Update & Perspective; Onging Insurgency in Latin America: A Review and Perspective Concerning Emerging Tactical and Strategic Developments – Summer/Fall, 2010

1. A Review and Perspective Concerning Emerging Tactical
and Strategic Developments – Summer, 2010
By C. L. Staten, National Security Analyst
Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI)

2. FARC National Liberation
Army
Los Zetas
Hezbollah

3.  FARC and ELN were both founded in the 1960s,
after Colombia’s two main political parties ended
more than a decade of political violence and agreed
to share power. In 1963, students, Catholic radicals,
and left-wing intellectuals hoping to emulate Fidel
Castro’s communist revolution in Cuba founded
ELN. FARC formed in 1965, bringing together
communist militants and peasant self-defense
groups.
-- Source: Council on Foreign Relations

4.  Shining Path (Span. Sendero Luminoso), Peruvian
Communist guerrilla force, officially the Communist party
of Peru. Founded in 1970 by Abimael Guzmán Reynoso as
an orthodox Marxist-Leninist offshoot of the Peruvian
Communist party, the Shining Path turned to terrorism in
1980. By the mid-1980s it had several thousand guerrillas,
largely in rural Peru.
 The group began urban terrorism in the late 1980s. In 1992
President Fujimori instituted martial law, and the
subsequent capture and life sentence of Guzmán and the
jailing of most the organization's central committee
diminished their guerrilla raids and largely ended any
serious threat to the government. The group persisted,
however, continuing its attacks on a smaller scale, and has
experienced a resurgence in growth since 2007, when it
became involved in protecting the illegal cocaine trade.

5.  Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamic organization with it’s
main leadership in Lebanon. Hezbollah, earlier, was a
combination of multiple violent Shi'a extremist groups
who were assimilated into the larger Hezbollah. These
smaller groups included names like Islamic Jihad,
Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the
Revolutionary Justice Organization.
 Beginning in the late 80’s and early 90’s, various
Islamic organizations (including Hezbollah) reportedly
began infiltrating into Latin American countries…
either covertly or overtly. In the current day, Iranian
proxies (including Hezbollah) are reportedly openly
operating in places like Venezuela and in the “tri-
border area” of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay (see next
slide)
 The Hezbollah connection was made particularly
evident during the July 18, 1994, attack on the AMIA
Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Hezbollah
(and Iran) was officially blamed for the attack, which
killed 87 people and wounded at least 100 others.

6.  The Tri-Border Area (TBA) between
Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil is
primarily comprised of three cities:
Puerto Iguazu (Argentina), Ciudad
del Este (Paraguay), and Foz do
Iguacu (Brazil).
 The area is well known as a haven
for illicit activities ranging from
counterfeiting to intellectual
property theft to money laundering,
and has been pointed to as a central
point for the laundering of funds
from drug trafficking and for the
funding of terrorist organizations
(believed to come from supporters
within the large Arab population in
the region

7.  While terrorist groups remain the central structural unit in international
terrorism, terrorist groups today are better described as networked groups
tied together by individual relationships than as clearly defined
organizations that are structured and discrete. The relationships between
individual terrorists affiliated with different groups are paramount,
especially when operating within diaspora communities in places like
Europe and the United States.
 This cooperation and cross-pollination facilitates cooperation among
groups, including operational cooperation but far more often
interconnectivity at the logistical and financial support levels.
 Such links exist even between groups that do not share similar ideologies,
leading to cooperation between religious zealots and secular radicals;
between ideologically- or theologically-driven terrorists and criminal
entities (as has been the case in several terrorist attacks in Iraq, where
criminal elements played critical roles in return for monetary
compensation); between Sunni and Shi’a groups; and between individuals
whose person-to-person contacts require no agreement between their
respective headquarters.

8. ERRI Observations, Indicators and Warnings
ERRI analysts say that they fear
that “narco-terrorists” of the
cartels, many of whom are also
extreme leftists, will combine
forces with the Islamic radicals to
target America and her allies in
that region.
Such an insurgency…fueled by
drug money and equipped with
modern “black-market” military
weapons…obtained through
Hezbollah/Hamas/Iran, could
pose a more significant threat to
the U.S. and her friends in Latin
American.
Moreover, Iranian/Hezbollah
trainers will undoubtedly bring
new and more dangerous
weapons and tactics to the drug
cartels…all likely to escalate
conflicts already underway in
Mexico and elsewhere.

9. Questions, comments, suggestions or requests for more
information can be directed to:
Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI)
and EmergencyNet News
6348 N. Milwaukee Ave. #312
Chicago, IL 60646
(773) 631-3774 – Voice, messages
(773) 631-4703 – Facsimile
erri.six@gmail.com – E-mail
http://emergencynet-news.com - website
Editor’s note: This report contains open source intelligence information (OSINT) and should be
considered a preliminary assessment. More confirmed data should be available as forensic tests
and other collection efforts proceed. This report may contain law enforcement, military, or FOUO
sensitive data…
Updated 11/13/2010 (c) Emergency Response & Research Institute, Inc. 1991-2010