March 18 2015 image description
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Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Iran and Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere

JOSEPH M. HUMIRE

CO-AUTHOR IRAN’S STRATEGIC PENETRATION OF LATIN AMERICA

BEFORE THE

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE (WHEM)

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA (MENA)

HEARING ON

“IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE”

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

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Chairman Duncan, Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Members Sires and Deutch, and distinguished members of both subcommittee’s. Good morning, and thank you for your leadership on this issue and inviting me to appear before you today.

Almost two years ago, I testified before another committee that Iran’s influence in the Western Hemisphere had grown tremendously over the last 30 years since the dawn of the Iranian revolution. At the time, there was sufficient evidence to make this statement; however, there was also evidence to suggest that Iran was reassessing its priorities, presence and activities in Latin America, due to the considerable political and economic changes happening both in the region and in Tehran…. (more…)

October 6 2014 image description
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Does China Own Ecuador?

Is the Ecuadoran government of Rafael Correa a wholly owned subsidiary of China? The more analysts look at the finances of the Andean nation of 15.6 million, the more it seems that the Correa government is selling the country’s resources to one main buyer in order to pay for its populist agenda.

After taking up residence in the Palacio de Carondelet in 2007, the country’s executive mansion, the socialist Correa declared the country’s sizeable foreign debt to be “illegitimate” and “odious,” contracted with “monsters” in the world of finance. By December 2008, Ecuador defaulted on $3.2 billion in global bonds.

World capital markets reacted harshly treating Ecuador as a pariah. The country faced potentially serious hardships as its solvency was directly challenged, but as economic circumstances would have it the resource rich-nation, like many other commodity exporters, was able to ride the wave of rising world prices for petroleum…. (more…)