After declaring that authorities had arrested four men in connection with trafficking uranium in La Paz, Bolivian authorities are backing off the claim that the material found inside nylon bags may be the alleged radioactive material.

Bolivian Government Minister Carlos Romero said late Tuesday that the Bolivian Institute of Nuclear Technology is conducting a study on the material to determine its composition.

“There is the possible existence of uranium in the screening solids, but it deserves research and scientific expertise,” Romero said, according to the Bolivian daily Los Tiempos.

Romero also tried to assuage fears of people in the neighborhood where the material was found – which includes a number of embassies – that there was no risk of a radioactive blast.

Police on Tuesday confiscated two tons of the alleged uranium that was being stored at a building in central La Paz located near the U.S. and Spanish embassies, said Bolivian Deputy Interior Minister ... Read More

Bolivian police on Tuesday confiscated two tons of uranium that was being stored at a building in central La Paz located near the U.S. and Spanish embassies.

Four people, all of them Bolivian nationals, were arrested while they were transferring the uranium from one vehicle to another, Deputy Interior Minister Jorge Perez said.

The radioactive material was in sacks of jute and nylon, he said.

Since Bolivia does not produce uranium, Perez said, authorities assume the consignment originated in either of two neighboring countries that do: Brazil or Chile.

The commander of the elite police unit that carried out the operation, Col. Eddy Torrez, said the seizure was the fruit of a six-week investigation.

Police pounced when they learned the people in possession of the uranium planned to meet Tuesday with a potential buyer, the colonel said.

Perez said one of the people arrested is an engineer who told police he was holding the uranium for ... Read More

BY ILAN BERMAN

In October 2011, U.S. attorney general Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller revealed the thwarting of an elaborate plot by elements in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington at a posh D.C. eatery, utilizing members of the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel.[1]

The foiled terrorist plot, with its Latin American connections, focused new attention on what had until then been a largely overlooked political phenomenon: the intrusion of the Islamic Republic of Iran into the Western Hemisphere. An examination of Tehran’s behavioral pattern in the region over the past several years reveals four distinct strategic objectives: loosening the U.S.-led international noose to prevent it from building nuclear weapons; obtaining vital resources for its nuclear project; creating informal networks for influence projection and sanctions evasion; and establishing a terror infrastructure that could target the U.S. homeland.

Building Western Hemisphere Alliances

Outreach to Latin America is ... Read More

BY JAIME SUCHLICKI

The same week that President Obama downplayed the threat to U.S. security from Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, a high-level delegation from Hezbollah was visiting Caracas and Havana. Ammar Musawi, head of Hezbollah International Department, praised Cuba as a model on how to oppose “imperialist hegemony, arrogance, and plunder.” In Venezuela, he met with the Vice-Foreign Minister and condemned the “ferocious attack” against their Syrian ally. Venezuela’s growing relations with Iran and Chávez’ support for terrorist groups both in the Americas and the Middle East should worry the U.S.

The most remarkable and dangerous foreign policy initiative of the Chávez regime has been allying Venezuela with Iran. Chávez has allowed the Iranians to use Venezuelan territory to penetrate the Western Hemisphere and to mine for uranium in Venezuela. Chávez policy is aiding Iran in developing nuclear technology and in evading U.N. sanctions and U.S. vigilance of the Iranian drug trade and ... Read More

Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa is preening to replace his cancer-stricken Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chávez, as the leader of Latin America’s lawless left. Correa’s flirtation with granting asylum to Wikileaker Julian Assange underscores his contempt for the rule of law and his deep animosity toward the United States. His mischief has taken a malicious turn as Ecuador plans to purchase $400 million in oil from the nuclear rogue and terrorist state, Iran.

The budding ties to Iran are perhaps Correa’s most dangerous gambit. For example, his government plans to cooperate with Iran’s Central Bank in a dangerous scheme to help the Ahmadinejad regime evade international sanctions. Last year, when an agreement with Iran to mine strategic minerals in Ecuador was revealed, Correa made the ridiculous claim that he did not even know that his country had uranium deposits.

Since becoming president in 2007, Correa has resorted to Chávez’s anti-democratic, anti-U.S. playbook: winning a democratic election ... Read More

BY SHIMON SAMUEL & SERGIO WIDDER

During a recent interview on A Mano Limpia, hosted by Oscar Haza on WJAN-Channel 41 (Florida), President Obama declared that Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez has not posed “a serious” national security threat to the United States.

Perhaps, he considered Chávez’s rhetoric simply as “business as usual” in Latin American politics: blaming U.S. foreign policy as the source of all regional evils. In that context, Chávez’s “anti-Imperialist” speech might, at a stretch, be perceived as ordinary propaganda bluster and not a major threat.

But when it comes to Venezuela’s regional stance, it is crucial to consider the overall context.

Chávez created his own regional bloc, the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas), led by Venezuela, and joined by Evo Morales’ Bolivia, Rafael Correa’s Ecuador, Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua, and Fidel and Raúl Castro´s Cuba. This bloc is the main partner for a growing Iranian penetration into Latin America.

Together with commercial ties, ... Read More

BY DANIEL WALLIS

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez denied on Friday that Venezuela was a threat to anyone, after U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney criticized Barack Obama for playing down the risk posed by the socialist leader.

Obama told a Spanish-language television station in an interview screened this week that Chavez’s actions over recent years had not had a serious impact on the national security of the United States.

Romney said Obama’s comments were “stunning and shocking” and showed a pattern of weakness in the Democratic president’s foreign policy.

In an interview with a local Venezuelan television station on Friday, Chavez dismissed the allegations he posed any danger.

“The Venezuela of today is no threat to anyone,” he said.

“It has all been a hoax by the imperialists and global far right: that uranium is being enriched in Venezuela, that we’re setting up missiles here, that we’re supporting ... Read More

BY ILAN BERMAN

A GROWING IRANIAN REGIONAL FOOTPRINT

Recent years have seen a steady expansion of Iran’s interest and involvement in the Western Hemisphere. While this phenomenon has begun to capture the attention of policymakers in the United States, it remains poorly understood. In assessing Iran’s regional outreach, however, it is possible to discern at least four distinct, and complimentary, strategic objectives.

Diplomacy and coalition building Since 2003, when its previously-clandestine nuclear program became public knowledge, the Islamic Republic has faced mounting global pressure over its nuclear ambitions. The Iranian regime has sought to mitigate the resulting political and economic restrictions levied against it by the United States and its allies through intensified diplomatic outreach abroad. Due to its favorable geopolitical climate—typified by vast ungoverned areas and widespread anti-Americanism—Latin America has become an important focal point of this effort.

Iran’s most prominent Latin American partner was and remains Venezuela. Since 2005, owing in large part ... Read More

ILAN BERMAN

One of the most dangerous places in the Western Hemisphere is the city of Warnes, Bolivia, which lies a few kilometers outside the country’s industrial capital of Santa Cruz. There, set back in an open field off a bustling highway, is the new regional defense school of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas, or ALBA—the eight-member economic and geopolitical bloc founded by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro nearly a decade ago.

Since its launch last spring, the school has become the object of fevered speculation throughout the region concerning its potential role in the indoctrination and training to some of the most radical elements in the Americas. But perhaps the most tangible, and troubling, aspect of the facility is the role now being played there by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran, itself an observer nation in ALBA, is believed to have provided at least some of the seed money ... Read More

BY YAEL MARCIANO & MATIAS A. SUELDO

President Barack Obama went to Seoul recently to mobilize the international community to counter nuclear weapons proliferation. He met with the Russians and Chinese on the sidelines and asked them to support the international community’s diplomatic and economic sanctions against Iran. And yet, even as an Iranian nuclear weapon looms, the U.S. is itself moving too slowly to cut the regime’s lifeline from Latin America.

Since 2005, that lifeline has grown into six new embassies and 17 cultural centers even as Iran has dramatically increased the size of its staff at all diplomatic facilities in the region.

The ayatollahs’ diplomatic offensive has borne results. At a 2010 joint press conference in Tehran, representatives from Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela announced their determination to “continue and expand their economic ties to Iran,” in effect, to assist Iran in evading international sanctions.

In January, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shored ... Read More

BY YAEL MARCIANO & MATIAS A. SUELDO

President Obama was in Seoul last week mobilizing the international community to counter nuclear weapons proliferation. He met with the Russians and Chinese on the sidelines and asked them to support the international community’s diplomatic and economic stranglehold of Iran. And yet, even as an Iranian nuclear weapon looms, the U.S. is moving too slowly to cut the Iranian regime’s growing lifeline in Latin America.

Since 2005, the regime’s Latin American lifeline has grown through six new embassies and 17 cultural centers. In tandem, Iran has dramatically increased the size of its diplomatic missions across the region.

The ayatollahs’ diplomatic offensive has borne results. At a 2010 joint press conference in Tehran, representatives from Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela announced their determination to “continue and expand their economic ties to Iran,” in effect, to assist Iran in evading international sanctions.

In January of this year, Iranian ... Read More

BY VACLAV SMIL

In laying claim to the majority of Michigan’s delegates in the Feb. 28 primary, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney also laid claim to the precious natural resources of America’s northern neighbor. “I’ll get us that oil from Canada that we deserve,” he said.

That may not have been the most artful way to put it, but critics on both sides of the border should ignore that infelicitous phrasing, recognize the ties that bind the United States and Canada together, and work assiduously to maintain those vital energy links.

Many Americans may think that Saudi Arabia is the largest supplier of U.S. oil imports — after all, isn’t that why the United States keeps aircraft carriers in the Gulf and why the Saudi kings are either held by hand in Texas or offered deep bows? Some may even believe that Iraq has taken that place — wasn’t the war all about getting ... Read More

BY HILARY LEILA KRIEGER

WASHINGTON – Iran is cultivating relationships beyond Venezuela to make sure its toehold in Latin America stays secure, should Hugo Chavez lose his battle with cancer, a former US State Department official warned Wednesday.

“Certainly the Iranians are happy with the platform they have so close to US borders. They’d love to hang on to Venezuela, but if that isn’t convenient for whatever government that succeeds Chavez, they’ll have look elsewhere,” said Roger Noriega on a conference call sponsored by The Israel Project.

Noriega pointed to the countries Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited in addition to Venezuela on his recent Latin American tour – Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba – as places Iran is looking to develop ties.

Noriega, who served in the George W. Bush administration, will testify before the Senate on Iran and Latin America Thursday. He is expected to highlight Ecuador as a country of particular interest for ... Read More

Aspectos destacados del testimonio del Embajador Roger Noriega ante el Comité de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado, Subcomité para el Hemisferio Occidental, Cuerpos de Paz, y Narcóticos

Febrero 16 del año 2012

El director de Inteligencia Nacional, James R. Clapper, declaró a principios de este mes que “las autoridades iraníes” de más alto nivel “están ahora más dispuestas a realizar un ataque en Estados Unidos ….” El general Clapper también informó que el líder supremo de Irán, Ali Jamenei, probablemente estaba enterado de las acciones descubiertas en octubre donde supuestos líderes de cárteles de la droga mexicanos conspiraron con Irán para perpetrar un supuesto atentado terrorista en el corazón de la capital de nuestra nación.

Basándonos en decenas de entrevistas con expertos de todo el mundo, con testigos en la región y en una gran cantidad de documentos oficiales venezolanos e iraníes se hacen las siguientes conclusiones:

TESTIMONY OF AMBASSADOR ROGER F. NORIEGA

BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE,PEACE CORPS, AND GLOBAL NARCOTICS AFFAIRS

HEARING ON

“IRAN’S INFLUENCE AND ACTIVITY IN LATIN AMERICA”

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Room 419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC

Mr. Chairman, I applaud you and other members of the Subcommittee forinitiating a review of Iran’s activities in Latin America.

Since you announced your inquiry, the Director of National Intelligence, James R.Clapper, testified earlier this month that “Iranian officials” at the highest levels “are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States….” General Clapper also reported that Iran’s so-called “supreme leader” Ali Khamenei was probably aware of the bizarre plot discovered last October to conspire with supposed Mexican drug cartel leaders to commit a terrorist bombing in the heart of our Nation’s capital.i Only because ... Read More

BY JAIME DAREMBLUM

President Rousseff has gotten tougher on Iran. But will she actively promote human rights in Cuba?

As Lula da Silva’s handpicked successor, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff was widely expected to embrace his policies both at home and abroad. Domestically, she has mostly fulfilled those expectations. In foreign affairs, the story is a bit more complicated.

Lula made no secret of his desire to enhance “South-South” dialogue, promote greater cooperation among developing countries, and transform Brazil into a diplomatic powerhouse. In principle, those are worthy objectives. In practice, however, Lula often sided with dictators, against democracy activists and Western governments.

In 2010, for example, he inserted himself into the Iranian nuclear controversy: Along with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Lula negotiated a meaningless uranium-swap deal that undercut U.S. sanctions efforts at the United Nations. “In our view,” Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim said at the time, “the agreement eliminates any ground for ... Read More

POR GREG MILLER

Las agencias de inteligencia de EE.UU. creen que Irán está preparado para lanzar ataques terroristas dentro de los Estados Unidos en respuesta a lo que ellos perciben como amenazas de parte de este país y sus aliados, de acuerdo a declaraciones recientes del Jefe de Espionaje de los EE.UU.

El Director Nacional de Inteligencia, James R. Clapper Jr., dijo que un supuesto complot para asesinar al embajador Saudí en Washington el año pasado refleja una nueva tendencia  dentro de los rangos superiores de la Republica Islámica de autorizar ataques contra los Estados Unidos y sus aliados.

La trama mencionada anteriormente “muestra que algunos funcionarios iraníes – probablemente incluyendo al Líder Supremo Ali Khamenei – han cambiado sus cálculos y ahora están dispuestos a realizar un ataque en los Estados Unidos debido a las acciones reales o supuestas de este país, las que son interpretadas como una amenaza al régimen”, dijo ... Read More

BY GREG MILLER

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran is prepared to launch terrorist attacks inside the United States in response to perceived threats from America and its allies, the U.S. spy chief said Tuesday.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in prepared testimony that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington that was uncovered last year reflects an aggressive new willingness within the upper ranks of the Islamist republic to authorize attacks against the United States.

That plot “shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime,” Clapper said in the testimony, which was submitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee in advance of a threat assessment hearing Tuesday. “We are also concerned about Iranian plotting against U.S. ... Read More

POR PEDRO CORZO

Correa fue quien capitalizó la visita al hemisferio Ahmadinejad

En cierta medida Rafael Correa, presidente de Ecuador fue quien capitalizó la visita al hemisferio que realizó Mahmud Ahmadinejad , quien en su última gira por América Latina visitó cuatro países que se ajustan perfectamente a la estrategia antidemocrática que auspicia la teocracia asiática.

Aunque la mayoría aprecia que el aliado más próximo que tiene Ahmadinejad en el hemisferio es Hugo Chávez, es evidente que quien mejor, por su arrogancia y desprecio, puede interpretar las necesidades y proyectos del régimen de Irán, es Rafael Correa, porque él sintetiza el despotismo y la soberbia que caracteriza a los ayatolah, los clérigos superiores del Islam chiíta.

Pero independientemente a la atracción fatal que existe entre los regímenes de Ecuador e Irán, hay un aspecto que no se puede obviar y es que el país sudamericano participa en un proyecto regional “de exploración de uranio”, ... Read More

BY PEDRO CORZO

Correa was the one who capitalized on Ahmadinejad’s visit to the hemisphere

To some extent, Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador, was the one who capitalized on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the hemisphere, who in his last Latin American tour visited four countries that fit the anti-democratic strategy sponsored by the Asian theocracy.

While most appreciate that Ahmadinejad’s closest ally in the hemisphere is Hugo Chavez, it is evident that the one who, because of his arrogance and contempt, can interpret the needs and projects of the Iranian regime is Rafael Correa, because he synthesizes the despotism and arrogance that characterizes the ayatollah, who are the senior clerics of Shiite Islam.

But regardless of the fatal attraction between the regimes of Ecuador and Iran, there is an issue that can not be ignored, which is that the South American country is participating in a regional project for “uranium exploration,” as stated in ... Read More