BREAKING: US Fear of Iranian Expansion Into Latin America Largely Bogus
There’s been a lot of talk in the more fever-swampish corners of the hawkish right of Iranian expansion into leftist Latin America countries. And some of it has been supported by the fact that Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez — two populist dictators who secured greater power in military coups — are somewhat buddy-buddy. But when it comes to hard evidence of Iranian influence in Latin America, specifically in the form of a rumored “super-embassy” in Nicaragua that Secretary Clinton had warned of back in May, evidence appears to be lacking:
But here in Nicaragua, no one can find any super-embassy.
Nicaraguan reporters scoured the sprawling tropical city in search of the embassy construction site. Nothing. Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce chief Ernesto Porta laughed and said: “It doesn’t exist.” Government officials say the U.S. Embassy complex is the only “mega-embassy” in Managua. A U.S. diplomat in Managua conceded: “There is no huge Iranian Embassy being built as far as we can tell.”
The mysterious, unseen giant embassy underscores how Iran’s expansion into Latin America may be less substantive than some in Washington fear.
Even if Iran is doing some investment and infrastructure building in Latin America, it’s still absolutely ludicrous to compare, as Connie Mack does, what’s going on between Iran and Venezuela and Nicaragua to what the Soviet Union was doing in Cuba or elsewhere during the Cold War. And putting aside whatever specific details over whether or not there’s a super-embassy in Managua, the point should be continually stressed that Iran is, compared to the United States, a small poor country that only threatens our interests because we’ve taken it upon ourselves to essentially govern the Middle East and be responsible for the world’s flow of oil.
When it comes to Latin America, where we have unmatched economic and political weight, any real concern that Iran could affect our interests in a meaningful way is just threat-mongering.
And, getting back to the super-embassy, the Post article is just wonderful in how it gets so many quotes from people confidently asserting the existence of a building or complex that doesn’t appear to exist. Michael Rubin, not to mention the State Department, doesn’t come out looking to good.
