Iran’s Foothold in Monkey Point, Nicaragua
Posted by StormWarning on 16 Dec 2007 at 09:44 am | Tagged as: Current Affairs, Domestic Terrorism, Federal Policy, International Issues, Iran, National Security, Opinions
Everyone watches Ahmadinejad in Venezuela while almost surreptitiously, Iran is now talking about building a $350 mil. port in Nicaragua, and is moving to solidify relations with Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista of old. Regardless of Ortega’s economic rationale for considering this Iranian investment, it brings Iranian sponsored terrorism a few porous borders away from the U.S.-Texas-Mexican border.
This goes far beyond Iran’s alliance with Hugo Chavez in Venezula. And an Iranian built port on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua could well change the dymanics of U.S. policy in South America and the World.
What worries state department officials, former national security officials and counterterrorism researchers is that, if attacked, Iran could stage strikes on American or allied interests from Nicaragua, deploying the Iranian terrorist group Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard operatives already in Latin America. Bellicose threats by Iran’s clerical leadership to hit American interests worldwide if attacked, by design or not, heighten the anxiety.
“The bottom line is if there is a confrontation with Iran, and Iran gets bombed, I have absolutely no doubt that Iran is going to lash out globally,” said John R. Schindler, a veteran former counterintelligence officer and analyst for the National Security Agency.
“The Iranians have that ability, particularly from South America. Hezbollah has fronts all over Latin America. That is not new. But it’s certainly something we’re starting to care about now.”
From bombings by Hezbollah in South America, most notably Argentina recently, to the Khobar Towers in 1996, Iran’s role in state sponsored terrorism is undeniable. And make no mistake about the fact that Nicaraguans are among the illegals flowing across the porous U.S.-Mexican border. Iran’s push into South America represents not only a direct response to the saber-rattling of the U.S. against Iran’s nuclear program, but also represents a clear and present threat to National Security.
In fact, some analysts question whether Iran will actually follow through on it plans to rebuild Monkey Point or pursue any real economic development initiatives in Nicaragua. Still, its presence in South America clearly represents a launching pad for attacks against the U.S.
“They use their embassies to smuggle in weapons. They used them to develop and execute plans,” said Oliver “Buck” Revell, who served as associate deputy director over FBI intelligence and international affairs. “Diplomats have immunity coming and going. It is a protected center for both espionage and, on occasion, for specific operations. So an embassy in Managua is definitely an area that will be of concern to our national security apparatus.”
It was under the guise of this diplomatic cover that many believe that Iran was behind the attacks in Argentina. At the same time, the Israeli government is concerned about the Iranian presence in Nicaragua because of the large Israeli business population in Costa Rica and concentrations of Jewish citizens throughout Latin America.
Foremost on the minds of those concerned about Iran’s new relationship with Nicaragua are two suicide bombings in Argentina, now widely ascribed to Iran, which denies responsibility.
March 17, 1992 – A car bomb explodes in front of Argentina’s Israeli Embassy, killing 29 and wounding 250. A subgroup of the Iranian terrorist organization Hezbollah claims responsibility but no formal investigation is launched.July 18, 1994 – A truck bomb levels the AMIA Jewish Community Center, killing 87 and wounding 100. The bombing prompts a 10-year investigation beset by challenges and controversy.
November 2006 – An Argentine federal judge issues indictments for former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former minister of intelligence, former foreign minister, former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, three Iranian diplomats and the Hezbollah terrorist Imad Moughnieh. An 800-page government report accuses the men of staging the 1994 attack from Iran’s Buenos Aires embassy.
March 5, 2007 – The global police agency Interpol approves arrest warrants for five of the former Iranian officials, and Moughnieh. Iran appeals.
November 7, 2007 – Interpol’s annual general assemply rules against Iran’s appeal. In retaliation, Iran issues its own warrants against Argentinian officials accusing them of ‘actions against the security of the Islamic Republic.’ The 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy remains unsolved.
–Todd Bensman
Diverted attention toward Venezuela leads to the fact that the U.S. is openly opposing the election of Daniel Ortega. Thus, his cozying up to Ahmadinejad is far from unexpected. Even if some do not see “nefarious” motives in this budding anti-American alliance, is an absolute threat. It is reported that Nicaragua permitted 21 Iranians to enter the country without visas. Considering that Ortega has reason to oppose the United States which worked against him with the CIA backed Contras from 1980-88, why should we trust his motives?
Monkey Point, a hot bed of anti-Sandinistas, and a possible location of an Iranian funded port of entry…and a foothold for Ahmadinejad in our backyard.
Ahmadinejad, border security, Daniel Ortega, Iran, Iran Contra, Monkey Point, Nicaragua, Oliver North, State Department
I enjoyed reading this post; it’s interesting and articulate. It powerfully formulates a Monroe Doctrine for the 21st century. A doctrine whose targets are not European nations, but the foreign relations of sovereign, Middle Eastern nations.
Well done! How do I vote for it at RCP?
I understand your point, but I suspect that it would be unenforceable. The problem with anything like a “Monroe Doctrine” for the 21st Century is that I don’t think anyone would listen. A “non-colonization” edict in today’s world would probably be ignored and then used as an example of the U.S. attempting to control geo-politics.
Ortho: Go to http://www.realclearpolitics.com, scroll to the bottom of the page to “reader articles”, click on “vote for articles”, then on that page scroll down the article list until you find the one you want to vote for. You must register, but it only takes a second and is very easy.
Good article and yes we need to be very concerned with the countries south of us. I have posted on Venezuela and their active program of getting Middle Eastern people in, forged documents, and transport help, so they can get to Mexico and finally the US. They must have help from other countries along the way.
Everyone knows about Venezuela (and the Chavez-Ahmadinejad “secret handshake”). The news is about Nicaragua, and with Daniel Ortega who has no love for the U.S. We’ll see how things evolve.
South America as been a hotbed of terrorist training for quite some time already in the Tri-Border region. No reason to expect it to stop. If Iran (and Hezbollah) gains a foothold in Nicaragua along with a seaport, things are going to heat up.
See Ortho’s comment about a modern day Monroe Doctrine. I’d like to see how he would see it implemented. I have stated my doubts. Ortho?
Last night, while digitizing Margaret Duchess of Newcastle’s 1655 text, The Philosophical and Physical Opinions, I began to read the latest issue of my favorite U.S. foreign relations magazine, The American Interest. To my surprise, the cover depicts an elderly Uncle Sam in a chummy embrace with a sexualized and exoticized Carmen Mirandaesque figure. Here we go I thought, the same-old nineteenth-century Monrovian imperialist fantasies: an exotic, sexual, feminine, neighbor to the south who begs for protection and U.S. penetration into her domestic and foreign affairs.
But no, the one article I read in the section entitled, “The Americas: Together At Last?” presented a thoughtful meditation on the meanings of identity, culture, and art in South America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. I read Mario Vargas Llosa’s “The Paradoxes of Latin America.”
I have yet to read Miguel Angel Centeno’s “Left Behind? Latin America in a Globalized World”; Russell Crandall’s “Blow Hard: Evo Morales’ Cocaine Problem”; and Luis Felipe Lampreia’s “Toolbox: A U.S.-Brazil Agenda.”
[...] Monkey Point? StormBlog is one of the only places, I dare say, that discussed the Iranian foothold in South [...]
very interesting and scary! we need to get more involved in Nicaragua, not as military but as in re-education. Iranian troops ( men) have been brainwashed since birth about how to view us and how they need to respond to us. The best way to change this is to change the way they think.
In the past, most Nicaraguans came to the US to get away from their country and cash in on the American dream and liberty.
Hi Melissa and welcome. Interesting that there has been no follow-up to be found on this subject since the beginning of the year.
Daniel Ortega wants to do this development on land that even he says belongs to the indigenous people group called Rama. It is Rama land and they need to be compensated if any development is to take place at Monkey point by any party. The Rama people have no guarantee that they will not be overlooked in this deal (should it happen). While the Nicaraguan government chums around with Iran, the Rama still have not received legal title to their land which includes the Monkey Point area.
http://www.ramacay.com
Well Jim, thanks for coming. But I’ve got to ask the question, “so?” Whether or not the indigenous population gets paid for their lands, what’s the difference? Ortega is going to do whatever he wants, and if the result is that the Iranians end up having an anchor base in the Western Hemisphere, that’s worse (than the Indians losing their land and not being paid for it).
Well, I dread the thought of Iran prowling around our back door and paling around with a dictator thug like Danny O. Nicaraguans come and go through Houston and Miami and some non-indigenous people from Managua are indistinguishable from Iranians. I do wish some other commercial interests were involved… Japan, Britain, France… anyone but a terrorist sponsoring nation like Iran. I was sharing the Rama point of view as best as I could understand it from my conversations with people from that area. I have Rama friends so they are my chief concern. The area around there is very sparsely populated. It could well mean that Nicaragua will be back in the military cross hairs and of course it means even more poverty for the Nicaraguans as their leader scares off business investment.
Jim, I understood the reason for your concern, but I suspect that even if a better deal was offered to Ortega by anyone else, he’d be doing the deal with the Iranians. Ortega hates the U.S. more than almost anyone knows. And he will do a deal with Amahdinejad because Ortega, I think, believes that it will help him “repay” the US. The indigenous people, while a sorry tale, are a side-story in this I am afraid.
I met a guy in Bluefields who told me he and his family found out that some of his deceased relatives voted for Danny O. in the last “election” in Nicaragua.
A little known fact about Danny O that is not reported… he has Leukemia and is receiving regular transfusions. He is very ill but seems to keep going.