Latin America - Terrorist Haven?

This is a very interesting article. May I take this wonderful opportunity to clarify this issue a bit further.  Suggestions that Margarita- in Venezuela- is a safe place for terrorists are old and wrongful allegations. They have never been proved at all. Some have argued that such suggestions emerged now and then by pro Zionist newspapers and articles. It would be an attempt to link the panic reaction such information creates on people with references to Hugo Chavez and other Latin American leaders with close bilateral relations with Iran. However, these regional countries have not been reported to support state terrorism.   Oddly, an angle some times forgotten is the contribution of Israeli weapons and training in terrorist activities in Latin American. <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Central America conflicts and current Colombian civil war are just a few examples of such a link between terrorist activities and business. In Latin America, people engaged in this ethically disputable way of doing business are called “Perros de la Guerra” or War Dogs. It is a phrase that resemble “Blood diamond” in Africa. Many Lebanese families flew their war torn country during the 1975-1990 civil war and established successful businesses in Margarita Island. Therefore, it happened more than 30 years ago when the word terrorist was rarely used in International Relation discourse. Many of these Lebanese immigrants were not even Muslims but Maronites, that is, members of one of the Eastern Catholic Churches. They joined previous tides of immigrants as Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, Mores, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.Due to their remote links to a previous immigration tide from the Middle East during the Ottoman Empire times (1299–1922), in Venezuela, Lebanese are called “Turcos” or Turks. As it has traditionally happened in Venezuela, these Lebanese also melted locally. So, one can find people with Lebanese ancestry in beauty contests, local TV or Media and most rewarding careers.

Even though notorious Carlos el Chacal -Ilich Ramírez Sánchez - was born in Caracas not Margarita Island, Venezuela itself has experienced very few terrorist attacks: In 1976, CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles blew a Cuban plane that took off Venezuela killing all 73 people.   In 1993, Ramiro Helmeyer, a Venezuelan citizen was jailed for trying to manipulate local financial markets with terrorist attacks. He planted car bombs in different part of Caracas. At the time, local authorities labelled the attacks as “financial terrorism”. In 2003, terrorist attacks took place against a Colombian Consulate and the Spanish Embassy; Even though, none was hurt on that occasion, it was suggested people opposed to Chavez’s administration were to blame for the attack.