Venezuelan Regime's Ties With Hezbollah Reportedly Illustrated By Document Discussing Drug-Trafficking

Alleged ties between the Venezuelan regime and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been widely discussed, and a new report illustrates the depth of their cooperation.

Concretely, Venezuelan outlet Armando Info said it got its hands on a document from the Foreign Ministry discussing a shipment of drugs sent to Lebanon to be sold, its proceeds set to end up in the militant group's coffers.

Dated from 2010, when Venezuela was still ruled by Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro was the foreign minister, the document details the capture of Venezuelans along with "Lebanese citizens" while carrying 50 kilos of cocaine.

Lebanese press, the outlet added, led to the dismantling of a drug-trafficking cells regularly operating in Venezuela and Lebanon. The drugs were allegedly sent in a plane from Venezuelan airline Conviasa through its Damascus route.

The report comes as former U.S. Treasury official Marshall Billingslea claimed that Hezbollah's presence in Latin America has expanded significantly under the protection of Venezuela's authoritarian government.

Billingslea, who served as Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, said before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control last week that the Nicolás Maduro regime has transformed Venezuela into a "willing safe haven" for the Lebanese militant group, providing access to forged documents, unlawful financing, and drug trafficking routes that link the Middle East to the Western Hemisphere.

Billingslea said the regime has issued thousands of passports to individuals with suspected ties to Hezbollah and Hamas, enabling operatives to travel freely across the region and, in some cases, enter the United States.

According to documentation presented at the hearing, more than 10,000 Venezuelan passports were issued between 2010 and 2019 to citizens from Syria, Lebanon, and Iran. Billingslea said many of these documents were granted under the supervision of former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who has long been accused of facilitating Hezbollah-linked activities.

The former Treasury official also claimed that Venezuela allowed Hezbollah to establish a paramilitary training center on Margarita Island and awarded contracts to front companies connected to the group as early as 2001. He warned that this collaboration has intensified since Maduro took power.

Billingslea cited reports suggesting that roughly 400 Hezbollah commanders have been deployed from Lebanon to South America—primarily Venezuela—since early 2025, as the group seeks to protect its operations amid growing instability in the Middle East.