An Unholy Alliance: Hezbollah’s Foothold in Venezuela and the Threat to Hemispheric Security
From a conservative perspective, national security is predicated on a clear-eyed assessment of threats, both overt and covert. It requires calling malign actors by their proper names and opposing the ideologies that fuel them, regardless of political expediency. Few alliances so perfectly encapsulate a failure of this duty than the deepening, deliberate partnership between the socialist dictatorship in Venezuela and the Iranian-backed terrorist organization, Hezbollah. This is not a matter of speculation or alarmism; it is a documented, strategic penetration of the Western Hemisphere by a dedicated enemy of the United States and its allies, facilitated by a corrupt and anti-American regime in Caracas.
The foundation of this alliance is not incidental but ideological and strategic. The Bolivarian revolution, initiated by Hugo Chávez and ruthlessly maintained by Nicolás Maduro, was from its inception built on a foundation of virulent anti-Americanism. Chávez did not merely seek a different economic model; he actively sought to build a global axis of resistance against U.S. influence. This naturally led him into the arms of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism and a regime whose foundational creed is likewise opposition to “The Great Satan.” From this state-level partnership between Caracas and Tehran sprouted the operational branch: Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful and capable terrorist proxy.
Hezbollah’s role in Venezuela is multifaceted, operating across three interconnected domains: criminal finance, logistical support, and ideological solidarity. Firstly, Venezuela has become a critical node in Hezbollah’s global financial network. The regime’s rampant corruption, control over natural resources, and porous borders have created a paradise for illicit finance. Hezbollah’s external security apparatus, along with its allies in the Lebanese diaspora in the tri-border area of South America, have leveraged Venezuelan resources for decades. Key to this has been the regime’s complicity.
Reports from the U.S. Treasury Department and investigative journalists have detailed how Venezuelan state entities, including the national oil company PDVSA, have been used to launder money and move resources, often through complex schemes involving overvalued contracts, shell companies, and trade-based money laundering. The Maduro regime, in exchange for hard currency and political support from Iran, has provided Hezbollah facilitators with Venezuelan identity documents, passports, and diplomatic cover. This transforms terrorists into “businessmen,” allowing them to move freely and bank securely. The profits from narcotrafficking, embezzlement, and fraud flowing through these channels directly fund Hezbollah’s military arsenal in Lebanon and its global terrorist operations. In short, the collapse of the Venezuelan economy under socialism has created a black market bonanza that helps bankroll jihadism.
Secondly, Venezuela serves as a potential logistical and operational platform in America’s backyard. Conservatives understand that terrorism thrives in ungoverned spaces. The Venezuelan regime’s deliberate collapse of institutional controls, combined with its control over ports, airports, and vast, remote land borders, has created such a space. There is deep concern among national security experts that Venezuela could be used as a launchpad for attacks, a transit point for operatives entering North America, or a safe haven for planning. The presence of sympathetic regime elements in intelligence and military units lowers the barrier for such activities. While Hezbollah’s primary theater remains the Middle East, its history of catastrophic attacks in Buenos Aires in the 1990s proves its capability and willingness to strike in the Western Hemisphere. A friendly regime like Maduro’s provides an invaluable contingency option, a threat-in-being that constrains U.S. options and provides Iran with leverage.
Thirdly, there is a disturbing ideological synergy. The Maduro regime and Hezbollah both style themselves as revolutionary vanguards in a global struggle against American “imperialism” and “Zionism.” State media in Venezuela has consistently parroted Iranian and Hezbollah propaganda. This is not a mere marriage of convenience but a meeting of revolutionary minds. For conservatives, this highlights the truly global nature of the anti-American, anti-Western coalition. It bridges the socialist “Bolivarian” left and the Islamist far-right, united only by their hatred for the United States, Israel, and the concept of liberal democracy. This alliance demonstrates that the threat is ideological as much as it is military; it is a coalition of those who seek to dismantle the U.S.-led international order.
The response from successive U.S. administrations, until recently, has been woefully inadequate, often hamstrung by a reluctance to confront the full nature of the regimes involved. From a conservative viewpoint, a robust strategy to counter this threat must be unequivocal and multi-pronged:
1. Maximum Pressure and Designation: The U.S. must maintain and intensify maximum pressure campaigns on both the Maduro and Iranian regimes. Every individual and entity facilitating this nexus must be hit with crushing sanctions. Venezuela must be formally designated, without ambiguity, as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. This is not a symbolic gesture; it triggers a cascade of legal and financial consequences that can disrupt the alliance’s lifelines.
2. Support for Democratic Legitimacy: U.S. policy must remain unequivocally aligned with the cause of Venezuelan freedom. This means recognizing the legitimate, democratically elected National Assembly and continuing support for the Venezuelan people’s right to self-determination. A free, democratic Venezuela would naturally expel Hezbollah and rejoin the community of peaceful nations. Support must be material, diplomatic, and rhetorical.
3. Hemispheric Solidarity and Intelligence Sharing: The U.S. must lead a concerted effort with regional allies, particularly Colombia and Brazil, to share intelligence, secure borders, and dismantle the criminal-terrorist networks operating in the region. This is a shared threat to hemispheric security, not just a U.S. problem.
4. Military Deterrence and Preparedness: The U.S. Southern Command must be resourced appropriately to monitor, deter, and, if necessary, neutralize any emergent terrorist threat from Venezuelan soil. This includes enhanced surveillance, cyber capabilities, and clear messaging that the use of Venezuelan territory for attacks will be met with a devastating response.
The Hezbollah-Venezuela nexus is a chilling case study in the consequences of American weakness and ideological blindness. It is the direct result of allowing a hostile, socialist regime to consolidate power, collapse a once-prosperous nation, and open its doors to the world’s most sophisticated terrorist organization. For conservatives, this is a stark reminder that isolationism is a luxury we cannot afford. Threats gather in the shadows of failed states and are nurtured by regimes that hate us. To protect the homeland, we must be willing to confront evil abroad, name it accurately, and act decisively to counter it. The people of Venezuela are the first victims of this unholy alliance, but if left unchecked, we will not be the last. The time for clear-eyed recognition and resolute action is now.
