Venezuela is appearing as a "potential hub of terrorism" in the
America in the eyes of US officials, said a congressional report
released on Thursday.
"According to senior US military and intelligence officials,
Venezuela is emerging as a potential hub of terrorism in the
Western Hemisphere, providing assistance to Islamic radicals from
the Middle East and other terrorists," said the report at a House
of Representative panel.
Venezuela has issued thousands of social security cards to
people from Cuba, Colombia and "Middle Eastern nations that host
foreign terrorist organizations," said the report, released by the
subcommittee chairman, Texas Representative Michael McCaul.
US officials warned that the Venezuelan government, headed by
President Hugo Chavez, is issuing the cards to "people who should
not be getting them" and the cards could be used to attain visas
and gain entry to the United States.
Several Pakistanis have been arrested at the US-Mexican border
with fraudulent Venezuelan documents, it said, cautioning against
an "ever-present threat of terrorist infiltration over the
Southwest border."
Members of the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah, which Washington
labels as a terrorist group, "have already entered the US across
the southwest border," the report said.
The report, which focuses especially on the Mexico-Texas border,
is based on expert opinions, media accounts and testimony from US
authorities.
US immigration and customs enforcement investigations have
"revealed that aliens were smuggled from the Middle East to staging
areas in Central and South America, before being smuggled illegally
into the US," it said.
US officials feared that the Texas-Mexico border has been
experiencing an alarming rise in the level of drug cartel
activities, which has put "significant additional burdens" on US
authorities.
(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2006)
