Thu, 09/01/2011 - 13:55 — AmericasForum.com
HAVANA - The Italian daily Corriere della Sera is reporting that
Hezbollah is setting up a base of operations in Cuba in order to extend
its ability to reach Israeli targets in Latin America, ostensibly to
avenge the death of terrorist mastermind Imad Mugniyah.
Mugniyah, a Lebanese-born Hezbollah terrorist leader, was killed in
February 2008 by a car bomb. Though it has not been proven who was
responsible, it has been reported that several Arab states aided the
Israeli Mossad in carrying out the killing.
Mugniyah was believed to have been involved in planning the 1983 Beirut
bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks, as well as two attacks on a Jewish
synagogue and a community center in Argentina in 1992 and 1994.
The U.S. State Department said upon his death: "The world is a better
place without this man in it. He was a coldblooded killer, a mass
murderer and a terrorist responsible for countless innocent lives lost.
One way or another he was brought to justice."
Hezbollah has sought new alliances in Latin America since attention was
brought to the terrorist group's redoubt in the Tri-border area at the
intersection of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, as well as numerous
reports of training camps in Venezuela.
According to the Tel Aviv daily Yedioth Ahronoth, three members of
Hezbollah have already arrived in Cuba to set up the cell, which will
allegedly "include 23 operatives, hand-picked by Talal Hamia, a senior
member tasked with heading the covert operation."
The information about the terrorist cell is quite detailed, and includes
information that would normally be contained in a high-level
intelligence brief. The clandestine terror operation is reportedly
called "The Caribbean Case," and is said to operate on a budget of $1.5
million. The report also detailed that the base in Cuba would be used
initially for logistics, intelligence collection and document and id
forgery - a scenario given more credence since Cuba took over the
agencies that issue identification and immigration documents in Venezuela.
It has long been speculated that there was a strong connection between
the Castro regime and Hezbollah terrorists. In July of 2008, Samir
Qantar, a Lebanese terrorist that was serving a life sentence for
murdering a Jewish family, a crime that included smashing the skull of a
4-year-old female child with a rifle butt, made his first private visit
after being freed in a prisoner swap to the Cuban Embassy in Beirut.
Upon his release, Qantar told Maria Isabel Velasquez, Cuba's top
diplomat in Beirut, "I am at the disposition of the Cuban government for
any work to liberate the five Cuban prisoners being held by the United
States."
A week later, the Cuban Embassy in Lebanon congratulated the terrorist,
saying, "We appreciate his struggle for the release of our five
compatriots," and Velásquez also noted that the five Cuban spies
imprisoned in the U.S. had also campaigned for Qantar's release.
Velásquez added, "We believe Samir Qantar to be a fighter in the Arab
cause to put an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian
territories and Lebanon."
Cuba has been a center of terrorist operations and training since
shortly after Fidel Castro usurped the sitting government in 1959.
Reuters reported as early as May 30, 1978, that Palestinian terrorists
of the PLO had been trained in Cuba, and on September 13, 1978, the
Egyptian daily Ahar Sa'ah reported that as many as 500 Palestinians were
on their way to Cuba to receive terrorist training.
The Subcommittee on Counterterrorism in the U.S. House of
Representatives held hearings in July, entitled "Hezbollah in Latin
America - Implications for U.S. Homeland Security," which detailed the
terror group's ties to left-wing regimes in the region. And the U.S.
Military's Southern Command reported recently on the terror group's
activities on Venezuela's Margarita Island, where Hezbollah and Hamas
terrorists are alleged to have held planning meetings, as well as a
number of money laundering operations.
http://www.americasforum.com/content/hezbollah-terrorists-reportedly-setting-operations-base-cuba
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