Former Trump official confirmed before the Senate that the Maduro regime facilitates the operations and logistics of the terrorist group Hezbollah in Latin America

Marshall Billingslea, former U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence during the first Donald Trump administration, testified Tuesday before the Senate caucus and exposed the deep-rooted operations of Hezbollah in Venezuela.

During the hearing titled "Global Gangsters: Hezbollah's Latin American Drug Trafficking Operations," Billingslea detailed how the Lebanese group maintains an established presence in the country (Venezuela), backed by the Venezuelan state and integrated with drug trafficking and corruption networks linked to the regime.

Along these lines, Billingslea identified Ghazi Nasr al-Din, also known as Ghazi Nasreddine, a Venezuelan national, as a central figure in this network. Nasreddine operated as a Hezbollah agent for years and played diplomatic roles in Damascus, Syria.

There, he personally arranged meetings with Hezbollah officials and facilitated the issuance of Venezuelan passports to their operatives to conceal their identities.

“Ghazi Nassereddine (who organized the aforementioned cocaine for 5 weapons scheme between the FARC and Hizballah) holds Venezuelan citizenship and worked at the Venezuelan embassy in Damascus where he arranged meetings with Hizballah officials. He also used his position to distribute Venezuelan passports to Hizballah operatives to conceal their identities.”

Venezuela opens its doors to Hezbollah
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Under the command of the late ex-president Hugo Chávez, Venezuela opened its doors to Hezbollah, allowing the group to establish an extensive infrastructure, including a paramilitary training site on Margarita Island. Billingslea recalled that as early as 2001 and 2002, while serving as Assistant Undersecretary of Defense for Special Operations in the Pentagon, he found evidence of document forgery in the region and state contracts awarded to companies that were fronts for Hezbollah.

Along those lines, in his speech, he stressed, “the Venezuelan regime is also known to have been awarding contracts to Hizballah-controlled companies at the time, such as with a May 2001 contract to Saleh Trading LTDA for shirts.” 

Hezbollah expands under Nicolás Maduro

During the hearing, the expert noted that Hezbollah's influence expanded significantly after Nicolas Maduro came to power. Billingslea stated that the group's presence in Venezuela “dramatically expanded” along with its connections to the drug trafficking regime and the Cartel de Los Soles 

Additionally, he highlighted the pivotal role of former Vice President and Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami at the head of the Venezuelan passport office, from where El Aissami directed and facilitated the issuance of thousands of documents to Hezbollah and Hamas operatives.

In that sense, he warned that some of these individuals who entered the United States maintain direct ties with the terrorist group.

In addition, he emphasized Venezuela's role as a haven for the terrorist group, especially amid pressures in Lebanon, with reports suggesting that up to 400 Hezbollah commanders are relocating to Latin America, mainly to Maduro's country.