Just a few of the terrorist financing operations that will forever stain the reputation of the present Venezuelan government:

• Whilst the Taliban and Al-Qaida cruelly ruled in Afghanistan, and after the terrible events of September 11, the Chavez government sent $1m, in cash, to those designated terrorist organisation, using the Venezuelan Ambassador to India, Walter Marquez, as a conduit. The funds were purportedly for humanitarian relief, but were delivered directly to the Taliban, then in total control of Afghanistan, who then funneled $900,000 on to Al-Qaida. The former Ambassador, who was later sued in US District Court in the United States by the next of kin of a victim of the World Trade Centre bombings, reportedly deposited $120m in his bank account. Who supplied those funds?
  

• As soon as the 2006 armed conflict between Hizballah and Israel ended, President Chavez sent millions of dollars, in cash, on ten flights into Syria, for the exclusive use of Hizbollah. The funds, according to the pilots who flew the trips, were carried on board Falcon jets owned by Petroleos de Venezuela, PdVSA, Venezuelan's state-owned oil company. The money was then transported into Lebanon, and used to pass out $11,000 to every pro-Hezbollah Lebanese whose home was damaged in the war.  Soon afterward, billboards thanking President Chavez for his contributions were erected in both Syria and Lebanon, picturing Chavez with Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
  

• Files found in Raul Reyes' computers, seized by the Colombian Army at the FARC camp on the Ecuadorian side of the border, revealed assistance rendered by Venezuela's President Chavez, in obtaining a $250m loan for the FARC, for the purchase of purchase weapons. One wonders what other terrorist financing evidence will emerge from the 16,000 files in those computers.
  

Lest we forget: immediately after the events of 9/11, President Chavez openly offered to send one hundred Venezuelan troops  to Afghanistan, then under imminent threat of US attack. On 12 September, one of Chavez' principal supporters, Lina Ron, burned the US flag on the streets of Caracas in "celebration" of the Al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington.

How one of Latin America's most advanced democracies can ignore the gathering storm over their government's love affair with terrorism is disturbing.  The reportedly close relationship between terrorist organisations and Venezuela has made Caracas a prime target in the global war against terrorism. This means the likely designation of Venezuela as a rogue state, and as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, according to several American governmental sources. The Venezuelan economy, including especially its financial sector, could be affected.