The digital news and economy newspaper of Argentina, Infobae, published an article entitled “Venezuelan-Iranian plane scandal raises questions about the alleged link between the vice president of Paraguay and Hezbollah”, echoing the article on the Aurora Israel portal, one of the most important Israeli media in Spanish, about Hugo Velázquez and his meeting with leaders of said group, considered by the United States, the European Union and several other countries, including ours, as a promoter of global terrorism.
Source: The Nation
Font: The nation.
“In 2015 Hugo Velázquez traveled to Lebanon to hold meetings with political and religious leaders of the terrorist group. He was also accused of being the “main money launderer” in the Triple Frontier, where extremist cells operate, “says the Infobae publication.
While the Argentine Justice continues with the investigations around the arrival in the country of the Iranian plane owned by a Venezuelan shell company sanctioned by the United States government, the case began to splash officials from other nations. In Paraguay at this time the eyes are on the vice president, Hugo Velázquez, for his alleged links with Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group for whom the plane is suspected of transporting weapons, the Argentine media reports.
La Aurora recalled that in 2015 Velázquez, then president of the Chamber of Deputies, traveled to Lebanon to hold meetings with political and religious leaders of the terrorist group. Meetings of which images were disclosed, after the Paraguayan official repeatedly denied them. On that trip, the current Vice President of Paraguay met with the main leaders of the Islamic terrorist movement, including the spiritual leader of Hezbollah, Sayid Ali Hijazi; Abdel Majid Saleh, member of the Lebanese Parliament; and Nawwaf Moussawi, also a Lebanese parliamentarian and representative of the extremist group, according to Infobae.
According to the Israeli media, Hijazi is a well-known surname in Paraguay. In August of last year, the Brazilian merchant of Lebanese descent, Kassem Hijazi, was arrested and extradited at the request of the United States, which accused him of transferring millions of dollars from drug trafficking. According to the Treasury Department, the defendant “is the alleged head of a money laundering organization based in Ciudad del Este.”
Always according to the Argentine media, the US government sanctioned Hijazi and two other people, as well as five companies, for their participation in a money laundering system in the Triple Frontier. Analyzing possible connections, the authorities do not rule out that Hijazi has family ties with the spiritual leader of Hezbollah with whom Velázquez met in Beirut.
Review that in 2018 Leo Rubin, then a vice-presidential candidate for Alianza Ganar, accused Velázquez of having made his fortune thanks to “squeezing the mafia” and of being the “main money launderer” in the Triple Frontier. That same year, the Prosecutor’s Office investigated several companies for laundering and sending money to the United States for the purchase of used vehicles. Businessmen Walid Amine Sweid and Ricardo Galeano Fariña were involved in the investigations, accused of having embezzled up to 1,200 million dollars and of being very close to the Paraguayan vice president. He, however, denied that they were his friends.
La Aurora Israel also points to Velázquez’s years as deputy attorney general in Ciudad del Este. In those years, the fiscal agent Juan Carlos Duarte led the investigation against Hijazi, for a scheme of mega evasion and alleged money laundering. Finally, the businessman was acquitted, until last year he ended up arrested after the investigations carried out by the recently assassinated prosecutor Marcelo Pecci.
