Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the first world leaders to publicly mourn the death of Hugo Chavez, late of Venezuela, in a message of condolence to Vice President Nicolas Maduro. The Iranian president referred to Chavez as a “martyr,” and insisted that the Iranian ally, Hezbollah supporter – and anti-U.S., anti-Israel, anti-Semitic demagogue – had died under suspicious circumstances:
IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has paid tribute to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez saying he had fallen “martyr” to a “suspect illness”. Ahmadinejad hailed his close ally for “serving the people of Venezuela and defending human and revolutionary values.”… “He finally died from a suspect illness and he gave his life… to the elevation of his country and the freedom of his people,” Ahmadinejad said in a message of condolences to Vice President Nicolas Maduro. The Iranian president was backing claims made by Maduro shortly before Chavez’s death was announced that Venezuela’s enemies had somehow afflicted the firebrand leftist with the cancer that eventually killed him.
Ahmadinejad also expressed his conviction that Chavez will “return on resurrection day.” President Barack Obama was reportedly less effusive in marking Chavez’s death by cancer.
Former Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States Roger Noriega reported in the Washington Post on the depth of Chavez and Venezuela’s ties to terrorist networks, including hosting “senior leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in a secret summit at military intelligence headquarters at the Fuerte Tiuna compound in southern Caracas. Among those present were Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, who is on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists; Hamas’s ‘supreme leader,’ Khaled Meshal; and Hezbollah’s ‘chief of operations,’ whose identity is a closely guarded secret.”
Venezuela has become a central foothold for a broad Iranian campaign aimed at penetrating Latin America. Chavez also assisted the Iranians in developing their nuclear program, both directly by facilitating the transfer of relevant materials and indirectly by helping them evade Western sanctions designed to stunt the program. A 2012 CNN report described an Ahmadinejad visit to the region and noted Venezuela’s role:
It’s no coincidence that Venezuela is Ahmadinejad’s first stop. Despite their cultural differences, Venezuela and Iran have found significant common ground: both are among the world’s top crude oil exporters, and their leaders have become strong allies united by a fierce opposition to what they view as U.S. imperialism… Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has also helped the Islamic republic forge relationships with other members of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas, an eight-nation regional bloc Chavez founded.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta subsequently visited the region and expressed concerns that the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah was entering the region along with Iran. Last month Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, during a visit to the country, also made the West’s concern over Venezuela’s ties to Iran plainly known. The degree to which Iranian-Venezuelan ties will continue past Chavez’s death remains unclear, but Iran has in any case developed alternative pathways – most notably via Argentina – for expanding its influence into Latin America.
[Photo: AFP / YouTube]