FIRST ON FOX: From a distance, it resembles a Caribbean retreat. Palm-lined beaches, duty-free shops, and resort towns promote the image of a tropical playground just off Venezuela’s northeastern coast. Yet U.S. officials claim this Venezuelan outpost has evolved into something entirely distinct: Hezbollah’s most critical operational hub in the Western Hemisphere, reinforced by Iran’s expanding influence and the Maduro regime’s protection.

This threat, U.S. officials caution, reflects a broader security challenge emerging from the region. “The gravest threat to the United States from the Western Hemisphere comes from transnational terrorist and criminal groups focused primarily on drug trafficking,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated at a year-end press conference at the State Department on Friday.

“Margarita Island may hold significance for the U.S. due to its location and the security dynamics surrounding it,” Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute, told Digital. “It lies near Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, in an oil-rich area of the Caribbean along key maritime routes, and has long been known as a major drug-trafficking hub—likely because it is offshore and has limited law enforcement presence.”

The island’s isolation, she noted, has made it appealing to “irregular armed groups, foreign intelligence operatives, and criminal networks that use it as a departure point for boats carrying illegal shipments out of Venezuela.”

Marshall Billingslea, the former assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the U.S. Treasury Department, said Margarita Island now serves as [something] in the Western Hemisphere.

“Based on what I have observed and been informed, Hezbollah—and to some extent Hamas—are engaged in a wide array of activities,” Billingslea told Digital. “Margarita Island is truly the epicenter of their operations.”

In written testimony submitted to the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control for an Oct. 21 hearing, Billingslea traced the island’s transformation back more than two decades. Under Hugo Chávez, he wrote, Venezuela “welcomed Hezbollah, enabling the group to establish a significant presence, including a paramilitary training site, on Margarita Island.”

“When Nicolás Maduro took power,” Billingslea added, “the scope and depth of Hezbollah’s presence in Venezuela expanded dramatically, as did their ties to the narco-terrorist regime and [something].”

“The relationship with the Cartel de los Soles is very close and has been so for many years,” Billingslea said, referring to the network of senior Venezuelan officials accused by the U.S. of drug trafficking.

Billingslea explained that Hezbollah has integrated itself into Margarita Island’s economy, leveraging the island’s duty-free status and cross-border access to Colombia to generate income through smuggling and drug imports. He noted the group operates numerous businesses on the island and maintains several training camps there.

His testimony also detailed how Venezuela’s state institutions facilitated Hezbollah’s integration into the country. He wrote that former senior official Tareck El Aissami, while overseeing Venezuela’s passport and naturalization agency, “played a key role in providing passports and citizenship documents to Hezbollah operatives as well as a large number of [individuals].” Between 2010 and 2019, Venezuelan authorities issued over 10,400 passports to individuals from those countries, according to the testimony.

A May 27, 2020, Justice Department announcement alleged that Diosdado Cabello directed Venezuelan lawmaker Adel El Zabayar to travel to [a location] to obtain weapons and recruit Hezbollah and Hamas members for training at clandestine camps in Venezuela. The filing also describes a subsequent weapons delivery at a hangar controlled by Maduro at the country’s main international airport.

Recent events in the Middle East have only heightened Margarita Island’s importance, Billingslea said. Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon has weakened the group’s military leadership and financial infrastructure, compelling it to rely more on overseas networks.

“Israeli successes against Hezbollah in Lebanon—particularly their strikes on the financial infrastructure Al-Qard al-Hassan operating there—will have two effects,” he said. “First, it makes the fundraising and revenue generation from [sources] even more vital to the terrorist group. Second, we have indications that Hezbollah has been relocating fighters from Lebanon, several hundred specifically from Lebanon to Venezuela.”

When asked if this shift brings the threat closer to the U.S., Billingslea said Hezbollah is now operating “near the U.S. and farther from the Israelis.”

He noted Iran’s role in Venezuela has deepened alongside Hezbollah’s. “There is a substantial Iranian presence in Venezuela related to the trade of weapons and drones, specifically in exchange for gold,” he said. After suffering setbacks in the Middle East, he added, “the Iranians are even more dependent on that gold supply in exchange for drones and weapons.”

He said Washington faces a strategic decision. “I believe the U.S. has positioned sufficient forces in the Caribbean currently to address [the threat],” he said. “But when a terrorist group has integrated into the local population, highly precise intelligence is required. I believe the Venezuelan opposition has significant intelligence, though it is unclear if the U.S. government is effectively utilizing that access.”

For Billingslea, the conclusion is clear—eliminating Venezuela’s narco-terrorist regime would significantly enhance U.S. national security.