<a href="https://www.world-today-news.com/argentina-identifies-hezbollah-chief-for-latin-america-diario-la-pagina/" title="Argentina identifies Hezbollah chief for Latin America – Diario La Página
-“>Hussein Ahmad Karaki is “the head of Hezbollah in Latin America.” The Minister of Security of Argentina, Patricia Bullrich, announced this at a press conference held this Friday in Buenos Aires. According to Bullrich, a joint operation between Argentina and Brazil made it possible to discover his identity and his responsibility in recruiting operations and planning terrorist actions in the region. Bullrich linked Karaki to the attack perpetrated against the Israeli embassy in 1992, assured that he remains active and anticipated that he will request his international arrest from Interpol. The Government of Javier Milei maintains that he is currently in Lebanon.
According to the head of the Security portfolio, Karachi entered Argentina in 1992 with Colombian documentation under the false name of Alberto Leon Nain. He accused him of having bought and prepared the car bomb that exploded against the diplomatic headquarters and caused 22 deaths.
“It is a very strong blow to show his face and say where he is,” said Bullrich after showing the media an image of Karaki. Despite his words, the photograph released is the same one that was known two years ago through the dissemination of a report from Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. The two aliases that he has used for years to hide his true identity also appear there: Alberto León Nain and Elías Ribeiro da Luz.
The 2022 Mossad report separated Iran from operational responsibility for the attack and identified Karaki as one of the terrorists who carried it out. According to Israeli intelligence services, Hezbollah sent Karaki to Buenos Aires after the assassination of its leader, Abbas al-Musawi, in mid-February 1992. Once in Argentine territory, he moved quickly. In less than a month he bought the van that a suicide bomber crashed into the embassy loaded with explosives on March 17. He left the country heading to Brazil hours before the attack.
“Karaki was acting under direct orders from Hasan Nasrallah,” the security minister said this Friday, referring to the Lebanese cleric who replaced Al-Musawi and was the top leader of Hezbollah for 32 years, until his assassination by Israel a month ago. According to Bullrich, in recent years Karaki moved around Latin America with documents provided by the government of Nicolás Maduro. He accused him of having attempted to carry out terrorist attacks in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil in recent years.
The head of the Security portfolio declared that the information provided to the press was obtained thanks to the Operation Trapiche investigation carried out together with the Brazilian authorities last year. “Through this international investigation, it was possible to identify the mastermind behind the operation, which sought to carry out terrorist acts not only in our region, but also in Europe, using members of organized crime groups,” he added.
Since taking office as president, Milei has aligned Argentine foreign policy with that of the United States and Israel and has reinstated the anti-terrorist agenda in the local media. In April, he ordered increased security at airports, embassies and religious institutions of the Jewish community. In July, it declared Hamas a terrorist organization and closed the international conference on security and counterterrorism organized by the World Jewish Congress. This same week, it toughened the requirements to obtain political refugee status in Argentina under the argument of adapting the asylum regime “to new world realities and global threats, such as international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” . His interest is reflected in the budget: the far-right government’s cuts in all areas exclude the intelligence services, for which he tried, without success, to approve extra funds for one hundred million dollars.
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