The end of Hezbollah's Venezuelan sanctuary?

Since the mid-1980s, Lebanese Hezbollah, working in close collaboration with Iranian intelligence services and the Revolutionary Guards, has meticulously woven a network of businesses within Lebanese diaspora communities worldwide, operations frequently suspected of masking illicit activities.

In Venezuela, this presence evolved into what can only be described as a discreet "logistical army." Far from the battlefields of the Middle East, Hezbollah found fertile ground in Latin America's largest oil producer, establishing cells that would become crucial nodes in a transnational criminal enterprise.

Hugo Chávez's rise to power in 2002, followed by Nicolás Maduro's succession in 2013, sealed an ideological and pragmatic alliance with Iran built on shared opposition to what both regimes branded as "Yankee imperialism."

This partnership, reinforced by a twenty-year cooperation agreement signed in 2022, rests on three pillars: circumventing American sanctions, energy exchanges, and security cooperation where Hezbollah frequently serves as Tehran's proxy.

Under Chávez, Venezuela offered a virtual "sanctuary" for Hezbollah sympathizers. Under Maduro, the regime created an even more permissive environment, allowing the Shiite militant group to maintain active cells engaged in narcotrafficking, money laundering, and contraband operations.

The Criminal-Political Nexus

The collaboration extended deep into Venezuela's corrupt state apparatus. Hezbollah operatives worked hand-in-glove with government officials to obtain passports, weapons, and intelligence infrastructure. Family clan structures, deeply integrated into both the parallel economy and Maduro's political machine, provided ideal cover.

These networks benefited from the substantial Lebanese-Syrian community established throughout Venezuela and extending into neighboring Colombia, creating a cross-border infrastructure for illicit operations that proved remarkably resilient to international pressure.

But now, with Maduro's grip on power weakening, Iran and Hezbollah's presence in Venezuela faces its gravest threat in decades. Lebanese daily L'Orient Le Jour highlighted this vulnerability Wednesday in a detailed investigation into Tehran's influence and terrorist group activities across Latin America.

The newspaper's findings suggest that the carefully constructed network, built over nearly four decades, could rapidly unravel as Venezuela's political landscape shifts.

Washington's Ultimatum

The United States must now seize this moment and adopt an uncompromising stance. Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's vice president and de facto leader, must be compelled to dismantle these terrorist networks operating with impunity on Venezuelan soil.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been unequivocal on this issue. His clear messaging signals that Washington will no longer tolerate Venezuela serving as a base for Iranian proxies and terrorist operations in the Western Hemisphere.

The potential fall of the Maduro regime represents more than a political transition, it offers a rare opportunity to strike a decisive blow against Hezbollah's Western Hemisphere operations and Iran's strategic foothold in Latin America.

Whether Rodríguez and any successor government will have the political will, or face sufficient pressure, to dismantle these deeply entrenched networks remains the critical question.

The coming months will determine whether Venezuela can extricate itself from serving as a launchpad for Middle Eastern terrorism or whether these shadowy operations will simply adapt and survive under new political cover.

For Washington, the stakes couldn't be higher. Allowing this infrastructure to persist would represent a catastrophic failure of regional security policy and embolden Iranian adventurism across the Americas.