Analyst's note:  Extremely troubling.  Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay in South America are places most Americans will only read about and never visit.  Elements of our federal gov't - to include those directly involved in the protection of our national security - are becoming ever more aware that international jihadi terrorist networks, some of which are supported by Iran, are now part of the "local culture" within the borders of these southern neighbors.  Such organization as Hezbollah and other terrorist groups are known  to be involved in smuggling and black market activities.  They are known to have joined with the local native thugs in support of each other for logistics and finance.  Although this article does not include it, other open source intelligence reported here strongly, suggest that these terrorist organizations are also involved in massive illegal immigration efforts into the United States through our southern borders.

Whatever else they are doing there, terrorist are known to have generated "[...] hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profits" to fund their global Islamist jihad.  This article reports that "[...] over the past 15 years ... the importance of the region as a financial hub for terrorist groups, from Hezbollah to the FARC in Colombia to Hamas [...]" has grown.