The Bolivian government announced last week it is re-launching an effort to explore for uranium within its territory. The announcement comes at a time when international pariah Iran has been actively courting relationships with anti-American governments in the Western Hemisphere, principally Bolivia and Venezuela, which is also known for its reserves of the radioactive mineral essential for the development of nuclear power. Many experts see Iran not only in a desperate drive to secure...

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the issue of Iran in Latin America with you today. I believe the growing influence of Iran is a significant threat to the United States and is an under-reported part of the equation that is driving the instability and uncertainty in Latin America, from the crisis in Honduras to the rapidly-closing space for democratic freedoms in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and elsewhere where the Bolivarian revolution has gained a foothold. There is broad...

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must love the tropics', commented ironically The Miami Herald.[1] He has spent more time in Latin America than President Bush. Since his inauguration in 2005, Iran's foreign policy focus has shifted from Africa to Latin America in order to, as Ahmadinejad puts it, ‘counter lasso' the US.[2] Iran's Goals in Latin America Farideh Farhi argues that while Iran's increased attention to Latin America as a region is a relatively new development, its...

President Ahmadinejad’s visited Brazil last week vindicates Iran’s strategy of cosying up with Latin America. HOW should you deal with elected leaders who view their domestic opponents as agents of foreign powers and occasionally muse about invading their neighbours? Brazil has some experience of this question after ten years of the presidency of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Its answer has always been simple: hug them close. This week that approach was stretched a little...

A dictatorship that fosters the production and distribution of cocaine is not apt to enjoy a positive international image. But when that same government cloaks itself in the language of social justice, with a special emphasis on the enfranchisement of indigenous people, it wins world-wide acclaim. This is Bolivia, which in two weeks will hold elections for president and both houses of congress. The government of President Evo Morales will spin the event as a great moment in South American...

Nuclear: Bolivia has publicly supported Iran’s nuclear power program with statements from various government officials. In September 2008, Bolivia’s president, Juan Evo Morales, told Iran’s Press TV that Bolivia “rejected the intervention of the United Nations Security Council in Iran's nuclear program, saying it ‘lacks any legal or technical justification.’” In June 2008, Gonzalo Lazcano Murillo, a member of Bolivia’s parliament, claimed that...

US President Barack Obama underestimates the threat Iran poses to global security. Were this not the case, he would not have sent CIA Director Leon Panetta to Israel ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House. Panetta was reportedly dispatched here to read the government the riot act. Israel, he reportedly told his interlocutors, must not attack Iran without first receiving permission from Washington. Moreover, Israel should keep its mouth shut about attacking Iran....

Iran’s leader will not be visiting Latin America this week after all. The Iranian press reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a last-minute decision to indefinitely postpone his trip indefinitely in advance of his country’s elections. Still, the prospect of his visit to Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela has raised questions about Tehran’s influence in Latin America. During a May 1 Town Hall meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Iran’s inroads...

Dear President Lula, Why? Why would such a respected world leader welcome an international outcast like Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Brasilia on May 6? Why would you confer your considerable international legitimacy on such an individual - within weeks, no less, of a walkout by dozens of nations during Ahmadinejad's hate-filled speech in the halls of the UN in Geneva? Why would your nation, which has admirably forsworn nuclear weapons, seek at this moment expanded ties with Iran, which...

Background (Preamble): The democratic vocation and tenacity of the Bolivian people is being nowadays assaulted by an international network of fascist mercenaries. These hired guns have already shown their destructive capacity in the now sad war of balkanizing Yugoslavia. Their violent means of destruction is being now used to destroy and balkanize one of the poorest countries of the Western hemisphere (yet, incredible rich in natural resources): Bolivia. Petition: The First Republic of...