From Diaspora to Drug Ring: How Hezbollah Built Its Colombian Base

Lebanon’s brutal civil war triggered waves of emigration to South America, with large diasporas settling in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia. Hezbollah initially built networks in those communities to buttress recruitment and finances. The U.S.-designated terrorist group then expanded into South America’s illicit economies, building relationships with transnational criminal syndicates and illegal armed structures to boost its finances. This increased Hezbollah’s capability to wage asymmetric warfare against the United…