Hezbollah opens base in Cuba

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Report: Hezbollah opens base in Cuba

Shiite terror group to use operations center to launch attack on Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper reports
Menachem Gantz

09.01.11, 12:35 / Israel News

Hezbollah has established a center of operations in Cuba in order to expand its terrorist activity and facilitate an attack on an Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the attack is meant to avenge the death of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah. The organization alleges that Israel was behind his 2008 assassination. Related Stories: Hezbollah suspected of setting up camp in Venezuela According to the report, three Hezbollah members have already arrived in Cuba with the purpose of establishing a terrorist cell there. The cell is to include 23 operatives, hand-picked by Talal Hamia, a senior member tasked with heading the covert operation. The operation, titled "The Caribbean Case," was reportedly allocated a budget of $1.5 million. The Cuba base is to be initially used for logistics purposes, including intelligence collection, networking and document forgery. Hezbollah has been active in South America for quite some time now, primarily in Paraguay, Brazil and Venezuela, the report notes.

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Report: Hezbollah Sets up Shop in Cuba

• Posted on September 2, 2011 at 10:39am by Buck Sexton

• Comments (163)

Cuba has allowed a group of Hezbollah operatives to establish a base for external terrorist operations in the region, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera.

Reports of a Hezbollah base on Cuba are still in the early stages, but Investor’s Business Daily has already referred to the base described by Corriere as “Cuba’s Terror Smoking Gun,” and wrote of the operation’s details that:

“Three Hezbollah terrorists operating out of Mexico have left that country to establish a permanent ”bridgehead” to the communist island, calling their clandestine operation “The Caribbean Dossier.” Twenty-three other terrorists from the Iran-linked terror group are expected to join the operation, which has a startup budget of more than $500,000…Corriere reported that the mission in Cuba is to provide logistical support for upcoming terrorist attacks planned in the hemisphere.”

Hezbollah has been considered active in Latin America for years, particularly South America’s Tri-Border area. There have also been press reports on the strengthening ties between Mexican drug cartels and the terrorist group.

After its annual review a few weeks ago, the U.S. State Department kept Cuba on its State Sponsors of Terrorism list, mostly because of its ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Cuba has been designated on the list since 1982.

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Bachmann Warns of Hizbollah Training Camps, Weapons in Cuba

Updated: Monday, 26 Sep 2011, 5:22 PM CDT
Published : Monday, 26 Sep 2011, 5:17 PM CDT



(Wall Street Journal) - CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) claimed Monday during a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that Hizbollah, the militant Muslim group based in Lebanon, had established training sites in Cuba and might even set up missile sites 90 miles from US soil.

Bachmann was referring to a story that ran in an Italian newspaper and was quickly picked up on various blogs earlier this month.

"Hizbollah has been potentially looking at wanting a part of missile sites in Iran," she said, citing earlier her position on the House Intelligence Committee. "So of course when you're 90 miles offshore from Florida, you don't want to entertain the prospect of hosting bases or sites where Hizbollah can have training camps or perhaps have missile sites or weapons sites in Cuba. This would be foolish."

Bachmann first laid into the less-than-vibrant island nation during last week's GOP debate in Orlando, noting that Cuba remains on the State Department's list of terrorist sponsors and condemning any push to normalize relations with the communist country. When asked by a supporter at her rally Monday to clarify her comments, she went into her position in greater detail.

Normalizing trade with Cuba, Bachmann said, would only be rewarding the government there for such behavior. She then compared Cuba to Palestine, saying the US shouldn't normalize relations with Cuba anymore than Israel should do the same with Palestine -- until both renounce terrorism.

She then drove home one of her core campaign messages -- she's the candidate "who understands problems that are going on internationally."

Cuba was put on the terror list in 1982, when the Reagan administration accused Fidel Castro of aiding communist rebels in Africa and Latin America.

The US has kept Cuba on the list, in part, as bargaining chip, saying officially that Havana doesn't support the US war on terrorism and has maintained friendly ties with other countries on the terror list, such as Iran.

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