U.S. ties Caracas to Hezbollah aid
Freezes assets of envoy, businessman
Martin Arostegui
Monday, July 7, 2008
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia | The Bush administration is accusing the government
of
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of providing cash and refuge to the
militant Islamist group Hezbollah of southern Lebanon.
An investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign
Assets
Control (OFAC) names Venezuelan diplomat Ghazi Nasr al Din and
Venezuelan-Arab businessman Fawzi Kanan as key links between the two.
"It is extremely troubling to see the government of Venezuela employing
and
providing safe harbor for Hezbollah facilitators and fundraisers," said
Adam
Szubin, political affairs director of OFAC.
Mr. al Din has served as charge d'affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in
Syria and as director of political affairs at the embassy in Lebanon.
The Treasury Department made the accusations in a June 18 statement, which
summarized an investigation of Venezuelan-registered businesses that are
thought to be laundering money for Hezbollah.
The department also froze assets of Mr. al Din and Mr. Kanan and banned
them
from conducting business in the U.S. or with U.S. citizens and residents.
"Assets the designees hold under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S.
persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions in property or
interests in property blocked under the order," the Treasury statement
said.
Treasury's re****t said Mr. al Din brought two Hezbollah parliamentary
representatives to Venezuela in 2006 to "solicit donations" and open an
"Islamic community center."
At that same time, Chavez hired the Hizballah
cadre to train his personal militia.
The same re****t mentions the businessman, Mr. Kanan, who he
The U.S. accuses Mr. Kanan of planning "possible kidnapping and terrorist
attacks" and of "traveling with other Hezbollah members to Iran for
training."
Contacted at the offices of his Biblos travel agency in Caracas, Mr. Kanan
dismissed Treasury's accusations as "lies."
In a recent television broadcast, Mr. Chavez angrily denied any connection
between his government and Hezbollah, claiming the U.S. charges represent
an
attempt "to see if the world takes action against me."
Foreign Minister Nicholas Maduro went further, saying the charges come
from
"the No. 1 terrorist in the world, George Bush."
"There are no terrorists here. If they want to search for terrorists, look
for them in the White House," Mr. Maduro said.
Mr. al Din and Mr. Kanan were born in Lebanon's Baalbeck region, according
to the Treasury Department.
The latest allegations about Venezuela's involvement with Hezbollah follow
re****ts that Mr. Chavez personally aided guerrillas of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist-based insurgency that has
battled to overthrow the Colombian government for four decades.
The FARC connection is based on records in laptop computers seized by
Colombian troops who raided a FARC camp in Ecuador in March.
Mr. Chavez claims the content is fabricated by U.S. intelligence officials
working with the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who
remains
an ally of the U.S. in a region where governments have ****fted to the left
in recent years.
Mr. Chavez, a persistent antagonist of the U.S. who has called President
Bush "the devil," also has established strong business and commercial
links
with the Iranian government.
Mr. Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have exchanged state
visits and agreed on more than $17 billion worth of joint ventures in
energy, mining and industrial projects.
Iran and Syria are Hezbollah's primary sponsors in the Middle East.
The two have signed a mutual defence pact
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