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Iran Steps Up Covert Action in Latin America
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] The Iranian government is significantly boosting its presence and resources in Latin America, posing a national security threat to the region, according to a group of U.S. and Latin American officials who met earlier this week in Florida to discuss Iran's covert actions.While Iran has long had a foothold in the Western hemisphere, these officials warned that the Islamic Theocratic Republichas invested significant resources into its Latin American operations in a bid to increase its sway in the region. Iran's growing influence in the region--and its effort to exert influence over governments there--has fostered pressing security concerns as the Iranians inch closer to the United States' southern border, according to these U.S. officials and Latin American leaders, who met for several days this week at a summit organized by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF). is troubling in some of the briefings we get, particularly on the classified side, to see Iranian influence in Latin America," Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview. "A lot of these [Latin American officials] share the concern." DeSantis was one of several members of Congress and 20 Latin American politicians from 14 different countries who met during the IAF summit, which began on Sunday and ran until Tuesday morning. Iran is becoming increasingly open about its presence in Latin America and providing its officials with passports from Venezuela and other countries, giving them free rein to travel throughout South America. Iran has forged close ties with countries such as Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, among others. Luis Heber, a member of the Uruguayan senate, said that Iranian agents--who some suspect are members of the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)--have been spotted in his country holding Venezuelan passports. This activity has intensified of late, several officials said. Iran currently hosts at least 80 so-called cultural centers in the region and has doubled the number of embassies in the region since 2005. Posted by: trailing wife 2015-05-04 |
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