Exclusive-US presses Bolivia to expel suspected Iranian spies, harden approach to militant groups, sources say

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) – The United States is pushing Bolivia to kick suspected Iranian spies out of the South American country and designate Tehran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist group, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Washington also wants the government in La Paz to designate Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Palestinian militant organization Hamas – both of which the United States considers to be proxies of Tehran – as terrorist organizations, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.

The private diplomatic push comes amid a broader U.S. effort to deepen its geopolitical influence in Latin America and diminish that of its adversaries in the region.

Following an operation earlier in January to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, U.S. officials quickly pushed the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez to curtail economic and security cooperation between Caracas and Tehran, according to a separate source familiar with the matter. For years, Venezuela and Iran had been steadfast allies.

Asked for comment, the Bolivian foreign ministry said that “there is still no completely defined position regarding this matter.” The State Department did not respond to a request for comment, while the Iranian mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

SPY GAMES IN SOUTH AMERICA

Bolivia, a landlocked country of 12 million people located in the heart of South America, would at first glance seem to be an unlikely venue for a proxy struggle between major world powers. Some current and former U.S. officials, however, said the nation has become an important base for Iran’s diplomatic and intelligence operations throughout the continent.

In part, that is because of what U.S. officials have described as a permissive counterintelligence environment, as well as the nation’s central location bordering several other nations, some of which have allegedly been the victim of attempted Hezbollah plots in recent years.

Rick de la Torre, a retired senior CIA officer and former Caracas chief of station, said Iran’s base of diplomatic and intelligence operations in Latin America was Venezuela. However, Bolivia and Nicaragua – where an authoritarian government has cool relations with Washington – have served as Tehran’s “secondary nodes” in the region in recent years.

“(Bolivia’s) value to Tehran was the permissive political climate, lighter scrutiny and central geography,” de la Torre said.

“In practice, the pattern you see across Latin America is Iran and Hezbollah using the most permissive jurisdictions as hubs, then projecting quietly into more capable or higher-value states nearby.”

CHANGING POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s leftist president from 2006 to 2019, deepened ties to Iran over the course of his presidency, including on defense and security-related matters, arguing both nations were united in the fight against U.S. imperialism.

Morales and leftist President Luis Arce, who governed from 2020 until late last year, were widely seen by U.S. officials as unreceptive to potential efforts to distance La Paz from Tehran. Now, however, U.S. officials believe they have a unique opportunity following the October election of centrist Rodrigo Paz, whose presidency marks an end to two decades of near-continuous rule by the leftist MAS party.

Paz’s government, which has inherited significant economic turmoil and a fractious legislature, has sought to repair ties with Washington, while encouraging private investment. U.S. officials have publicly welcomed Paz’s election, and in December the U.S. made Bolivia available for grant funding administered by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. agency.

EFFORT TO COUNTER IRAN RAMPING UP

The sources said the Iran-related push in Bolivia is part of a broader U.S. campaign in the region. In September, U.S. ally Ecuador designated the IRGC, Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, while Argentina designated Iran’s Quds Force last week. The U.S. advocated for both moves, the sources said.

The IRGC has served as an elite military force loyal to Iran’s Supreme Leader since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, while the Quds Force is an IRGC branch responsible for overseas operations.

While the current push to drive a geopolitical wedge between Iran and Latin America is not new, there are signs the effort is ramping up. A delegation including State Department and intelligence officials traveled to La Paz this month in part to discuss the potential terrorist designations, the sources said.

U.S. officials have also discussed pushing for terrorist designations in Chile, Peru and Panama, the officials added, though it is not clear they have yet discussed the matter with counterparts in those countries. Hezbollah operatives have been present in all of those nations, U.S. officials have alleged, and all have U.S.-aligned presidents or presidents-elect.

The Panamanian foreign ministry said it had not discussed the issue with U.S. officials. The Chilean foreign ministry declined to comment, while the Peruvian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

HEZBOLLAH, IRGC LONG ACTIVE IN LATIN AMERICA

Among the most recent high-profile IRGC operations in the region was an alleged assassination plot targeting the Israeli ambassador to Mexico, which was foiled last year by Mexican security services. The plot, which was first reported by Axios in November, was orchestrated in part by an undercover Quds Force officer stationed in Caracas, one of the sources said.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is closely allied with Tehran, has long operated in Latin America, often generating revenue for its global operations by participating in illicit smuggling networks and occasionally orchestrating terrorist attacks.

Still, while U.S. officials broadly hold that Hezbollah maintains a permanent presence in Latin America, there is significant debate within the intelligence community regarding how robust that presence is. 

Some have characterized the group’s fundraising operations in the region as well-organized and hierarchical, while others argue that some financial activities ascribed to Hezbollah are in fact a function of donations and remittances from Latin America’s sizeable Lebanese diaspora that make their way to Hezbollah-linked individuals by happenstance.

“In my view, Hezbollah leadership does not micromanage every criminal scheme,” said de la Torre, the retired CIA officer, “but it does authorize and benefit from a global facilitation architecture that includes Latin America.”

(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, Monica Machicao in La Paz, Alexander Villegas in Santiago, Marco Aquino in Lima, Elida Moreno in Panama City and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; editing by Diane Craft)