As if the political and economic chaos
wracking Venezuela wasn’t worrying enough, a couple of recent stories
underscore the potential national security threat brewing there. First, last
month’s designation of Venezuela’s vice president, Tareck El Aissami, as a drug
kingpin by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Second, a CNN investigative report
revealing that Venezuela’s embassy in Iraq was allegedly selling Venezuelan
passports and identity documents to Middle Eastern nationals — raising the
disturbing prospect that Caracas is facilitating the entry of Islamist
militants to Latin America. Indeed, the CNN report echoed revelations from 2013
that the Venezuelan embassy in Syria was issuing passports to terrorists under
the direction of Ghazi Atef Nassereddine, a Treasury-sanctioned, FBI-wanted
Venezuelan diplomat who happens to be a key Hezbollah operative. Put all this
together and what do you get? A rabidly anti-American failed state that appears
to be incubating the convergence of narco-trafficking and jihadism in America’s
own backyard. More…
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