“Iran and Hezbollah extend their actions to Venezuela” – L’Express

Here is this 56-year-old “iron lady” supported by an unprecedented popular movement of the working classes who want to put an end to the corruption and violence of a regime which imprisons, tortures, starves and pushes its inhabitants into exile. If the elections were free and transparent, that of “María Corina” in the 2024 presidential election (no date has yet been set for the vote) would not be in doubt as her popularity is massive and Maduro’s unpopularity is blatant.

Until then, the candidate of the Vente movement (“Come!”), who has been traveling the country by car for years (the regime, which persecutes her by all means, forbids her from getting on a plane), must win the opposition primaries, organized in heroic conditions and scheduled for October 22. Among the 12 candidates, this engineer whose children are in exile – banned from leaving the country, she has not seen them for ten years – is the big favorite.

A few days before the election, she gave an interview to L’Express, which we are publishing in two parts. In this one, focusing on international politics (the second will be devoted to domestic politics), she discusses how Iran has built a long-term relationship with the regime of Nicolás Maduro and how the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement is interfering in his country, which he uses as a bridgehead in the heart of the Americas as part of a Caracas-Havana-Moscow-Tehran axis. Objective ? Destabilize the United States in what was once its backyard. Exclusive interview.

L’Express: What does Nicolás Maduro’s comment inspire you, who, in response to the Hamas massacres in Israelclaims that Jesus Christ was “a Palestinian [doublé d’un] anti-imperialist fighter [condamné à mort] by the oligarchy of the Spanish Empire”? (Which, incidentally, did not exist…)

Maria Corina Machado: This lamentable assertion does not deserve to be analyzed. In any case, it in no way represents the feeling of Venezuelans, who reject all types of violence and terrorism. My compatriots also know that the Palestinians – whose suffering they do not forget – are also victims of Hamas. That Maduro does not condemn the massacres of October 7; that he expresses no empathy towards Israelis, but, on the contrary, positions himself against Israel, is incredible, beyond words.

This leads us to examine Venezuela’s ties to Iran, Hezbollah and other criminal organizations. The Caracas-Tehran relationship is not new. It started under Hugo Chávez [NDLR : président de 1999 à son décès, en 2013], of which Nicolás Maduro was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and is part of a Cuba-Russia-Iran axis. From the origin of “Chavismo”, Cuba has in fact succeeded in taking control of Venezuela. And this, without firing a single shot. Fidel Castro and his regime gained the upper hand and subtly put in place a mentorship over Chávez. They immediately dragged him into the Russian sphere. Because Cuba maintains a relationship with Moscow that dates back to the days of the USSR. Since the 1960s, Havana has also established relations with all the revolutionary movements of the Middle East: Palestine Liberation Organization [OLP]Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [FPLP]etc.

Alongside Russia, Hugo Chávez established a close relationship with Iran, notably through his great friend Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic from 2005 to 2013. The number of trips made by Chávez to the Muslim world (notably in Libya, Syria and Iran) already showed that, pushed by Cuba, he had turned his back on the Western world. Via Iran, links were established with the Lebanese Hezbollah, which is today Iran’s armed wing in Latin America. Because Iran and Hezbollah are extending their actions as far as Venezuela.

But what is Hezbollah doing in this matter?

Like Russia, Iran, but also Hezbollah, have made Venezuela their bridgehead in the geographical heart of the Americas, very close to the United States. In 2022 alone, there were 214 commercial flights between Caracas and Tehran. Iran used our banking system to evade Western sanctions. In Venezuela, he found a willing ally. The Chavista regime has complete freedom to provide false passports to Iranians. What he did. It also happens that over the last ten years, a quarter of our compatriots have fled Venezuela to settle in all the countries of North and South America. A quarter ! It’s as if 15 million French people went abroad in a decade!

Moreover, the regime intentionally provoked this migration, both to get rid of the strong forces that could oppose it and to destabilize other countries, notably the United States. Equipped with false identity documents, Iranians, Palestinians or Lebanese linked to Hezbollah – or even Hamas – can easily mix with the flow of Latino migrants and infiltrate the United States clandestinely. For Iran as for Russia, the weapon of migrants has become a vector of asymmetric warfare with a view to infiltration and destabilization.

What exactly does the Venezuela-Cuba-Russia relationship cover?

All the domains. The economy, defense, diplomacy, intelligence, trade. From the beginning, Hugo Chávez reconfigured the Venezuelan army by replacing Western equipment with Russian or Chinese equipment. Arms purchases from Russia have been estimated at between $9 billion and $14 billion.

Venezuelan military doctrine has also evolved. It thus includes the notions of “protracted people’s war” or “enemy from within”, two concepts in vogue in Moscow as in Tehran or Havana. Venezuela has also adopted other concepts shared by Russia and Iran: asymmetric warfare, destabilization by unconventional means, the spread of fake news, etc.

Besides Hezbollah agents, are there members or representatives of Hamas in Venezuela?

I cannot answer this question. But, for historical context, let us remember that many “Syro-Lebanese” settled in Latin America a century ago. Additionally, Venezuela’s participation in OPEC [l’Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole], of which she is one of the founding members, has long brought our country closer to the Muslim world. On a daily basis, it is obviously impossible to distinguish an Arab, or descendant of an Arab, who lives legitimately in Venezuela, from another who has links with Hezbollah. What is obvious, however, are the affinities between Iran and Venezuela, which pursue the same objective: the destabilization of the Western world.

The other point in common between Hezbollah and the Maduro regime is the criminal nature of their activities. Together, they exploit gold and coltan mines in the Amazon, destroying the rainforest and displacing indigenous populations. They also traffic oil by circumventing American sanctions. And they use our banking center which has become a major money laundering center. For Iranians and Russians – who spend dream vacations on the paradise island of Margarita – Venezuela is a sanctuary where they operate outside the law. Finally, it is obvious that, given its geographical position close to the United States, our country has enormous strategic value for Russia, Iran and China.

There has been talk for several years about the presence of mercenaries from the Wagner group in Venezuela. Info or intox ?

The presence of Russian elements in the border region with Colombia appears proven. There are many testimonies to this effect. But it’s impossible to prove. The danger is that these mercenaries train paramilitary groups, that is to say civilians and not soldiers. Arming civilians who blend into the mass to create “an armed people” capable of defending the Chavista “revolution” with rifle shots, this is another point of resemblance with Hamas, which hides among the population to make itself undetectable .

Hugo Chávez, on the eve of a trip to see Muammar Gaddafi – where he received a “human rights award”… – once described Israel as a “cursed country”. What do you think ?

Hugo Chávez has always sought to give himself a role by establishing alliances with countries hostile to the West. It achieved this by moving closer to Cuba, Russia, Iran and China. All these countries allied with the Nicolás Maduro regime seek to undermine and destroy our values ​​of democracy and freedom. And which are also those of Israel. In principle, Maduro, like Chávez yesterday, is therefore the enemy of Israel.