Latin America’s radical grassroots
The logo of Hezbollah in Venezuela
by Dr. Luis Fleischman and Nicole M. Ferrand
The emergence of neo-populism in
These new groups have become a most desired political prey for populist leaders willing to climb the political ladder and even carry a revolutionary change. The populations which include the cocaleros (coca leaf growers) in
Despite being an interesting political capital for political leaders, some of these new populist movements have an element of independence and do not necessarily blindly follow leaders. One example is the Piquetero Movement in
Indigenous movements such as the Zapatistas in
Often, these new movements tend to be radical, anti-systemic, and are inclined to reject the old political and economic order. In some cases, Indian movements have claimed their status as the majority and therefore claim all the power for themselves. Street protests and challenge of the government as well as rejection of the system and revolutionary unwillingness to compromise also characterize some of these movements.
Of course, such discontent could be capitalized on by demagogue populist leaders, but it can also go beyond. One such example is presented by the Wayuu Guajira Indians who represent the largest indigenous group in
An organization called Hezbollah Latin America claimed responsibility for the attack. Hezbollah Latin America is an organization based in the Wayuu Indian population and also calls itself Autonomia Islamica Wayuu (Wayuu Islamic Autonomy). Its website is written in Spanish and Chapateka (a combination of the Wayuu language and Spanish) and claims activity in
The leader of Hezbollah Latin America is Teodoro Rafael Darnott. Mr. Darnott was initially the leader of a small Marxist faction called The Guaicapuro Movement for National Liberation, (Proyecto Movimiento Guaicaipuro por la Liberacin Nacional – MGLN)” which struggled against the oppression of the poor, indigenous peasants in the Valle de Caracas region. The organization initially proposed a concrete micro- farming project but it failed to obtain support from the authorities. It was then that Darnott decided to join the Chavez political party Movimiento Quinta Republica.[3]
It was reported that early in 2004 about 100 Wayuu Indians were massacred by Colombian para-military, guerilla and drug traffickers. These events also pushed hundreds of Wayuu to flee
The organization opens up its website with a set of interesting quotations by the leader of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Rhuolla Khomeini. “Our struggle is the struggle against all inequalities. Our struggle is the struggle of the barefoot people against uncontrolled freedom. It is the struggle of the ideological values against the dirty world of power, money and greediness”. Then it proceeds to two other quotations from Khomeini. The first states that “all the political activities are part of a religious duty” and the second points out that the “Koran is not a book of prayer but a manual to organize society and to train its leaders to rule. Islam and Islamic rules are divine and their practices guarantee prosperity in this world and salvation in the world to come. (Islam) can put an end to injustice, tyranny and corruption and help mankind to achieve perfection.”[4]
The philosophy of this “new Muslim” group says that the Venezuelan revolution cannot take place unless it takes a path towards the moral and divine. The group claims that Venezuelans worship sex, money, industry and commerce leading society into a “swamp of immorality and corruption”.[5] Hezbollah Latin America claims that political movements and parties cannot provide an answer to these problems because they are also part of the problem. Thus, only “a theocratic, Political-Islamic force can liberate society from this situation”.[6]
Hezbollah Latin America “respects the Venezuelan revolutionary process, and supports its social policies as well as its anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism”, even though it rejects socialism in favor of an Islamic order. The group urges everyone to vote for and support Chavez.[7]
Nobody seems to have an answer as to why and how this Wayuu indigenous group came to embrace Hezbollah and why. The first possibility is that Hezbollah has its own independent agenda trying to create terrorist cells and bases of support for their activities aimed at spreading Islam in the western hemisphere.[8]
Some of those covering the events since the October 23rd bombing have tended to downplay the role of Darnott and to question to what extent Hezbollah Latin America is a serious organization. Yet, the phenomenon is worrisome for a number of reasons. First, Hezbollah obviously has ways to either bribe or convert so- called marginal and indigenous groups in
This method is similar to Islamist methods we find in the
The second possibility worth exploring is that Hugo Chavez is fully cooperating with the Islamization process of indigenous and other populations. Indeed, such conversion is taking place as relations between
Gustavo Coronel, an opponent of Chavez, reports that in October 2005 Hugo Chavez expelled a group of US Evangelical missionaries who were working with indigenous communities in the area for more than half a century. Coronel reports that as the evangelical groups left
The presence of Hezbollah
As stated in The America’s Report of March 13, 2006, Luis D’Elia, one of the leaders of the Argentinean Piquetero movement and a former member of the Kirchner cabinet, has established both a relationship with Chavez and with the Iranian government. D’Elia, like other Latin American ” social” leaders from Latin America, attended the first Iran- Latin American conference that took place in
It could be said that the road from socialist revolutionarily Marxism to Islam has been paved by no other than Hugo Chavez. Therefore, should we rule out the Darnott episode as a farce? We do not think so. At this point the revolutionary fever led by Hugo Chavez, to mobilize the “politically” available marginal masses of society coupled with the Iranian penetration in the region should raise an eyebrow not only among American government officials but also among those in
Dr. Luis Fleischman is an advisor to the Menges Hemispheric Security Project at the Center for Security Policy in
Nicole M. Ferrand is a research analyst and editor of “The Americas Report” of the Menges Hemispheric Security Project at the Center for Security Policy in
[1] The Hezbollah Venezuelan Metastasis. September 4, 2006.
[2] “La Fascinacin por el xito: Hezbollah en Amrica Latina .” Jihad Monitor. Oct. 17, 2006. Manuel Torres Soriano.
[3] The Hezbollah Venezuelan Metastasis. September 4, 2006.
[4] Democracy? I meant theocracy. August 5, 2003. The Iranian.
[5] “La Fascinacin por el xito: Hezbollah en Amrica Latina .” Jihad Monitor. Oct. 17, 2006. Manuel Torres Soriano.
[6] Chvez joins the terrorists: his path to martyrdom. September 2, 2006.
[7] The Hezbollah Venezuelan Metastasis. September 4, 2006.
[8] Hezbollah America Latina: strange group or real threat? Feb. 12, 2007. By Ely Karmon. Reporter Associati Internacional.
[9] The Other “Axis of Evil.” July 1st, 2003. The American Legion Magazine. By Paul Crespo.
[10] Chvez joins the terrorists: his path to martyrdom. September 2, 2006.
[11] Gustavo Coronel. The Hezbollah Venezuelan Metastasis.
[12] Jose Orozco, “Venezuelan Jews Fear Chavez-Iran Ties,” The
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