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Terror Networks
BLM, Antifa, Hezbollah, and More: Inside Maduro’s Global Web
2025-10-30
Information dense, from a week ago. Key bits:
[PJMedia] War doesn't always look like tanks, bombs, and military invasions. Sometimes, it's longer, slower, and less obvious.

For example, Venezuela

...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...

's illegitimate narco-terrorist "president" Nicolás Maduro claims the prison gang turned Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, Tren de Aragua, doesn't exist. We know it does, and we know it works for him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
has pointed out numerous times that Maduro sends these guys into our country in an attempt to destabilize our communities. Maduro has also reportedly used them to assassinate political opponents.

We also know that President Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
has declared "war" on the narco mobs — Maduro's fake government regime is literally one, Cartel de los Soles — because they are flooding our country with their products.

But that's not the full story. While I've already touched on some of this in previous articles, we're learning a lot more about how Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, waged war on the United States via our own homegrown radical groups decades ago.

BLACK LIVES MATTER
According to Mike Gonzalez of the Washington Examiner, there might not be a Black Lives Matter (BLM) without the help of Chavismo (Venezuela's flavor of socialism). Gonzalez said he spoke to a former senior Venezuelan official who was close to Chavez and has now defected and cooperates with the United States government to provide information. That person told him he was in the room when the now deceased dictator handed Opal Tometi, a BLM co-founder, "suitcases stuffed with dollars" or at least $20 million.

Three other women, as well as actor Danny Glover,
Why him?
were there, and "Chavez told them that the money was to project the Bolivarian revolutionary project on U.S. streets." The source said he could still see it all very clearly happening in a private room at Venezuela's Miraflores presidential palace.

Gonzalez writes:

This isn’t hard to believe. It was Chavez himself who, after all, called in 2006 for the creation of a leftist network inside the U.S. that would act as a fifth column to thwart U.S. policy. That network came into being as the United States Social Forum. Launched in 2007, it quickly became an incubator for the founders of BLM to network.

Chavez made this call at the immense 2006 gathering in Caracas of the World Social Forum, a global meeting of Marxists that had been taking place annually in different Third World capitals for several years.

'I think that, finally, distinct movements are rising in the U.S., movements that each day has gained more power, more conscience, and more unity,' Chavez said as he urged Americans to take up the revolutionary cudgel. 'Viva the people of the U.S.!' he shouted to a crowd of some 15,000, which included Cuba’s then-foreign minister, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada.

'We count on you, compañeros!' Chavez said, using the Cuban Revolution’s term for comrade to address Americans. 'Essential to this formula to save the world are the people of the U.S., the conscience of the U.S. people, the resurrection of the U.S. people. United with the people of the Caribbean, the people of Latin America, the people of Asia, Africa, and Europe. All of us must unite; join together in a victorious offensive against the empire.'

By 2007, the very first meeting of the U.S. Social Forum took place in Atlanta, and who helped organize it? Another BLM co-founder, Alicia Garza. In her 2020 book, "The Purpose of Power," she wrote about experience, claiming it politicized her and taught her a lot. BLM's third co-founder, Patrisse Cullors, was most likely there, too.

In 2010, Garza gave a speech in Oakland, Calif., admitting that foreign Marxists — U.S. enemies — told her to, "I need you to go home and talk to your comrades, and your compañeros." In 2013, the same year Chavez died, the women founded BLM and continued their relationship with his replacement, Maduro. They attended various events in Venezuela and even invited Maduro to the U.S. at one point to speak to a group in Harlem. Here's a photo from that. The Spanish caption reads "Maduro greets the founder of Black Lives Matter, Opal Tometi, in New York in 2015."

Of course, BLM fell flat on its face because its founders were more focused on lining their own pockets than "social justice" in the end, though not before it made the U.S. a more volatile place, pitting people against each other, leading us to implement ideas like DEI-based hiring, and causing ridiculous amounts of chaos in our streets.

ANTIFA, CODE PINK, AND "ANTI-FASCISM" MOVEMENTS
As BLM fell, Maduro had to find a new cause to disrupt U.S. lives, so he switched gears to "anti-fascist
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
" movements. According to Gonzalez, Venezuela's current dictator has hosted at least five "'anti-fascist' rallies, conferences, or festivals" since September 2024 — two months after he stole the election from the Venezuelan people. The first one, Gonzalez reports, was a "gabfest to denounce U.S. policies." In November, he launched the "World Antifa
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
scist Network." In January 2025, during his "inauguration," he held the International Anti-Fascist Festival in Caracas with at least 2,000 attendees from at least 125 countries.

While Gonzalez didn't provide a direct link from Maduro to Antifa, the likelihood is there. U.S. attendees included members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a communist organization that is Antifa adjacent. Code Pink
... a U.S. anti-war group. The group describes itself as a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. It was founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and of the other usual antiwar suspects. Its website lists hysterical allegations of US war crimes, and states that thousands of civilians were killed in Fallujah in 2004. Maybe it was millions. Benjamin was a 2000 candidate for the U.S. Senate on the Green Party ticket. She lost...
, another Antifa adjacent group, is also a regular guest of Maduro's regime.

If you visit Code Pink's website — don't worry, I took one for the team — you'll note that they defend the dictator regularly, even claiming they speak for the Venezuelan people. Most recently, they condemned the military escalation that the Trump administration built in the Caribbean Sea over the last few months, claiming "The people of Venezuela, like the people of the United States, deserve peace, dignity, and illusory sovereignty, not threats, blockades, and warships. We demand that our government stop using military force and economic warfare to dictate the future of another nation."

HEZBOLLAH AND OTHER TERRORIST ORGS
I've already touched a bit on this in previous columns, but Venezuela is a safe haven for terrorists. It welcomes Islamist title='extremists '>murderous Moslems into the Western Hemisphere with open arms. Earlier this month, I wrote:

Venezuela is home to one of the largest Lebanese diaspora communities, which has helped Hezbollah gain a foothold in the country. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), it takes part in illicit activities like 'drug trafficking, money laundering, and illegal financing' to help fund its own terroristic activities. CSIS also reports that Hezbollah 'conducts much of its business' from Venezuela's Margarita Island, and that Maduro's regime often provides Death Eaters with false passports and visas. In the past, the U.S. government has sanctioned Venezuelan companies and individuals with ties to Hezbollah.

Rubio actually spoke on this during his confirmation hearing earlier this year, and earlier this week, Marshall Billingslea, former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, explained more during a Senate hearing. He called Venezuela the "central... most important controller for Hezbollah in Latin America." Here's more:

Under Hugo Chavez, Venezuela opened its doors to Hezbollah, allowing the group to establish a major footprint, including a paramilitary training site on Margarita Island. As far back as 2022, 2020, 2003, when I was at, at the Pentagon as the Assistant Secretary for Special Operations, we had indications of document forgery on that island, and I've seen documentation that the Venezuelan government was awarding contracts to Hezbollah front companies as far back as 2001. When Maduro seized control, the breadth and depth of the Hezbollah presence in Venezuela dramatically expanded, as did their ties to the narco-terrorist regime and the Cartel de Las Fuerzas.

Tarek al-Osami, who's been referenced here, held a number of senior regime posts. One of the most critical was he was head of the Venezuelan passport agency, and in that role, he directed and facilitated the issuance of a large number of passports to Hezbollah operatives and Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
operatives. Now, I have seen from the Venezuelan opposition a database of more than 10,400 people that were given Venezuelan passports who were Syrian, Lebanese, or Iranian citizens up to 2019.

I haven't seen the more recent data, but we know some of those individuals made their way to the United States and some of them have direct ties to Hezbollah...Venezuela is a willing safe haven for what remains as the most lethal, dangerous foreign terrorist organization to the United States, and that is Hezbollah.

SOCIALIST PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS
It's not just the United States. Maduro is spreading his brand of Marxism around the world, and he's actually had some success. As I wrote on Sunday, Petro, Colombia's current lunatic and first left-wing president, may not even be in office without help from Venezuela.

Hugo "El Pollo" Carvajal, an ex-military intelligence officer for the Venezuelan government and official within Cartel de Los Soles, is currently in U.S. custody and sharing what he knows with our government as part of a plea deal. Last week, during his pre-sentence hearing, his legal team admitted that Chavez and Maduro illegally used funds from PDVSA — Venezuela's state-run oil and natural gas company — to finance other left-wing political movements in the world for at least 15 years. The main recipients of the funds were Néstor Kirchner in Argentina
...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita...
, Lula da Silva in Brazil, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Petro in Colombia, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, and the Podemos party in Spain, as well as the Five Star Movement in Italia.

I'll wrap this up, but you get the idea. Maduro may not be "at war" with the U.S. in the traditional sense, but he does, indeed, have an impact that goes much deeper than most people realize.
Related:
Nicolás Maduro 10/27/2025 US Navy destroyer arrives in Trinidad and Tobago as Trump turns screws on Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro 10/25/2025 Maduro boasts of ‘thousands' of Russian anti-aircraft missiles as Trump threatens military action inside Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro 10/24/2025 'There Could Be a Massacre.' Trump Dictates New Rules for Latin America

Related:
Tren de Aragua: 2025-10-25 US kills 6 suspected narco-terrorists in overnight strike on alleged drug smuggling boat, Hegseth says
Tren de Aragua: 2025-10-22 CBS Misrepresents Facts of Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case in One-Sided ''60 Minutes'' Interview with Fired DOJ Lawyer
Tren de Aragua: 2025-10-17 SOUTHCOM commander announces sudden retirement amid Trump drug war in Caribbean
Related:
Marco Rubio 10/28/2025 Sa’ar insists PA still paying terrorists in ‘pay-for-slay’ policy, despite promises
Marco Rubio 10/28/2025 The United States is developing drug capitalism
Marco Rubio 10/26/2025 US president warns Hamas to return hostages’ bodies within 48 hours, Hamas pledges to expand search

Related:
Opal Tometi 09/29/2020 Coalition Of Black Pastors Rips Kamala Harris For Celebrating ‘Brilliance' Of Black Lives Matter Founders
Opal Tometi 09/20/2020 America's Western Forests Are a Massive Soft Target for Terrorists and Their Domestic Accomplices
Opal Tometi 06/27/2020 4 Things the Liberal Media Won't Tell You About Black Lives Matter

Related:
Alicia Garza 07/28/2024 Major General Higginbotham (Ret) Editorial: Kamala Harris' Background
Alicia Garza 03/15/2024 Just a reminder this link to the database of known BLM funding
Alicia Garza 09/29/2020 Coalition Of Black Pastors Rips Kamala Harris For Celebrating ‘Brilliance' Of Black Lives Matter Founders

Related:
Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2025-09-30 Lawfare: US sues over November anti-Israel protest outside New Jersey synagogue
Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2025-09-30 Democrats Rage, Leftist NGO Mobilizes After ICE Arrest Of Iowa''s Top School Superintendent
Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2025-09-15 White House Plans Security Boost On Civil Terrorism Fears As FBI Investigates Revolutionary Leftist Groups In Kirk Assassination
Related:
Code Pink: 2025-09-18 President Trump Designates ANTIFA as a “Major Terrorist Organization”
Code Pink: 2025-09-12 Two more alarming Secret Service failures
Code Pink: 2025-09-11 Code Pink crashed Trump/Vance dinner in DC restaurant, shouting ‘Free Palestine’
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Posted by: Skidmark   2025-10-30 10:29  

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