIN
SILVINO JUNCO
ENRIQUE LAROSA
IGNACIO LAAAPARRA
JESUS LAZO
ARIEL LIMA LAGO
RAUL LOPEZ VIDAL
ARMANDO MAS
ENERLIO MATA
ELPIDIO MEDEROS
JOSE MEDINAS
JOSE MESA
FIDEL MESQUIA
JUAN MILIAN
FRANCISCO MIRABAL
LUIS MIRABAL
ERNESTO MORALES
PEDRO MOREJON
DR. CARLOS MUI�O
CESAR NECOLARDES ROJAS
VICTOR NECOLARDES ROJAS
JOSE NU�EZ
VITERBO O'RREILLY
FELIX OVIEDO
MANUEL PANEQUE
PEDRO PEDROSO
RAFAEL PEDROSO
DIEGO PEREZ CUESTA
JUAN PEREZ
DIEGO PEREZ CRELA
JOSE POZO
EMILIO PUEBLA
ALFREDO PUPO
SECUNDINO RAMIREZ
RAMON RAMOS
PABLO RAVELO
RUBEN REY
MARIO RISQUELME
FERNANDO RIVERA
PABLO RIVERA
MANUEL RODRIGUEZ
MARCOS RODRIGUEZ
NEMESIO RODRIGUEZ
PABLO RODRIGUEZ
RICARDO RODRIGUEZ
JOSE SALDARA
PEDRO SANTANA
SERGIO SIERRA
JUAN SILVA
FAUSTO SILVA
ELPIDIO SOLER
JESUS SOSA BLANCO
RENATO SOSA
SERGIO SOSA
PEDRO SOTO
OSCAR SUAREZ
RAFAEL TARRAGO
TEODORO TELLEZ
FRANCISCO TELLEZ
JOSE TIN
FRANCISCO TRAVIESO
LEONARDO TRUJILLO
TRUJILLO
LUPE VALDES
MARCELINO VALDES
ANTONIO VALENTIN
MANUEL VAZQUEZ
VERDECIA
DAMASO ZAYAS

Here's one instance of Che's modus operandi:

A Cuban gentleman named Pierre San Martin was also among those jailed by the gallant Che. A few years ago he recalled the horrors in an El Nuevo Herald article.

"Thirty-two of us were crammed into a cell," he recalls. "Sixteen of us would stand while the other sixteen tried to sleep on the cold filthy floor. We took shifts that way. Actually, we considered ourselves lucky. After all, we were alive. Dozens were led from the cells to the firing squad daily. The volleys kept us awake. We felt that any one of those minutes would be our last.

"One morning the horrible sound of that rusty steel door swinging open startled us awake and Che's guards shoved a new prisoner into our cell. His face was bruised and smeared with blood. We could only gape. He was a boy, couldn't have been much older than 12, maybe 14.

"'What did you do?' We asked horrified. 'I tried to defend my papa,' gasped the bloodied boy. 'I tried to keep these Communist sons of b**tches form murdering him! But they sent him to the firing squad.'"

Soon Che's goons came back, the rusty steel door opened and they yanked the valiant boy out of the cell. "We all rushed to the cell's window that faced the execution pit," recalls Mr. San Martin. "We simply couldn't believe they'd murder him! Then we spotted him, strutting around the blood-drenched execution yard with his hands on his waist and barking orders � the gallant Che Guevara.

"Here Che was, finally in his element. In battle he was a sad joke, a bumbler of epic proportions [for details see "Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant"], but up against disarmed and bloodied boys he was a snarling tiger.

"'Kneel Down!' Che barked at the boy.

"'ASSASSINS!' We screamed from our window. 'MURDERERS!! HOW CAN YOU MURDER A LITTLE BOY!'

"'I said, KNEEL DOWN!' Che barked again.

"The boy stared Che resolutely in the face. 'If you're going to kill me,' he yelled. 'you'll have to do it while I'm standing! MEN die standing!'

"COWARDS! MURDERERS! Sons of B**TCHES!" The men yelled desperately from their cells. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" HOW CAN ...?!"

"And then we saw Che unholstering his pistol. It didn't seem possible. But Che raised his pistol, put the barrel to the back of the boy's neck and blasted. The shot almost decapitated the young boy.
"We erupted. We were enraged, hysterical, banging on the bars.'MURDERERS! ASSASSINS!' His murder finished, Che finally looked up at us, pointed his pistol, and BLAM-BLAM-BLAM! emptied his clip in our direction. Several of us were wounded by his shots."

To a man (and boy) Che's murder victims went down in a blaze of defiance and glory. So let's recall Che's own plea when the wheels of justice finally turned and he was cornered in Bolivia. "Don't Shoot!" he whimpered. "I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!"

Don't expect to find any of that at the Mason Gross Galleries in New Brunswick.

This is what happens to artists in present-day Cuba.

The return of Fernando Araujo

Fernando Araujo was Colombia's Minister of Development when was kidnapped by the Colombian FARC narcoterrorists on December 4, 2000, while he was jogging. He survived for six years tied up to a hammock until his escape last December 31, 2006, wondering through the jungle until he was rescued. Last Monday Colombian President Alvaro Uribe named him Foreign Minister.

Investor's Business Daily explains what this means in the context of the war on terrorism,
Proof Of Life In A Latin American Ally
War On Terror: Why would a sensible ally like Colombia pull a bit of magic realism and name a recently escaped hostage its new foreign minister? Because it's trying to tell us something.

But patriotism prompts people to do heroic things. This willingness to put nation before self may be the new role Araujo can play in helping Colombia persuade the U.S. Congress and the rest of the world to support its need for victory. It might be a brilliant choice for Uribe.

Putting a former hostage forward seemed to be Uribe's intention. He noted that Araujo "himself suffered our national tragedy, which we are committed to ending."

The message is important because not everyone outside Colombia understands. Leading the pack is the new Democrat-controlled Congress. It controls the $586 million in anti-terror funding the U.S. has earmarked for Colombia, money that's vital to the survival of an embattled ally and critical to our own national security.

Instead of focusing on that, Democrats like Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that funds assistance to Colombia, are chiefly interested in criticizing our leading ally in South America.

The new majority wants to cut Colombia's aid at a time when Colombia is seeking more. If the Democrats succeed, they will be squandering a chance to deliver a potential death blow to Colombian narcoterrorists.

Democrats have complained about Colombia's human rights record, demanding pristine standards from a nation that has been in a full-blown war since 1966. They also want to renegotiate a U.S.-Colombia free-trade pact, kvetching about labor rules, salaries and benefit packages.

They've even come up with a new one — blaming Colombia for global warming because of an increase in air shipments of its roses. Never mind that those commercial rose fields were once illegal coca patches.

Nitpicking is one thing, but these Democrats are the same people who have increased aid to Ecuador as that country pursues failed socialist models and turns into the nastiest anti-American regime this side of Venezuela.

Worst of all, Democrats like Leahy try to micromanage Colombia's war, demanding that Uribe fight all factions with equal vigor instead of first taking on the most deadly enemies, like FARC. That's why Uribe lost his last foreign minister. Her brother was accused of involvement with paramilitaries, but she had no involvement herself.

Uribe and Araujo are from different political parties, but both are determined to win Colombia's war against terror. Their willingness to put aside political differences to achieve victory is admirable. If only congressional Democrats would do the same.

You can watch until 2PM EST France2's interview of Araujo here, under Bogota: portrait de Fernando Araujo. The France2 anchorman refers to Araujo's new post as a "symbollic gesture". Nonsense. It is an act of courage.

A brave man, and a hero.


technorati tags Colombia Fernando Araujo FARC