U.S. and Argentina Agree to Joint Efforts Against Hezbollah in Latin America

On Sunday, February 4, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Argentine counterpart Jorge Faurie announced close cooperation between the two countries to cut Hezbollah's financial network in Latin America. In a press conference in Buenos Aires, Tillerson stated that the issue of stopping the use of the Latin American financial network was raised during his visit, and both sides want to work closely together to combat this phenomenon. Argentina hosts a large population of Lebanese immigrants, and U.S. officials suspect that organized criminal groups are involved in financing Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran. Faurie confirmed the necessity of cooperation to combat Hezbollah, stating that "Latin America is a land of peace and foreign groups should not disrupt this situation." Tillerson mentioned that discussions were held on how the entire region can confront Hezbollah, emphasizing the need to jointly combat all organized criminal groups, from drug traffickers to human and goods traffickers, as there is evidence of Hezbollah being financed by these criminal groups. He specifically mentioned negotiations regarding the presence of Hezbollah in the region, a group whose terrorist activities are supported through financial networks in Latin America. "Therefore, we agreed to jointly combat this issue and eliminate the problem," he said. Faurie added that, as Tillerson pointed out, cooperation is necessary not only on bilateral issues but also in exchanging information about activities of groups that exploit international crimes for their own interests. He stated that Argentina is strongly against these groups. The French news agency, in its report on this press conference, referred to the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina, which resulted in 29 deaths, noting that just two years prior, the Argentine Jewish center known as AMIA was also attacked, leading to 85 deaths. None of the bombers were ever convicted in court, but international investigations found clues indicating that Hezbollah and some senior Iranian officials were involved in these incidents. The U.S. has designated Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization." American experts believe that Hezbollah, under close Iranian supervision, is forming financial networks in Latin America that generate income through drug trafficking and support Hezbollah's political and military activities.