THREAT--Terrorism's Western Ally

Watch CBNNewswatch By Dale Hurd CBN News Senior Reporter

U.S. intelligence is still coming to grips with reports that Al Qaeda and other Muslim terrorist groups are setting up bases in Venezuela.

CBN.com – WASHINGTON, D.C. — While America's attention has been focused on Iraq, it may have a growing terrorist threat in this hemisphere, and in a country you might never expect.

On February 13 this year, at London's Gatwick Airport, a Muslim with suspected links to Al Qaeda was arrested after a grenade was found in his luggage. His ticket shows he flew in from Colombia. But it turns out he actually began his journey in Caracas. He was a Venezuelan. And there are reported to be more like him.

U.S. intelligence is still coming to grips with reports that Al Qaeda and other Muslim terrorist groups are setting up bases in Venezuela. A London newspaper reports Osama bin Laden has established a training camp on Venezuela's Margarita Island, a tourist destination that also has an Arab-Muslim community and a bad reputation as a hangout for smugglers and terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

The more you know about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and his list of friends, the less surprising this all seems. Footage shows Hugo hugging Iranian President Khatami. More footage shows Hugo hugging Libya's Moammar Gaddafy. By the way, you won't find any video of Hugo meeting, much less, hugging George W. Bush.

But Chavez has met with Saddam Hussein. In fact, he was the first foreign leader to visit Baghdad after the first Gulf War, and he expressed his admiration for Saddam. He has offered support to convicted terrorist Carlos "The Jackal." He considers Fidel Castro his mentor. He gives sanctuary to Colombia's FARC rebels, a group that is trying to overthrow the Colombian government and has also killed Americans.

Hugo Chavez came to power by tapping into frustration over Venezuela's corrupt political system. He was elected in 1998 by a landslide. Since then, Chavez has been engaged in what has been called a "slow-motion constitutional coup." He has abolished the senate, brought in Cubans as strike-breakers against the oil industry, and organized gangs to beat up opponents.

Venezuelan opposition leader Omar Garcia-Bolivar said, "He was elected, we respect the fact that he was elected. But then he turned to a non-democratic agenda. He violates the constitution, he encourages violence and so on. We Venezuelans are feeling the violation of human rights, the lack of respect of rule of law, the lack of respect to freedom."

Last December, a former high-level Venezuelan major gave sworn testimony that he personally delivered a million dollars to Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan, on behalf of Chavez. Chavez did not condemn the attacks of 9/11 until his silence became a political issue. Then he called the U.S. attack on Afghanistan "terrorism." But would Chavez be bold enough, or some would say stupid enough, to allow Al Qaeda to operate in Venezuela?

"There's a lot that we don’t know about his motives, a lot that he keeps concealed," said Stephen Johnson, a Latin American specialist at the Heritage Foundation.

Johnson says even though the claims about Al Qaeda in Venezuela have not been verified, he considers them to be highly probable.

"It'd be very easy for them to operate there, and they would not be unwelcome in Venezuela. There's testimony, the testimonial evidence. There's anecdotal evidence. But none of this has really been followed up, and it needs to be," Johnson said.

Garcia-Bolivar said, "The fact that President Chavez has met with Saddam Hussein. The fact that President Chavez has met with Moammar Ghaddafy and Al Khatami…the friendship with Fidel Castro, the fact he has not condemned the guerillas in Colombia, all of those things kind of take you to suspect that there is some kind of connection."

General James Hill, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, has recently admitted that in Venezuela the U.S. has a new problem on its hands. Some still believe Chavez will have to clean up his act in order to revive Venezuela's oil industry and woo back its biggest customer, the United States. But on the other hand, Chavez has also said that trade agreements with the United States are "the road to Hell."

Johnson said, "Venezuela is one of the more extreme examples of a failed society; of a democracy that's elected a dictator. You look at Venezuela and the chaos there and the kind of government that has begun to take shape under Hugo Chavez, what you would probably remark is that it is Haiti with oil."

Garcia-Bolivar not only agrees, he sees what could be a dire future ahead. He feels most Venezuelans will not stand for the direction Hugo Chavez wants to take the country, which is probably a Cuban-style dictatorship. "It's gonna get worse. And the worst, we believe, is going to be a civil war. A lot of civilians in Venezuela are now believing that the only way out of this situation they have is violence," he said.

Latin American experts say it is time for the United States to pay attention to this potential threat in our hemisphere.

Chavez’s term does not expire until 2006, although he may soon face a referendum. Most of his political opponents do not believe Chavez will ever give up power without a fight.