US offers $10 million for tips on Hezbollah in Latin America

The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Hezbollah’s activities and connections in Latin America.

The announcement published on Monday by the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program, was released in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. It seeks details on the financial networks of the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization’s financial networks in the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The reward aims to generate leads that could disrupt Hezbollah’s financial operations.

“The group,” the statement reads, “is responsible for carrying out terrorist attacks in the Western Hemisphere, including the July 18, 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Society.”

The statement also says that Hezbollah members and supporters are involved in large-scale revenue-generating schemes, including trade-based money laundering, narcotics trafficking, charcoal and oil smuggling, the illicit diamond trade, bulk cash smuggling, smuggling of cigarettes and luxury goods, document forgery, and counterfeiting of U.S. dollars.

Brazil’s federal police have been investigating links between Hezbollah and the drug gang First Capital Command since at least 2000. Brazilian authorities have long recognized that criminal organizations have expanded beyond drug trafficking into other markets – from illegal gold mining in the Amazon to Sao Paulo’s fintech sector – as they seek to diversify revenue streams and extend their influence.

Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry declined to comment.