Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

January 13, 2017 By Fausta

Colombia: FARC is world’s 3rd richest terrorist organization

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, are the world’s third richest terrorist organization, according to a report published by Forbes:

3. FARC – Annual Turnover $600 million
FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), is an underground Marxist and anti-imperialist activist group and a key player in the bloody struggle that’s ravaged Columbia for more than 50 years.

Region: Colombia.

Main funding sources: drug production and drug trafficking, kidnapping and ransom, mining of minerals (especially gold), fees and taxes.

Purpose: elimination of the capitalist regime and the establishment of a Marxist-socialist welfare.

ISIS  and Hamas took first and second place on the list.

The pricey “peace” agreement Colombian (and U.S.) taxpayers will be financing:

Over 10 years, the costs of post-conflict programs is expected to reach $16.8 billion, or about 1% of Colombia’s gross domestic product.

The “peace” agreement will give the FARC, an organization whose purpose is the “elimination of the capitalist regime and the establishment of a Marxist-socialist welfare,” ten unelected seats in Colombia’s Congress.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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Filed Under: Colombia, FARC, Fausta's blog, Hamas Tagged With: Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)

August 11, 2014 By Fausta

The wine squeeze Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Producers of cheap Malbec are getting squeezed by inflation, according to the WSJ,

Wine has been hit harder than agricultural products like soy because picking the grapes is so labor intensive. Analysts say producers’ costs have risen at least 100% in the past four years.

That means fewer bottles of cheap Argentine wine are making it to the shelves of restaurants and liquor stores in the U.S. and Europe.

As if things weren’t tough enough already.

ARGENTINA
Judge Threatens Argentina With Contempt Over Its Statements

Argentina seeks legal case against U.S. in The Hague

Argentine grandmother leading search for stolen children reunited with own grandson after 36 years
Country celebrates as Estela Carlotto, head of the renowned Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, finds the grandchild taken from her daughter by the military regime almost four decades ago

BOLIVIA
‘King Midas’ Bat From Bolivia Identified As A News Species

BRAZIL
Brazil anger over gynaecological tests for teachers
Brazilian women’s rights advocates denounce Sao Paulo state’s requirement for prospective female teachers to undergo gynaecological test

Women’s rights advocates in Brazil have denounced requirements by the country’s most populous state for prospective female teachers to submit to gynaecological exams or prove their virginity in order to work.

The education department of Sao Paulo state requires female prospective teachers to undergo a Pap smear in order to prove they are free of a variety of cancers, or to present a doctor’s statement verifying they have not been sexually active.

Until recently, it also required women to have a colposcopy, a type of visual examination used to detect disease.

CHILE
Chile youth leader freed in Venezuela, going to Santiago

COLOMBIA
Colombian rebels attack oil field
Colombian rebels attack an oil field in the north-west of the country although no-one is hurt, the state-owned company Ecopetrol says.

CUBA
Cy Tokmakjian – Imprisoned in Cuba No Charges. No Justice

Cuba and the outside world
Rekindling old friendships
Cuba is once again resorting to geopolitics to support a failing economy

Museum enshrines the history of Cuba according to “The Godfather II”

ECUADOR
Ecuador to open embassy in ‘Palestine’, president cancels visit to Israel

What Can Tens of Millions of Dollars Buy Ecuador in the ‘Empire’?

GUATEMALA
Guatemala Receives Deported Children from U.S.

IMMIGRATION
BORDER PATROL AGENT: CARTELS USING CHILDREN AS ‘SHIELDS’

JAMAICA
Jamaica: The good, the bad and the ugly

LATIN AMERICA
Why is Latin America Coddling Hamas?

The Spin of Things to Come

Russia Slaps Embargo on Western Food Imports and Looks to Latin America

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CYNTHIA MCKINNEY? She’s at TeleSur, which is

funded by the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela.

MEXICO
Mexico Gains Winning Edge By Opening Energy Market

Mexico Mulls Over Raising It’s Shockingly Low Minimum Wage

NICARAGUA
Costa Rica seeks investigation of immigrant bribes to Nicaraguan military

PANAMA
Has Panama weaned itself off drugs and cleaned up?

PARAGUAY
Pope Benedict XVI OK’d abusive priest in Paraguay, local bishop says

PERU
PERU HAS REOPENED ITS OFFICE OF UFO INVESTIGATIONS

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Ricans Are Fleeing the Economic Disaster That Is Their Home Island

VENEZUELA
Venezuelan weather vanes

Evil in the Bayou

The week’s posts and podcast:
Venezuela: Derwick in the news

Today’s illegal invasion headlines

Nicaragua: A reminder on the sandinistas

Venezuela: What a show trial looks like

“once every 5 years”

Ecuador: Like bitcoin, but not as solid

Need a coyote? Check Facebook!

Mexico: Knights Templar chief La Tuta’s on YouTube

Illegal immigration: Just who is getting in?

At Da Tech Guy Blog:
Pope Francis reinstates Marxist to the priesthood (update DTG)

And now, for a “train deal” with Mexico

The week’s podcast, with Silvio Canto.


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Filed Under: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hamas, Jamaica, Latin America, Mexico, news, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela Tagged With: Cynthia McKinney, Estela Carlotto, Fausta's blog, TeleSur

July 29, 2014 By Fausta

Is North Korea Selling (Cuban) Arms to Hamas?

Interesting question from Capitol Hill Cubans:

Is North Korea Selling (Cuban) Arms to Hamas?

 According to the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, Hamas militants are attempting to negotiate an arms deal with North Korea for missiles and communications equipment that will allow them to maintain their offensive against Israel.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, a U.S. federal court ruled that North Korea provided rocket and missile components for Hezbollah to use in its 2006 attacks against Israel.
. . .

Last year, the Cuban regime was caught red-handed smuggling 240 tons of weapons to North Korea. This constituted the largest amount of arms and related materiel interdicted to or from North Korea since the adoption of resolution 1718 (2006).

The interdicted shipment, aboard the Chong Chon Gang, includedsurface-to-air missile systems (that can take down planes), missile components, ammunition, radars and other miscellaneous arms-related materiel.

What if these missile systems had ended up in the hands of Hamas or Hezbollah?

Other Cuban weaponry may have, as there were at least seven otherNorth Korean vessels that made similarly elusive trips (as the Chong Chon Gang) to Cuban in the last few years.

Most recently, the Mu Du Bong

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Filed Under: Cuba, Hamas, North Korea Tagged With: Chong Chon Gang, Fausta's blog, Mu Du Bong

November 14, 2012 By Fausta

Kablooie!

Terrorist Ahmed Jabari buys the farm,

Details at The Other McCain.

Again,

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Filed Under: Hamas, Israel, terrorism Tagged With: Ahmed Jabari, Fausta's blog

May 9, 2011 By Fausta

More on the Iranian training camps in Latin America

Arab Times article,
Kuwaitis Among Trainees In ‘Guards’ Latin Camp (h/t Vlad) (emphasis added)

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is allegedly training a large number of Kuwaitis, Bahrainis and Saudis in a private training camp located in Waheera, a remote area near the borders of Venezuela and Columbia, and intends to use them to carry out terrorist activities within their respective countries and other areas across the world in case Iran is attacked militarily, Al-Seyassah daily quoted a reliable source as saying.

Since the reports come from Arab-language newspapers, I speculate that the location of Waheera is actually Guajira (whose phonetical pronunciation is the same as “Waheera”) in this map,

The article continues,

The trainees are first sent to Venezuelan capital Caracas or Columbian capital Bogota via Damascus and from there, they are sent to the border region in cars, one of the militants who broke away from the Iranian group told the daily.

Reportedly, the training camp is run by some Iranian intelligence officers and others affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard in cooperation with Hezbollah and Hamas. The trainees were given courses in making bombs, carrying out assassinations, kidnapping people and transporting the hostages to other locations.

The operations are financed through the drug trade,

When asked about the financing of this militia, the source said the money Iran makes through drug trafficking and money laundering is equal to the budget of some countries. “For example, Dutch police, in cooperation with security authorities of seven other countries, arrested 17 drug smugglers in 2009 in Korasu and confiscated 2,000 kilos of cocaine from them. The huge quantity was smuggled through tankers from Venezuela to West Africa and then to Holland, Lebanon and Spain. Smugglers also transported cocaine by air from Korasu to Holland, Belgium, Spain and Jordan. The Dutch authorities had then announced that the smuggling network was linked to Hezbollah and Iran,” he added.

These reports have been surfacing recently (including Kuwaiti newspapers), but long-time readers of this blog know about the Iranian and Hezbollah presences in Latin America. Interestingly, now the reports are including Hamas.

Cross-posted at Real Clear World Blog.

UPDATE, 10 May,
Welcome, Blogs for Victory readers!

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Filed Under: Colombia, Hamas, Hizballah, Hizbollah, Iran, terrorism, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Hezbollah, La Guajira, Real Clear World, Real Clear World Blog

April 3, 2011 By Fausta

Terrorism in Latin America: Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah in Brazil

Brazil’s Revista Veja, which in the past has detailed how Hugo Chavez is a threat to Latin America’s stability and democracies (calling him “Totalitarianism’s clone” six years ago), is now reporting on al-Qaeda’s presence in Brazil.

Reuters has the story,

Al Qaeda operatives are in Brazil planning attacks, raising money and recruiting followers, a leading news magazine reported Saturday, renewing concerns about the nation serving as a hide-out for Islamic militants.

For some reason Yahoo news (link above) did not mention Hamas and Hezbollah, which the Jerusalem Post does (h/t Gates of Vienna),

Operatives from Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaida are in Brazil planning attacks, raising money and recruiting followers, a leading Brazilian news magazine reported on Saturday.

Both Yahoo and the JP continue,

Veja magazine, in its online edition, reported that at least 20 people affiliated with al Qaeda as well as the Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah, the Palestinian group Hamas and two other organizations have been hiding out in the South American country.

The magazine said these operatives have been raising money and working to incite attacks abroad. The magazine cited Brazilian police and U.S. government reports, but did not give details on specific targets or operations.

The United States has said Islamic militants have been operating in the border region between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Brazil has denied this, while saying it is aware that some members of Brazil’s Lebanese community legally transferred funds to the Middle East.

The Veja online article (in Portuguese) headline reads, (my translation. Please link to this post and credit me if you use this translation)
Exclusivo: documentos da CIA, FBI e PF mostram como age a rede do terror islâmico no Brasil
A Polícia Federal tem provas de que a Al Qaeda e outras quatro organizações extremistas usam o país para divulgar propaganda, planejar atentados, financiar operações e aliciar militantes

Exclusive: CIA, FBI, and Federal Police document an Islamic terror network in Brazil.
The Federal Police show that al-Qaeda and four other organizations are using the country to spread propaganda, plan attacks, raise funds and recruit militants.

The article then directs its readers to read the report in the magazine’s print edition. I haven’t been able to locate this issue of Veja, so if any of my readers has, please let me know.

For older posts on terrorism in Brazil and the tri-border area,
Piracy, the Tri-Border Area and terrorism
US asks Paraguay to extradite suspected Hezbollah financier, formerly of Broooklyn and New Jersey
Following up on the triborder area nine,

UPDATE
Linked by The Datatech Guy.

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Filed Under: al-Qaeda, Brazil, Hamas, Hizballah, Hizbollah, TBA, terrorism Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Revista Velja

March 24, 2011 By Fausta

“Israel’s term for a Palestinian strike”?

One dead, fifty injured, and Reuters won’t call it a terrorist attack.

Jeffrey Goldberg takes out the baseball bat and lets Reuters have it.

Or, as The Tatler puts it, And Reuters is a ‘news organization’

And now for a tour de force of moral equivalence.

UPDATE
Flashback to man-caused disasters.
(h/t Bryan)

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Hamas, Israel, terrorism Tagged With: Fausta's blog

March 23, 2011 By Fausta

Islamist terrorists crossing the border,

while the Obama administration sues Arizona for enforcing Federal immigration law:
Patrick Poole writes,
DOJ Memo Confirms Terrorists Have Crossed the Border
PJM reveals a court filing showing that federal prosecutors have admitted a terror threat involving an Al-Shabaab human smuggler who claimed asylum.
(h/t Instapundit).
While many Latin American observers have been writing about this issue, what is significant is that this time the Department of Justice is documenting it a court filing in the pending sentencing of convicted Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane in a San Antonio federal court:

In this court filing, provided exclusively here at Pajamas Media, prosecutors admit that Dhakane, who ran a human smuggling ring based in Brazil for the Somali Al-Shabaab terrorist group, transported “violent jihadists” into the country. He stated that “he believed they would fight against the U.S. if the jihad moved from overseas locations to the U.S. mainland.” (p. 7)
…
Dhakane was charged in March 2010 with lying about his terror ties when he applied for asylum in 2008, specifically omitting information that he had worked for two specially designated global terrorist entities (SDGT). He pleaded guilty earlier this year to lying to the FBI and awaits sentencing next month. Rather than trying him on terror charges, federal prosecutors are asking for terror enhancements on the sentence for lying to the FBI.

Poole, who is scheduled to testify today before the Arizona House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee on the topic of “Cross-border Terror Threats and Islamic Radicalization in Arizona,” correctly points out

This is far from the first time that Islamic terrorists are known to have attempted to enter the U.S, or actually succeeded. Just last year Homeland Security authorities put out an alert concerning a group of terror-tied Somalis who were attempting to enter the country through Mexico. Then last May anotherterror alert was issued for a known Al-Shabaab official, Mohamed Ali, who was suspected of trying to cross the border from Mexico. And in February 2010, a Virginia convert to Islam who was in contact with Al-Shabaab officials, Anthony Joseph Tracy, was charged for his role in an international smuggling ring that brought at least 200 Somalis into the U.S. on Cuban travel documents.

Other terrorist operatives are known to have successfully crossed the border:

  • In February 2001, Mahmoud Kourani crossed the border from Tijuana in the trunk of a car, eventually settling in Dearborn, Michigan. Kourani, who federal prosecutors claimed had received training in weapons, intelligence, and spy craft in Iran, bribed a Mexican embassy official in Beirut to obtain a visa. Kourani’s brother is known to be Hezbollah’s security chief in southern Lebanon.
  • In December 2002, Salim Boughader was arrested for smuggling 200 Lebanese, including Hezbollah operatives, across the border. Boughader had previously worked for Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV satellite network.
  • In July 2004, Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed was arrested at a Texas airport boarding a flight to New York. According to the Washington Post, she was connected to a Pakistani terrorist group. Believed to be ferrying instructions to U.S.-based al-Qaeda operatives, authorities issued a terror alert for Washington D.C., New York, and New Jersey.
  • In January 2005, two Hamas operatives, Mahmoud Khalil and Ziad Saleh, were arrested as part of a criminal enterprise in Los Angeles. Both had entered the U.S. after paying a smuggler $10,000 each to take them across the border.
  • Rep. John Culberson said in November 2005 that an Iraqi al-Qaeda operative on the terror watch list was captured living near the Mexico-Texas border.

At least they weren’t named Perez.

Long-term regular readers of this blog know that I have been asserting that border security is a national security issue.

When will the Obama administration realize that?

UPDATE
Welcome, The Other McCaine readers!

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Filed Under: Hamas, illegal immigration, immigration, Islam, Mexico, terrorism Tagged With: Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, al Shabaab, Arizona, Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, Fausta's blog, Mahmoud Khalil, Mahmoud Kourani, Salim Boughader, Ziad Saleh

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