In the last several days it has been reported that Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles in Venezuela. Such information seems to confirm last November's article published by the German daily Die Welt. The newspaper reported that an agreement was signed last October between the two countries; a fact that has remained mostly unknown to the public. The Menges Hemispheric Security Project has often spoken about such a possibility. Indeed, Venezuela and Iran have mutual interests in doing...

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez is moving to consolidate his hold on Honduras, after orchestrating the return last Saturday of his puppet, . Officials in Chávez's inner circle are wondering how their cash-strapped government can finance yet another "revolutionary" government in Central America. What they fail to realize is that Chávez's backup plan is to sow chaos in Honduras so it is hospitable territory for his partners in the illegal drug trade and a headache...

Admired by the Colombian guerrilla after his coup attempt in 1992, the then lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez Frías received financial support by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for his projects after his capture that year. This mostly explains the relationship and "debt" between the parties, as revealed by a paper of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) of the United Kingdom. With data retrieved from the computers of slain leader...

An Ethiopian terrorist captured in Ecuador was engaged in the traffic of undocumented migrants. The character, named Yaee Dawit Tadese, was deported in March to the United States. He is said to have links to Al Qaeda (something that hasn't been independently confirmed) and reportedly committed one attack in Pakistan in which 38 people were killed. The illegal migrants came from Somalia, Bangladesh, Eritrea and Kenya. They used to arrive in Ecuador via Cuba or Venezuela, after a long journey...

Who’d have thought it? Less than a year ago the presidents of Venezuela and Colombia were practically at each other’s throats. With the inauguration of Juan Manuel Santos as Colombia’s new leader last August, many assumed things would get worse. How wrong they were. The burgeoning “friendship” between him and Hugo Chávez, practically ideological opposites, just keeps on delivering surprises. Now, Santos is telling the world that the camps of the leftwing...

"I think the United States sees everything upside down, at least part of the world," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an October 2010 interview. "It's hard to imagine the destiny of this [U.S.] society. But of course we have to hope for the better, for the winds of change coming from the south." Latin America and the Western hemisphere face serious challenges today, threatening regional stability and U.S. national security. First and foremost among them is Hugo...

The Libyan war has nothing to do to with humanitarian concerns, a senior member of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's ruling party this week. According to Carlos Escarra Malave, vice president of Venezuela's standing committee on foreign policy, the United States and its European allies "invaded" Libya so they could confiscate $200 billion in frozen assets belonging to the family of Muammar Gaddafi. They "could save their own economies by confiscating those assets," he...

Venezuelan Ambassador to Syria, Imad Saab Saab (right), meets with his counterpart from Iran, Ahmad Mousavi (center), at the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus in May 2010. President Obama's trip to South America has showcased promising partnerships in Brazil and elsewhere. His visit, however, should also focus attention in the region and within his administration on the fact that Iran and Venezuela are conspiring to sow Tehran's brand of proxy terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. On Aug....

December's "Enabling Law" - which grants President Hugo Chávez far-reaching decree powers for 18 months - constitutes an illegitimate infringement on the new National Assembly's authority, subverting the will of the electorate. President Chávez's recent offer to limit the term of the law to five months is a positive step. But the underlying problems with the law remain, whether it is in force for 18 months, five months, or one day. The "Law for the Defense of...

Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources, according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of...