Iran, Russia, China To Run War Drills in Latin America

republished from Washington Free Beacon.

Iran, Russia, and China are gearing up to run a series of major war drills in Latin America in a show of force meant to signal how these militaries can reach the United States.

Venezuela, under the leadership of anti-U.S. socialist president Nicolás Maduro, is scheduled to host the war games in mid-August, according to a report by the Center for a Secure Free Society, a think tank that tracks malign regimes. Along with 10 other nations, Russia, China, and Iran will move their militaries into the Western Hemisphere for war drills that will “preposition forward-deployed military assets in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The war games, known as the Sniper Frontier competition, show that these malign regime from across the globe are uniting and “getting ready to make a loud statement that the region is ready to embrace the multipolar force,” according to the think-tank report, which focuses on Latin America’s embrace of authoritarian regimes. A key portion of Russia’s “military is prepping to bring, for the first time, some of these military games to the Western Hemisphere”—even as Moscow is bogged down with war in Ukraine.

The war drills are one of the starkest signs to date that Latin America’s coalition of anti-U.S. regimes is working to boost relations with Russia, China, and Iran. Maduro recently wrapped up a diplomatic tour of the Middle East in which he inked a 20-year strategic deal with Iran that laid the groundwork for an Iranian oil tanker to dock in Venezuela and offload Tehran’s illicit crude. “The strategic deal between Iran and Venezuela is meant to mirror similar strategic agreements that the Islamic Republic signed with China and Russia in recent years,” according to the think-tank report. Latin American regimes also are inking military pacts with Russia.

“Russia and its allies Iran and China are about to make a major show of force with the army games competition in August in Venezuela. But it’s important to understand that this force is molded by cyber-enabled, digital disinformation that is at the heart of how this kind of joint military exercise is used to legitimize authoritarian states and delegitimize democracies in the Western Hemisphere,” Joseph Humire, a national security analyst and executive director of the think tank, told the Washington Free Beacon. “By normalizing military movements of U.S. adversaries in the Caribbean, we run the risk of weakening the moral legitimacy of democracies in Latin America.”

There are also signs that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the country’s paramilitary fighting force, is boosting its presence in Latin America.

In early June, a Venezuela cargo plane flying in the region “was discovered to have members of the Qods Force, the elite unit of Iran’s revolutionary guards, on board,” according to the think-tank report. “Gholamreza Ghasemi, a known weapons trafficker for the IRGC and manager of Qeshm Fars Air, was piloting the Boeing 747-300M that returned to Buenos Aires along with 4 other Iranian nationals and 14 Venezuelans.”

After the plane was grounded, “documents, personnel effects, and electronics were seized by Argentine authorities who discovered images of tanks, missiles, and other pro-IRGC paraphernalia on one of the mobile devices,” hinting at a larger Iranian-backed plot unfolding in the region.

Ghasemi reportedly made at least 13 trips from Iran to Venezuela in the past year and a half, raising red flags with the FBI and the Israeli government.

As Iran and Venezuela increase their military and economic ties, Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega—an ally of Venezuela’s Maduro—renewed a military pact with Russia “authorizing Russian troops, planes, and ships to patrol the Central American country’s borders and conduct joint military training exercises,” according to the report. The military agreement was signed amid Russia’s war with Ukraine, indicating that a presence in Latin America remains a priority for Moscow even as it faces pressure on its own borders.

Russia has been waging covert espionage operations in Latin America. An accused Russian GRU military intelligence agent was recently caught trying to obtain an internship at the International Criminal Court. The spy “had been cultivating his cover as a Brazilian national for years and may not have been working alone,” according to the think-tank report.

China also has been active in the region, though these efforts have received little media attention.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi last month inked several economic deals in Latin America, making calls to Uruguay, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a program to increase the Chinese Communist Party’s global footprint, has made its way into Argentina, where it is working to build infrastructure projects.

“As Russia attempts to delegitimize the international financial system,” the think tank noted, “China has signed an agreement with a Switzerland-based bank to establish a reserve of yuan currency together with Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Chile to counter the U.S. dollar.”

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

6 Comments

  1. Madman Actual July 5, 2022 at 14:51

    ‘Military drills’ is a non threatening way of saying ‘pre-combat training’. Russia was on the Ukrainian border for almost 8 months, maybe a bit longer. Clock’s tickin’ dudes.

    • Boon July 5, 2022 at 19:43

      Sounds kinda Red Dawn like to me, also stage troops in South and Central America for months to get in a non-ocean attack position would be slightly covert and a good plan. Any thoughts on the fifth column size already in place in conus? Late August would be well timed to interrupt any potential election attempts here as well, clock seems to be ticking a bit faster these days.

      • NC Scout July 5, 2022 at 20:24

        I’ve only been talking about this for four years now.

      • Rob157 July 5, 2022 at 21:50

        If there were only 30 million illegals in country, and presuming only 1% of them are sleepers, that is 300,000 potential fighters. Many of whom have had a long time to prepare. Meanwhile, the left continues to destroy America from within.

        Fun Fact about Venezuela: They built an AK factory in 2015, under Hugo Chavez…

      • Madman Actual July 6, 2022 at 06:33

        They likely have at least a Battalion of trained soldiers per state. The assumption is that the less populated states will have less than the more densely populated ones. That may be a low ball but they don’t need a lot of trained guys if they can depend on the useful idiots to burn half their target buildings down.

        I know Cartels are active all over and they play ball with China. Some Cartels are ideologues, some are your normal gangster types. Regardless, they will do just about anything for more money and power.

        Most concerning is the ability for the gangster types in suits running the ports where China has shipping containers of whatever they felt like sending that day. Could be plastic army men, could be real army men.

        North Korea(little China) launched a ballistic missile from a cargo train, it wouldn’t be ridiculous to assume they can perform the same from a mega sized cargo ship.

        The timeline is always a stretch. My assessment is that an major attack now would fail. If I were an Adversary to the US, I’d wait until our food production issues are catastrophic. Be prepared 24/7 but I don’t think much will happen this fall. Next spring after a winter season of power outages and hunger is a more likely. But I no longer have access to cool guy databases to confirm that.

  2. SFC Steven M Barry USA RET July 5, 2022 at 14:57

    Maybe Central and South America are getting sick and tired of the US shitting on them.

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