Update on Hezbollah's Growing Presence in Latin America

AIPAC's Near East Report has published the best update I have seen on the growing Hezbollah presence in Latin America, especially in Venezuela under the patronage of Hugo Chavez, and the threat that it poses to the United States. Fortunately, Congress is paying attention.

Perhaps the most damaging blow that could be dealt against Hezbollah in Latin America would be the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. That would deprive Hezbollah in its home base in Lebanon of the political, financial and logistical support of one its two main patrons, which are Iran and Syria. It might even lead to a resurgence of the "Cedar Revolution" in Lebanon, which threatened to non-violently liberate Lebanon from the control of Hezbollah's militias after the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. However, Hezbollah succeeded through the threat of force in suppressing the Cedar Revolution. Today, Hezbollah has been so well funded and armed by Syria and Iran that not even the Lebanese Army has the strength to break its grip.