Hezbollah in Venezuela...no shockers here

While the MSM and blogosphere are abuzz with news that Hezbollah might be in Venezuela, I saw the title of the LA Times article and rolled my eyes. What kills me about the MSM in this country is that they report things with such sensation and don't really do their homework.

First of all, this is not new news in the least. Kraul and Rotella paint it as if this were a new revelation to the world. Nope, not even close. For those of us who follow Venezuela, and Latin America in general, we are more than well aware of the presence of Islamic extremists in the region. The tri-border area between Brasil, Argentina, and Paraguay is probably the most well known, but by no means the only place in which terrorists operate. My friend and fellow blogger Jungle Mom reported on this OVER A YEAR AGO, to which it received a little bit of attention, but certainly not its due. Fausta, another blogger friend of mine, has also written quite extensively on this topic for well over a year. In my senior year in college, I wrote a short paper on elements of Islamic radicalism slowly penetrating in Venezuela, often through official ways, such as raids purported by the government on the Wiesenthal Jewish Community Center, Chávez's absurd speeches discussing the "Christ killers" (no, I don't believe Jews are "Christ killers" at all), and other policies executed by ministers such as Tarek el Aissami, whose own father and uncle have close ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Congrats, MSM. You are, at the very least, 54 weeks late. And we wonder why information is this country is often convoluted...