Farnsworth: Allowing Iran into Latin America is ‘playing with fire’
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The presence of Iran in Latin America was the topic on Capitol Hill in Washington today, as several prominent academics testified at an open hearing of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere and Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.
The Examiner has reported that testimony was presented by The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, The Honorable Gary L. Ackerman, The Honorable Brad Sherman, Mr. Eric Farnsworth, Ms. Dina Siegel Vann, Mr. Douglas Farah, Mohsen M. Milani, Ph.D., and Norman A. Bailey, Ph.D.
Eric Farnsworth, Vice President of the Council of the Americas, expressed concern over the potential for Iran to exert a negative and destabilizing influence in a region that desires, but sometimes grapples with, democracy.
As excerpted from the Examiner:
“Countries where democracy is weak, where the institutions of the state are ineffective, or where democratically elected leaders have in fact curtailed democratic institutions for their own purposes have proven, time and time again, to be the most likely portals through which unhelpful influences such as Iran are introduced into the region.”
Farnsworth examined Iran’s relationships with various Latin American countries at the “benign” economic level, but reminded people at the hearing that an increased Iranian diplomatic presence in the region could lead to avenues for espionage and increased support to terrorist organizations like Hizballah.
“By expanding its diplomatic representation, Iran has enhanced its intelligence capabilities while outreaching, should it choose to do so, to non-state actors and affinity organizations which may be working to raise funds for certain activities in the Middle East or which may be building their own extralegal capabilities in the Americas.”
He also singled out an upcoming visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Brazil next month, and said that Brazil’s accommodation of such a visit was “playing with fire.”
“There is no need for Brazil’s president to honor the Iranian president with an official visit to Brazil at this delicate time. To the extent the visit goes ahead, one would hope that the Brazilians would use the opportunity to reaffirm that the Western Hemisphere is no place for Iranian meddling, and would seek to use their access for the purpose of supporting international community non-proliferation efforts.”
Farnsworth concluded with a wait-and-see approach, but advised that the U.S. needed to keep a very wary eye on Iran’s future activities and developing relations in the Western Hemisphere.
Ms. Siegel Vann presented a more grim picture of the threat posed by Iran in Latin America, and singled out Venezuela as the main facilitator:
“Venezuela is the gateway to heightened cooperation between Iran and other countries in Latin America.”
She reminded members of the committee of Iran and Hizballah’s involvement in the two largest terrorist acts in Latin America: the 1992 bombing of an Israeli embassy and the 1994 bombing of AMIA Jewish community center, both in Buenos Aires.
Since the AMIA bombing, “Hizballah has greatly increased its presence and fundraising activity in the Tri-Border Area shared by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay,” said Siegel Vann.
She closed by offering a warning similar to Farnsworth’s to the committee members:
“Concerted and decisive action is needed to closely monitor the activity of Iran and the groups it subsidizes, to correctly assess their potential for mischief, and to establish mechanisms to prevent potentially dangerous scenarios,” she said.