Iran is quietly seeking to expand its ties with Latin America in what U.S. officials and regional experts say is an effort to circumvent economic sanctions and gain access to much-needed markets and raw materials. The new diplomatic offensive, which comes amid rising tensions with Washington and European powers, includes a four-nation swing through South and Central America this month by . His government has vowed to increase its economic, political and military influence in the United...

By In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the possibility of al-Qaeda infiltrating Latin America became a priority for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials. However, the most publicized incidents of radical Islamist activity in Latin America have not been linked to al-Qaeda but instead to the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah, which is ideologically and politically close to Iran. These include the March 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the July...

The, October 23rd presidential elections in Argentina have given a clear advantage to Cristina Kirchner, who was reelected president of Argentina with an overwhelming majority. Kirchner, of the Frente Para la Victoria - the Centre-left wing of the Justicialista (Peronist) Party -took 54 percent of the vote, while her closest rival won 17% percent. This will be Ms. Kirchner’s second term after being preceded by a full four-year term by her late husband, Nestor Kirchner. This means that...

A number of Congressmen have requested an investigation of possible nuclear cooperation between Venezuela, Iran and Argentina. Suspicions of such connections are based on information made available by the State Department. According to sources, Iran is interested in a program of modernization of the Argentine nuclear plants. Argentina maintained a nuclear cooperation agreement with Iran that was suspended in the early 90’s by the Argentinean government. Then, tensions between the two...

The Tri-Border Area (TBA) along the junction of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay is a hotbed of illegal activity that includes money launderers, arms traffickers, counterfeiters, drug traffickers, and terrorists. In fact, it is one of the most dangerous places in the world. According to a recent U.S. Government study, this area annually generates over $6 billion of illicit money and is nearly devoid of all governmental control. Given the combination of a porous border and known terrorist...

When I was in Buenos Aires in June, my friend Harry (the one and only Harry made famous by Dereck Foster, the Herald’s illustrious food and wine critic) gave me a book titled Los llaman “jovenes idealistas” (They Were Called “Young Idealists”). The author is Victoria Villarruel. An introductory paragraph to the book describes her as the founder of the Centro de Estudios Legales sobre el Terrorismo y sus Víctimas, identified, somewhat awkwardly by the...

Thousands suffered in the leftist rampage that precipitated the 1976 military coup. Those who control the past, control the future: who controls the present controls the past. -Big Brother's party slogan, "1984," by George Orwell Justice is not easily secured anywhere in the world. But in Argentina today it is off limits to even mention in public the victims of the country's left-wing terrorism in the 1970s, let alone make an effort to win them or their surviving kin a day in...

Inertia is deceptive. While the Israeli-Palestinian peace proces is stalled, thanks to Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas refusing to return to direct talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on parallel tracks P.A. leaders are lining up countries publicly supporting a Palestinian state before it is actually created. The P.A. is focused on Latin America, which it is determined to add to the guaranteed Arab and Muslim state votes that ensure a U.N. General Assembly majority....

The conference that drew Latin American leaders from all walks of life to a college campus in California was billed as a celebration of 200 years of independence for the region. However, the focus at the Institute of the Americas was not on past triumphs, but on the difficulties that many countries face today in strengthening democracy and the rule of law. As Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez said, “The transition to democracy has been a success story for all of Latin...

“Democracy is the worst form of government save all those other forms" - Winston Churchill. The sudden, although foretold death of Néstor Kirchner, the former president who was also the nominal head of the Peronist movement, plunged me back into the past. I remember vividly the day when the death of Juan Perón was finally announced. A deputation of workers from the plant where the Buenos Aires Herald was printed came to see me. Any sadness that they felt at the loss...