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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Hizballah Member Financing Terror in South America |
| 2004-06-12 |
| From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The U.S. Treasury Department on 10 June designated Lebanese Hizballah member Assad Ahmad Barakat and two of his companies -- Casa Apollo and Barakat Import -- as responsible for terrorist financing in South America’s tri-border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, according to the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs. Barakat reportedly used strong-arm tactics and coercion to raise money that was sent to Hizballah in Lebanon and Iran. As of late 2001, he reportedly traveled to Lebanon and Iran annually. On these trips he allegedly met with Hizballah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and spiritual leader Hussein Fadlallah. Barakat also served as deputy financial director for a religious center in Brazil called the Husseinieh Imam Khomeini. Regional intelligence sources previously identified Assad Ahmad Barakat’s brother, Sheikh Akram Ahmad Barakat, as a kind of roving Iranian ambassador for Latin America. Barakat currently is imprisoned in Paraguay for tax evasion. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #5 Venezuela, under Chavez has become the enemy directly below, with his various support, ranging from narco-terrorists in Columbia, as well as Islamic fanatics operating within the general region with goals of jihad northward (US). As with Iran, Venezuela's OPEC oil profits are being misused and not benefiting the general public. The sooner an anti-communist government rules Venezuela the better for geostrategic security for the entire geographic zone. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-06-12 10:17:43 PM |
| #4 I also wonder what percentage of the zakat coming from the pockets of the downtrodden magickally turns into princely largesse. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-06-12 2:17:51 PM |
| #3 Not odd at all. I wonder what percentage of money financing al-Qaeda comes from princely largesse and what comes from the zakat flowing out of the pockets of the downtrodden? |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-06-12 2:17:09 PM |
| #2 It is odd that money would flow from impoverished South America back to the oil-rich Middle East. If Chavez goes down, I am hopeful that change can happen through the OAS in that region. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-06-12 2:15:15 AM |
| #1 Money flowing to terrorist groups from South America is not limited to the tri-border region. Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela is one place that the State Department should watch closely. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4617 2004-06-12 2:06:27 AM |