The Treasury Department froze the U.S. assets yesterday of two suspected Hezbollah "facilitators and fundraisers"in Venezuela and accused the Chavez government of protecting the two men. One of the two is a diplomat who has been stationed in Venezeula's embassies in Syria and Lebanon. The move prohibits Americans from doing business with the men and freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

"It is extremely troubling to see the Government of Venezuela employing and providing safe harbor to Hezbollah facilitators and fundraisers. We will continue to expose the global nature of Hezbollah's terrorist support network, and we call on responsible governments worldwide to disrupt and dismantle this activity," said Adam Szubin, of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

U.S. officials have long suspected the Lebanese Muslim community on Venezuela's island of Margarita is active in raising funds for Hezbollah.

According to this ABC News story, Deputy Director of National Intelligence Don Kerr referenced the ties in March.

"If I had to think of one thing that worries me, I had the opportunity to spend most of the last two weeks in Latin America. Of course there you see the conjunction of narcotics trafficking and terrorism and there may be a nexus forming between them," said Kerr. "They share the need for money laundering. In fact in Latin America you have a real presence of Hezbollah."

For more on this developing story, see Douglas Farah's postings at counterterrorismblog.org.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wrapped up his visit to Cuba where, according to Venezuelan television the two leaders "were revising the entire plan for energy exchanges and the strengthening of refinery capacity and production of petroleum and petrochemicals." The visit also included a rare public appearance by Fidel Castro.

Only weeks after an agreement was struck between Iran and India to construct a "Peace Pipeline" that will deliver 150 million cubic meters of Iranian gas daily, Syrian President Bashar al-Asad paid a visit to New Delhi to explore opportunities for joint ventures in infrastructure development, energy production, and mineral processing. "Syria's strategic central location in West Asia will help the businesses from India to reach out to 160 million consumers as there are bilateral and regional trade agreements in the region...My visit to India will open new doors and opportunities for deepening the engagement between the people of the two sides."