When US forces captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, global headlines framed the operation largely in terms of drugs, human rights, or political collapse. But beneath the surface, Maduro’s fall signaled something far more consequential: the disruption of a narco-terror network that had long served as a forward operating base for Iran and Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere.
The strategic partnership between Venezuela and Iran, forged under the late Hugo Chávez and deepened by Maduro, was not merely a rogue alliance of anti-American ideologues. It was a calculated geopolitical axis—a logistical corridor for illicit finance, military coordination, and ideological warfare that directly threatened Israel, the United States, and regional stability.
The genesis of the Tehran-Caracas alliance
The alliance began under Hugo Chávez, who came to power in 1999 with a revolutionary socialist agenda and a vision of “Bolivarian” anti-imperialism. In the early 2000s, Chávez made repeated overtures to Iran, aligning Venezuela with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime. The two leaders shared more than fiery anti-US rhetoric; they envisioned a multipolar world order that...
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