{"id":107642,"date":"2025-10-21T19:15:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T23:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/gop-senator-predicts-trumps-next-move-in-venezuela-amid-hezbollahs-influence-long-past-due-107642"},"modified":"2025-10-21T19:15:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T23:15:27","slug":"gop-senator-predicts-trumps-next-move-in-venezuela-amid-hezbollahs-influence-long-past-due","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/gop-senator-predicts-trumps-next-move-in-venezuela-amid-hezbollahs-influence-long-past-due-107642","title":{"rendered":"GOP senator predicts Trump’s next move in Venezuela amid Hezbollah\u2019s influence: ‘Long past due’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hezbollah\u2019s growing foothold in Latin America<\/a> has found its epicenter in Venezuela, where U.S. lawmakers and former counterterror officials say the Maduro regime has turned the country into a safe haven for one of the world\u2019s most dangerous terrorist groups \u2014 giving it access to drug trafficking routes, forged documents and a gateway to the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

At a Senate Caucus on International Counternarcotics Control hearing this week, both Republican and Democratic senators warned that Hezbollah\u2019s integration into Latin America\u2019s criminal underworld \u2014 once concentrated in Colombia and the tri-border region \u2014 has now taken root under Venezuela\u2019s protection.<\/p>\n

Witnesses described an illicit web of narcotics, money laundering, and passport-for-terrorist schemes that have flourished with state sponsorship, turning Venezuela into what one expert called the “most important facilitator for Hezbollah in Latin America.”<\/p>\n

“Venezuela is a willing safe haven for what remains the most lethal, dangerous foreign terrorist organization to the United States,” said Marshall Billingslea, a former senior Treasury official.<\/p>\n

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, both warned that Hezbollah\u2019s 50-year presence in Latin America now poses a hemispheric threat requiring coordinated U.S. action.<\/p>\n

Sales urged more Latin American nations \u2014 especially Brazil and Mexico \u2014 to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n

The bipartisan tone, rare in today\u2019s Congress, underscored what lawmakers called a clear and present danger: a sanctioned regime in America\u2019s backyard providing cover to a global terror group.<\/p>\n

US BOLSTERS MILITARY PRESENCE IN CARIBBEAN NEAR VENEZUELA AMID TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO HALT DRUG TRAFFICKING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Venezuela has become<\/a> a key enabler of Hezbollah\u2019s malign activity in our region,” Sales testified.<\/p>\n

“This is not just about the Middle East anymore,” Cornyn added. “It\u2019s about a terrorist organization embedding itself in the Western Hemisphere under the protection of a hostile regime.”<\/p>\n

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, went a step further, predicting that the United States will move to end Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s rule altogether.<\/p>\n

“I think we\u2019re going to free Venezuela,” Moreno said. “That will be one of President Trump\u2019s many, many legacies. It\u2019s long past due, and I think his days are numbered.” Moreno added that he “would be surprised if [Maduro is] still in Venezuela by the end of this year,” signaling growing confidence that Washington could soon pursue regime change in Caracas after seven strikes on alleged narco-traffickers on the seas.<\/p>\n

SENATORS LOOK TO BLOCK TRUMP FROM ENGAGING IN \u2018HOSTILITIES\u2019 IN VENEZUELA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Billingslea and Cornyn pointed to evidence that Venezuelan officials issued passports to Hezbollah operatives, including former vice president Tareck El Aissami accused of helping militants travel freely across the region.<\/p>\n

According to Billingslea, more than 10,000 passports were issued to individuals from Syria, Lebanon, and Iran under the former Venezuelan vice president \u2014 some with known Hezbollah or Hamas ties.<\/p>\n

The system, witnesses said, allowed operatives to disguise identities, launder funds, and even move into the U.S. under false papers.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Nathan Sales, the former counterterrorism coordinator at the State Department, detailed how Hezbollah\u2019s operations have become embedded in the regional drug trade<\/a> \u2014 including the trafficking of so-called “black cocaine,” compressed into charcoal-like briquettes to avoid detection.<\/p>\n

“Hezbollah traffics narcotics through criminal networks active in the tri-border area\u2026 It\u2019s particularly involved in the sale of black cocaine,” Sales said.<\/p>\n

He and others warned that as sanctions squeeze Iran and Hezbollah\u2019s financial channels in the Middle East, the group is relying more heavily on Latin American drug profits<\/a> to sustain itself.<\/p>\n

Dr. Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute said Venezuela has effectively joined what he called the “axis of evasion” \u2014 a global sanctions-defying network linking Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.<\/p>\n

“Venezuela plays an important part in this illicit network as it reaches the Western Hemisphere,” Levitt said, describing its role in gold smuggling, oil-for-cash deals, and financial cover for Iran and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/gop-senator-predicts-trumps-next-move-venezuela-amid-hezbollahs-influence-long-past-due <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hezbollah\u2019s growing foothold in Latin America has found its epicenter in Venezuela, where U.S. lawmakers and former counterterror officials say the Maduro regime has turned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-107642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGOP senator predicts Trump's next move in Venezuela amid Hezbollah\u2019s influence: 'Long past due' - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/gop-senator-predicts-trumps-next-move-in-venezuela-amid-hezbollahs-influence-long-past-due-107642\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GOP senator predicts Trump's next move in Venezuela amid Hezbollah\u2019s influence: 'Long past due' - 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