This is a really embarrassing bit of news, since the US has been busting a gut to connect Chávez with Hezbollah. Now they´ve finally got some evidence, apparently, and oh dear, it´s not Venezuela but their best friends Colombia that have the connections, and not FARC but the paramilitary cartels (who, they keep telling us, had already been dismantled, or at least had their teeth pulled - and of course are nothing to do with Uribe).
You'll notice that since it doesn't suit the agenda, it hasn't had the usual splash coverage. Just the LAT, the BBC and VOA, basically, apart from a few foreign outlets. And just look at the different approaches: the BBC reports the basic facts, and doesn't mention FARC, since it's not relevant. The LAT goes into more detail, but also adds a whole lot of extraneous stuff about FARC and Venezuela. VOA takes the easy way out, by keeping it so short, with so little detail, that readers would be none the wiser about who's responsible.
Colombia hails end of drugs ring
Colombian officials say a global drug-trafficking ring that stretched from South America to Asia has been smashed after two years of police work.
Since July 2006, 111 people suspected of working for Colombian cartels and paramilitaries have been in the country and overseas, officials say.
Among those detained in Colombia were three men suspected of channelling funds to Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
The South American country is the world's biggest producer of cocaine.
A statement from the attorney general's office said the international police operation, codenamed Titan, had been under way for more than two years.
Its aim was to break up a drug-trafficking and money-laundering ring that operated globally, from Colombia to the US, Canada, Europe and the Middle East.
"The criminal organisation used routes through Venezuela, Panama, Guatemala, the Middle East and Europe, bringing in cash from the sale of these substances via different means of money-laundering," the statement said.
Ninety people were detained overseas, while raids in the cities of Bogota, Cali, Medellin and Pereira led to 21 further arrests.
Among those arrested in were three men who the authorities say used front companies to send money back to their home countries in the Middle East.
The funds were for the "alleged financing of terrorist groups like Hezbollah", the attorney-general's office said.
Colombia remains the world's top cocaine producer despite US aid to tackle the illegal drugs crop.
Since 2000, Washington has spent some $5bn (£3bn) training Colombian forces and providing equipment and intelligence to combat drug-traffickers and eliminate coca crops.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7684128.stm
Colombian cocaine ring linked to Hezbollah
U.S. and Colombian officials say they have dismantled a South American-based drug ring that helped finance the Lebanon-based Shiite militant group.
By Chris Kraul and Sebastian Rotella
11:19 PM PDT, October 21, 2008
Reported from Bogota, Colombia and Madrid -- U.S. and Colombian investigators have dismantled an international cocaine smuggling and money laundering ring that allegedly used part of its profits to finance Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite militia, officials said Tuesday.
Culminating a two-year investigation, authorities arrested at least 36 suspects in recent days, including an accused Lebanese kingpin in Bogota, the Colombian capital. Chekry Harb, who used the alias "Taliban," acted as the hub of an unusual and alarming alliance between South American cocaine traffickers and Middle Eastern militants, Colombian investigators allege.
Authorities accuse Harb of being a "world-class money launderer" whose ring washed hundreds of millions of dollars a year, from Panama to Hong Kong, while paying a percentage to Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and Israel. Harb was charged with drug-related crimes in a sealed indictment filed in Miami in July, but terrorism-related charges have not been filed.
The suspects allegedly worked with a Colombian cartel and a paramilitary group to smuggle cocaine to the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Harb traveled extensively to Lebanon, Syria and Egypt and was in phone contact with Hezbollah figures, according to Colombian officials.
"The profits from the sales of drugs went to finance Hezbollah," said Gladys Sanchez, lead investigator for the special prosecutor's office in Bogota, in an interview. "This is an example of how narco-trafficking is a theme of interest to all criminal organizations, the FARC, the paramilitaries and terrorists."
The FARC is the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration led the far-flung investigation, playing a central role in nailing down the Hezbollah connection, Sanchez said. U.S. officials in Bogota and Washington declined to discuss details of their evidence.
Iran, Hezbollah's longtime sponsor, and donations from the Lebanese diaspora are two sources for a multimillion-dollar budget that pays for the militia's armed and political wings and for social projects such as hospitals in Beirut. But investigations around the world have shown that Hezbollah also funds itself through drug dealing, arms trafficking, contraband smuggling and other rackets in the Americas, Africa and elsewhere.
Western anti-terrorism agents have expressed concern about an increasing Hezbollah presence in South America. The militia is accused of two major anti-Jewish bombings in Argentina in the 1990s. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department designated two Venezuelans of Lebanese descent, one a diplomat, as Hezbollah financiers and supporters.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's alliance with Iran raises fears that his country could become a base for Hezbollah activity, said U.S. and Israeli anti-terrorist officials who spoke anonymously because of the issue's sensitivity. Venezuela has strongly denied any links to terrorist activity.
Venezuela also serves as the corridor for a third of Colombian cocaine bound for the U.S. and Europe, including some loads moved by Harb's group, Colombian investigators said.
The case unveiled Tuesday began as a money laundering probe, but as agents followed the money they discovered the links between Harb and Hezbollah operatives, investigators said. Harb's group paid Hezbollah 12% of its profits, much of it in cash, the investigators said, without giving a dollar figure.
The inquiry grew into Operation Titan, a two-year case worked by Colombian and U.S. agents that has led to more than 130 arrests and the seizure of $23 million, Sanchez said. Investigators deployed 370 wiretaps and monitored 700,000 conversations.
"This case was brought about by putting undercover agents into the money laundering cycle," said a U.S. government official who was not authorized to comment publicly. "This has given us a window into the worldwide financial enterprise that by dotted lines links traffickers from South America and the United States to West Africa, Europe and Hong Kong."
The drugs were allegedly sent via Panama, Venezuela and Guatemala to the U.S., the Middle East and Europe.
Chinese police this year captured Oscar Cano Alazate, a Colombian accused of setting up dozens of front companies in Hong Kong to launder money for the group. Hong Kong and the Panama free-trade zone served as centers for a scheme whereby drug cash from the U.S. was funneled to firms that use it to buy goods, which are shipped to Colombia and sold to be turned back into cash, investigators said.
The group also used human couriers, fake businesses, international transfers and real estate transactions to launder the money in other locations, including Africa and Canada, Colombian officials said.
On Oct. 13, Colombian police arrested Harb, who lived on a resident's visa in Bogota with his family, after learning that he had an Air France ticket to Syria for the next day and becoming concerned that he might flee. They also arrested the other accused boss, Ali Mohamad Rahim, and Harb's brother, Zacaria, both Lebanese immigrants who had been living in Bogota. Chekry Harb is in his late 50s and Rahim in his early 40s, officials said.
Colombian officials said the three are among 15 of the suspects who will be extradited to the United States.
Harb's key suppliers in Bogota included leaders of the so-called Office of Envigado, according to Colombian authorities. The paramilitary drug trafficking organization headed by Diego Fernando Murillo, known as Don Berna, and other former foot soldiers of the late Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar has an international reach.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 6704.story
Colombia Dismantles Drug Ring With Alleged Hezbollah Ties
By VOA News
22 October 2008
Colombian authorities have announced the dismantling of an international drug and money-laundering ring that had alleged ties to Hezbollah guerrillas in the Middle East.
The attorney general's office says an international sting led to the arrest of nearly 100 suspects in Colombia and other countries.
Authorities say those arrested include three suspects from the Middle East who allegedly used profits from the drug trade to fund Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based Shi'ite militant group that the United States considers a terrorist organization.
Colombian officials say the drug ring used routes in Venezuela, Panama, Guatemala, Europe and the Middle East.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-10-22-voa37.cfm
