Hostile Activity Grossly Underreported in the Western Hemisphere

General John F. Kelly, United States Marine Corp Commander for Southcom, presented to the Senate Armed Service Committee last week his report on the dangers of foreign influence in Latin America. While the General did a great job at identifying the key players, the report fell short in showing the extent at which these parties play a role in Latin American politics.

The following report will examine the growing role that the three main outside actors – China, Russia, and Iran – play in the current decline of regional stability.

China

While General Kelly mentions the Chinese have invested nearly $100 billion over the past decade, he fails to mention President Xi Jinping’s recent pledge of nearly $250 billion to Latin America over the next ten-years. China has surpassed the United States in trade with Brazil, Argentina, and Peru – all of whom used to be strong allies of the US.

Beyond the obvious financial interest in Latin America, the Chinese military has also set their sights on precious geostrategic locations on the continent. Last month, the Argentine Congress rubber-stamped the presence of China’s first satellite-tracking base outside of the People’s Republic. The base will be located in Neuquén, part of the Patagonia region. Even though congress just approved the bill, construction hastily began last September without congressional approval.

While Argentina’s President Cristina Kichner claims there will be no military presence on the base, there will be no way of knowing what is going on in the 200-hectare area.

An important caveat is the fact that the agreement includes a clause that prevents the Argentine government from having any control over what happens on this base. This has fueled the growing fear that the base in fact will house Chinese military personnel. Multiple politicians, including the Presidential candidate Senator Fernando Solanas, have stated their concerns that the base will serve a dual civilian-military purpose.

Clearly China has greater intentions than just economic partnership in the region.

Russia

General Kelly touches upon Russia’s stated goals of an increased presence in order to weaken the United State’s influence in the hemisphere. The report describes how Russian envoys have “courted” the idea of gaining access to airbases in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Additionally, he mentions Russian spy ships docking in Havana and increased surveillance runs by the Russian air force.

While the report did cite valid fears regarding Russian influence in the region, it lacked the detailed insight needed to elevate those fears to serious concern. Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu conducted a tour of Nicaragua and Peru at the beginning of the year, where he was able to secure sales of Russian aircrafts in exchange for simplified port protocols in Nicaraguan harbors.

Not only is this an old strategic plan cut from the Soviet Union’s playbook, President Reagan went to great lengths to prevent such a dangerous deal from happening. Vladimir Putin is winning strategic deals for possible future leverage, while the United States does nothing to secure our hemisphere from their influence.

Iran

General Kelly’s assessment of Iranian involvement in Latin American cannot be dumbed-down to simply stating they have opened over “80 cultural centers” in the region. This is the grossest underestimation of the hemispheric security threat posed to the United States.

Iran has had a long and deadly involvement in Latin America both overtly through these “cultural centers”, as well as covertly via their proxy Hezbollah. Over the last 23 years, Hezbollah has been cited with planning and executing the Israeli Embassy bombing and the AMIA bombings in Buenos Aires. In addition to those successful attacks, there have been failed attempts in other Latin American countries.

The accused mastermind behind the terror attacks in Buenos Aires, Mohsen Rabbani, is funding these cultural centers. Currently serving as the head of the Oriental Thought Culture Institute, this former cultural attaché to the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires is able to recruit, indoctrinate, and return Islamic extremist to their home countries in Latin America.

In addition to the aforementioned examples, Iran has played an important role in Argentine politics. It has been reported that Iran, through their hemispheric partner Venezuela, donated money to Cristina Kirchner’s presidential campaign. In exchange for financial support, Iran demanded Argentine support in lifting Interpol’s red notice on convicted Iranian terrorists, as well as material and technical support for their nuclear weapons program.

Downplaying Iranian involvement in Latin America, either through their proxy Hezbollah or direct involvement, cannot be overlooked so carelessly.

Venezuela

While the report highlights the current instability of Venezuela, General Kelly fails to discuss their role in fomenting instability throughout Latin America. Even though Venezuela is not included in the list of outside forces influencing regional security, they serve as the middleman who connects these actors to Latin American leaders. For this reason, Venezuela should be included in any discussion involving the Chinese, Russians or Iranians.

Beyond their already established involvement in helping create the Argentine-Iranian nexus, the Venezuelan regime has taken steps to harm the United State’s influence in the region, while also attempting to undermine security operations in neighboring countries.

General Kelly mentions the damaged relations between the United States and Venezuelan security agencies. However, he fails to cite the two major events that have taken place since the Chavista ideology took power in 2001. In 2005, President Hugo Chavez took aim at the United States by expelling the DEA from the country. Last month, President Nicolas Maduro took it a step further by limiting the size of the US embassy and labeling American politicians enemies of the Bolivarian ideology.

This reduction of American presence coincides with the rise of Venezuelan relations with Iran. The importance of this nexus involves that fact the United States now has diminished abilities to conduct intelligence operation that could save American lives at home and abroad.

Not only has Venezuela taken direct action against the United State’s interest in the region, they have also been directly undermining the Colombian-American war against the narco-guerillas known as the FARC. It has long been known that the Venezuelan regime has actively trained, funded, and supplied the Colombian based narco-guerillas. Now, after decades of Colombian efforts to secure a peace treaty, it is being reported that the ceasefire is at risk of collapsing. Were it not for the support of the Venezuelan regime, the FARC would have been decimated years ago.

While General Kelly’s work is a step in the right direction, the underreporting of Chinese, Russian, and Iranian involvement in Latin America, as well as the growing importance of Venezuela, needs to be drastically changed. These issues will continue to play a major role in regional stability, and need to be moved closer to the top of the list of American national security interests.