Hezbollah, who is aligned to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force, shares its radical ideology, and has the same goals in Mexico and South America — to use their links to the area to make vast sums of money through the drugs trade. This money allows these groups to fund military projects, and to export Iranian revolutionary ideology across the globe. As well, with a home base in Mexico, they are also at the door to the US.
According to an article by Tony Duheaume, Hezbollah is now well-established in Mexico, and has aligned with the Los Zetas drugs cartel, considered the second most powerful drug cartel in Mexico. It is believed that Hezbollah has been useful to the Los Zetas, in helping to find inventive ways to smuggle their product into the US, as well as being on the lookout for mercenaries to train them in the art of urban warfare.
Smuggling opportunities abound for the Lebanese terror group. The Sonoran and the Chihuahuan deserts straddle both countries, and two rivers, the Colorado and the Rio Bravo, allows for numerous entry points, along a border that is impossible to police.
Duheaum writes, “Hezbollah cadres stepped in to train drug cartel “street soldiers” in the construction of sophisticated explosive devices, urban warfare, ambushing techniques, sniping, and the creation of sophisticated tunnels for which to enter the US, of the type it had perfected in Gaza, and along the Lebanon-Israel border to thwart Israeli patrols.”
He explains, “Through its smuggling programs to outwit the Israeli army back in Lebanon, Hezbollah has developed a great expertise in evading border patrols, which it shares with the Los Zetas, giving the Mexican crime group a massive edge on law enforcement officers. With the Mexican border running adjacent to the US, plus the fact that Hezbollah was already heavily involved in the South American drug trade, it was inevitable that the terror group would eventually become involved with the kingpins of the Mexican cartels.”
Now that Trump has pulled the US out of the Iran deal, Iran will be billions of dollars poorer, once sanctions go into effect. Hezbollah has prepared for this by setting up of its “crime empire” in order to become more self-sufficient. The Mexican mafia are its allies. Drug dealing can bring in multi-millions for Hezbollah.
The group is believed to have over 100 sleeper cells throughout Latin America alone. George Tenet, the CIA director in 2003, testified before Congress that 12 Hezbollah cells had been identified operating in the US and were conducting surveillance operations. Additionally, the 2011 Congressional Research report stated that Hezbollah cells were known to be present in 15 US cities, including Huston and Nashville, with Hezbollah having become even more entrenched since that time. This should come as no surprise, as Mexico spans four US states, and has forty-five Mexico/US crossings, 330 ports of entry, and a border that is nearly 2,000 miles long.
