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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Could A Small Venezuelan Island Be The Real Reason Behind the U.S. Military's Caribbean Buildup |
| 2025-11-17 |
| [ZeroHedge] Recent reporting highlights a sustained U.S. military buildup across the Caribbean, coinciding with briefings to President Trump in which senior Pentagon officials outlined potential operational scenarios against Venezuela. This activity has raised questions among observers about regime change operations. Public justification and the narrative in corporate media have centered on counter-narcotics missions aimed at disrupting transnational criminal networks operating in and around Venezuela. However, the scale and posture of U.S. forces have prompted speculation that this buildout might not just be about dismantling command and control structures of narco terrorist networks. In this 10-post X thread, Jason Lewris of real-time housing market data website Parcl Labs explored one potential cause for the U.S. military buildup and goes beyond drug smuggling, linking Venezuelan cartels and Iranian-backed groups (like Hezbollah). "But drug smuggling may not be the full story—or the real motivation," Lewris began the thread. He said, "A far more concerning pattern is emerging." "Here's how a small Venezuelan island (Isla de Margarita), Iranian-backed terrorist groups, and U.S. housing may all connect within a sophisticated people-transportation network into the United States," Lewris explained. Lewris cited a text from a 2013 House Foreign Affairs Committee on the subject of "Hezbollah's STRATEGIC SHIFT: A GLOBAL TERRORIST THREAT." At a House hearing on March 20, 2013, lawmakers were briefed that Isla de Margarita (Margarita Island) was being used by Hezbollah to train Venezuelan cartel members. With the text, Lewris pointed out, "Hezbollah has also conducted terror training on Margarita Island for recruits from Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Hezbollah operatives and their co-conspirators hold senior positions in the Venezuelan Government. They provide travel documents, weapons, and logistics support to terrorist operations and cocaine smugglers as our witnesses will explain further." Here are the key points from the thread:
And if that alone sounded troubling, what comes next points to a national security threat. Rubio might find this interesting... The alarming part: Venezuela and Iran already own U.S. properties-many through shell companies with direct ties to their governments. And there are dense pockets of these holdings along the southern border. Lewris' thesis: "U.S. officials understand the Iran–Venezuela partnership. They understand these smuggling routes, which historically moved drugs. But the concern now is that people, not drugs, are being moved. And those people may include terrorist operatives. We're tracking the intersection of these networks with U.S. housing at @ParclLabs." Related: Margarita Island: 2025-10-30 BLM, Antifa, Hezbollah, and More: Inside Maduro’s Global Web Margarita Island: 2023-10-29 Venezuelan Cartel of the Suns Backgrounder (including section on coordination with Hezbolah) Margarita Island: 2016-09-04 Venezuelan President Is Chased by Angry Protesters |
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