South America: Hezbollah’s Expanding Network and Financial Operation

South America, the modern-day wild west. Hezbollah established a well-developed network. An organized jungle where corrupt leaders' support of cartels and international terror regimes paves the way for dark market opportunities that generate substantial funding for their global operations. Taking advantage of porous borders and lax governmental regulation, Hezbollah insinuated its way into the mecca of South America's dark market, and from there has been able to work jointly with Iran, cartels such as the FACR, and Venezuela to distribute drugs, slaves, and weapons globally. Hezbollah, insinuated its way to the mecca of South America's dark market. An Example of the structure of Hezbollahs sophisticated smuggling and political:

• Hezbollah works with Iran through al Quds Force, known as “Unit 190”, which is used to distribute weapons globally into Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza.

• Hezbollah’s Unit 190, operates under the External Security Organization (ESO). the

Lebanese Shiite militant group has transformed pockets of South America into a fully functioning international terror operational hub. While South America is synonymous with its Drug cartels, fewer recognize the intensifying Jihadist terrorist heft within its borders, to co-opt its regime into local governments on an international level. Hezbollah’s operations appear to have no limit. They span from drug trafficking, arms smuggling, luxury goods smuggling (including blood diamonds), and abhorrent act of human trafficking. The National Defense University Press states, “…organizations are a large part of the hybrid threat that forms the nexus of illicit drug trafficking. Including, but not limited to, routes, profits, corruptive influence and terroristic actions, both homegrown as well as imported Islamic terrorism.

They have achieved a degree of globalized outreach and collaboration via networks, as well as horizontal diversification. Hezbollahs operations have flourished under the reinforcement of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, political protection, and coordination of petroleum logistical support to and from Iran. A collaboration between Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, and Iran’s sponsorship of Hezbollah, creates a synergistic ecosystem for Hezbollah expand operations. Central to Hezbollah’s success is its ability to emulate the cartel of building community under the familial clan method, creating a camouflaged network that blends in with the methodology of the cartels. Implicating this decentralized model enables illicit activities to evade detection, while leveraging community trust.” Venezuela’s rich history of accepting refugees from the Middle East creates a milieu that perfectly obscures Hezbollah's presence embedded in the diaspora communities.

Venezuela’s Strategic Partnership

Historical Foundations of Diaspora Networks in Venezuela

Venezuela’s history with the Middle East stems from a century-long history of Venezuela opening its borders to Middle Eastern migrants, since the Federal War (1859-1863). In 1862, Lebanese, Armenian, and Syrian immigrants fled their homeland. Comprising Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who carried Ottoman Empire Passports, labeling them as “Turks”. Many settled in ports like Margarita Island and established a robust trade network that later would be used to benefit Hezbollah’s operations.

Demographic Shifts & Operational Exploitation

The Lebanese diaspora in Venezuela peaked at approximately 750,000 individuals, creating a self-sustaining community that maintained cultural ties to Lebanon while integrating into Venezuelan commerce. However, between 2008 and 2017, hyperinflation and food shortages prompted an exodus of 12,000 Venezuelan-Lebanese citizens returning to Lebanon. Paradoxically, this diaspora loyalty provided Hezbollah with recruitment opportunities, as noted by Brazil’s Federal Police and Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC/MG):

“Former Vice President Tareck El Aissami, as head of Venezuela’s Identification Directorate (ONIDEX), allegedly issued 10,000 passports to Middle Eastern extremists, including Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah members, between 2007–2012.”

Nasserddine Clan’s Government Infiltration

Among Hezbollah’s Venezuelan networks—including the Rada and Salih Clans—the Nasserddine Clan stands apart, as the only faction to set foot in the Venezuelan government. The Nasserddine Clan represents Hezbollah’s most successful penetration of their ability to mingle in Venezuela's government. As the Atlantic Council notes, the Nasserddine Clan functions as “fixers” in counter-terrorism terminology, “providing distance and plausible deniability for Hezbollah leadership while maintaining direct ties to Maduro’s regime”. Iran has Hezbollah on a stick and can embed itself into foreign governments. Iran has systematically transformed Hezbollah into a geopolitical instrument. Wielding delegated influence in Venezuela’s government, giving Hezbollah not just military influence, but political influence beyond Hezbollah’s presence in the Lebanese parliament.

Ghazi Nasr al Din: Dual-Role Operative

Ghazi Nasr al Din, an elite influencer within Venezuela's government, an affiliate of Hezbollah, was born in Lebanon and holds Venezuelan citizenship. Under the authority of former President Hugo Chávez, al Din rose to power. As Director of Political Aspects at Venezuela’s Lebanese embassy, he facilitated direct coordination with Hezbollah officials while overseeing the Caracas Shia Islamic Center. This dual role allowed him to channel donor funds directly to Hezbollah while advising Maduro’s government on diplomatic strategy.

Tareck El Aissami: Cartel-State Nexus

Tareck El Aissami, son of Ba’ath Party member Carlos El Aissami (a documented supporter of Islamic jihad), ascended through Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution. His tenure as Minister ofInterior and Justice (2008–2012) and later Minister of Oil positioned him to influence both security policy and Venezuela’s petroleum exports.

• In 2009, based on proper Israeli intelligence, a document authored but Israel's Foreign Ministry claimed “Venezuela supplies Iran with Uranium for its nuclear program.”.

• In February 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned El Aissami for narco-trafficking.

• In his March 2023 resignation amid the arrests of close associates. His downfall exposed systemic collusion between Maduro’s regime and Hezbollah’s financial networks.

• Recently, in April 2024, Tareck El Aissami, also known as El Aissami Maddah or Tareck Zaiden, was taken prisoner by the Venezuela National Anticorruption Police (PNCC) and is currently being detained in Venezuela. Tereck El Aissami, a member of Hezbollah and former five-time president as well as Minister of Industry and National Production for Venezuela, is known to be a member of the Nasserddine Clan.

Aside from Venezuela's support for Hezbollah, the tri-border area is a hotbed of multiple terror factions that blend with local cartels.

The Tri-Border Area – Nexus of Illicit Finance and Terrorist Logistics

South America’s Tri-Border Area (TBA), where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay intersect at Foz do Iguaçu, a demesne of Hezbollah’s logistical operations and financial networks in the Western Hemisphere. As documented by the National Defense University Press, this region forms a globalized nexus where “illicit drug trafficking—including routes, profits, and corruptive influences—and terrorism, both homegrown and imported, achieve horizontal diversification through collaborative networks”.

Geographic and Systemic Advantages

The TBA’s unique confluence of three porous borders creates an ecosystem ideal for masking illicit activities under the guise of legitimate commerce. Hezbollah exploits several structural vulnerabilities, allowing Hezbollah to operate on a massive scale:

• Jurisdictional Overlap: Law enforcement responsibilities are fragmented across three nations

• Financial Arbitrage: Multiple currencies and lax anti-money laundering (AML) regulations

• Trade Zone Exploitation: Smuggling routes disguised within free trade zones

• Document Fraud: Ease of acquiring alternative passports for operatives Combining Iranian state support with autonomous illicit revenue has equipped Hezbollah to operate with substantial financial independence from Iran. In 2016 alone, its External Security Organization’s Business Affairs Component (BAC) generated $400 million from narcotics trafficking, according to U.S. government sources.Hezbollah has established front companies built to conceal the flow of laundered funds under the guise of legitimate businesses, including travel agencies, import/export operations, including back cocaine shipments concealed as coal shipments, luxury goods, as well as real estate ventures. An example of the ingenuity of Hezbollah's smuggling operations can be examined under the Black cocaine pipeline.

From Diversification to Concealment: The Black Cocaine Pipeline

Methods used for smuggling drugs on an international must be innovative inordder to remain one step ahead of authorities. Moving black cocaine, is a sophisticated innovative way to transport South American cocaine into Europe, Australia, Asai and the Middle East, until recently. A favored method executed by Hezbollah, to transport their drugs globally. According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Argentina and Paraguay are known for their large exports of charcoal. With charcoal as a natural export to the international market, “traffickers… devise new ways to conceal drugs. Black cocaine—the compound used to turn cocaine into charcoal briquettes—-needs to undergo a chemical process in order to appear similar to the actual product, before traffickers hid it at random in larger bags of authentic charcoal… traffickers shape cocaine like charcoal briquettes and colorist black, requiring chemical engineers on both ends of the trade. Once…canine is delivered, experts turn it back to powered before it its the streets.”

Operation Cedar: Global Trafficking Exposed

Ingenious drug smuggling by Hezbollah gained international attention during Operation Cedar (2015–2018), a DEA-led investigation spanning seven countries. Central to the case was Hassan Mohsen Mansour, a Lebanese-Canadian national who orchestrated shipments of black cocaine to Australia disguised as legitimate charcoal exports. Profits were laundered through Beirut’s financial sector, with portions funneled to Hezbollah’s military wing in Syria.\

Conclusion: A Self-Sustaining Threat

Hezbollah's South American network far transcends traditional terror financing. Rich with Resources, backed by millions of dollars, Hezbollah has built an economy, with ingenuity in the global dark market, and built upon its already extensive operations. Remnants of the Lebanese, Syrian, and Armenian Diaspora populations have been used to Hezbollah’s advantage. Preying on centuries-old Diaspora Trust, to generate donations to fuel operations on the other side of the world and in their backyard. Infiltrating century-old Lebanese communities in Margarita Island and Foz do Iguaçu, leveraging cultural bonds and commercial networks established since the Ottoman era. Turning South America from a simple fundraising territory into a complex operational theater far from Hezbollah's primary Middle Eastern conflict zone.

Success began with fundraising, and has expanded into members of the Nasseddrine Clan expanding operations into political theater. Relying on the state fragility of governments that back Iran, Hezbollah will take advantage of their weakness and embed their elite members through political channels, and infiltrate international governments, like Venezuela. Iran aids Hezbollah to achieve a hybrid political authority that, in turn, benefits Iran, both in the LebaneseParliament and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (República Bolivariana de Venezuela). Leveraging positions of power across oceans within two sovereign territories shows the determination of how far Iran is willing to extend using its proxies. All Islamic Jihadist terror regimes that act under the scope of transitional political actors are a threat to all nations that practice western backed freedom. Behind closed doors, Hezbollah, affiliated governments, and Iran have the go-ahead to freely coordinate sanction evasion strategies, share and transfer resources between federated governments, openly establish diplomatic immunity for allied operatives, embed a legal framework built to protect and serve the interests of the political party through systemic integration, and build a resistance to international pressure.

This nexus of crime and governance creates a self-perpetuating system where drug profits purchase political protection, enabling further trafficking operations. Unlike regional cartels focused on territorial control, Hezbollah's network directly funds global terror campaigns—from rocket attacks on Israel to IRGC-backed militias in Yemen. By embedding itself within diaspora communities and exploiting weak governmental structures, particularly Venezuela's state- sponsored support and the TBA's jurisdictional complexities, Hezbollah has created a self- sustaining criminal web with international security implications.

Until international coalitions address both the financial pipelines and state collusion enabling this network, South America will remain a keystone in Tehran's shadow empire—a geopolitical threat that extends Iran's influence across continents through proxy warfare and institutional capture.