The U.S. government has put a $10 million bounty on Hezbollah’s shadowy financial network in Latin America, exposing the terrorist organization’s deep-rooted criminal enterprise that has operated with impunity for decades in America’s backyard.
Key Takeaways
- The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information that disrupts Hezbollah’s financial networks in South America’s Tri-Border Area.
- Hezbollah finances its operations through extensive criminal activities, including money laundering, drug trafficking, document fraud, and smuggling in the region.
- The terrorist group has formed alarming alliances with local criminal organizations, including Brazil’s notorious First Capital Command (PCC) gang.
- U.S. intelligence indicates Hezbollah has become the dominant terrorist organization in the region despite decades of awareness about its presence.
- The reward program targets Hezbollah’s revenue streams, donors, facilitating financial institutions, and criminal schemes across Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
America’s Multi-Million Dollar Hunt for Hezbollah’s Latin American Money Machine
President Trump’s administration has escalated the fight against terrorist financing with a significant bounty aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s entrenched financial network in South America. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced the reward of up to $10 million for actionable intelligence on Hezbollah’s financial operations in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. This strategic move targets a region that has served as a fundraising haven for the terrorist organization for over 25 years, allowing them to funnel millions back to their operations in Lebanon and worldwide.
The reward announcement, released in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic, specifically seeks information that could disrupt Hezbollah’s revenue streams, identify donors, shut down facilitating financial institutions, and dismantle the criminal enterprises that have flourished in this lawless frontier. The TBA has become notorious for weak law enforcement, corruption, and financial institutions that often conceal organized crime transactions, creating the perfect environment for terrorist financing to thrive alongside traditional criminal activities.
The US is offering up to $10 million for information that helps to disrupt Hezbollah’s financial operations in South America
— The National (@TheNationalNews) May 19, 2025
Terrorists and Gangsters: Hezbollah’s Unholy Alliance with South American Crime
A March 2025 analysis by the RAND Corporation confirmed what security experts have long suspected: Hezbollah has established itself as the dominant terrorist player in the TBA. The terrorist organization has developed sophisticated document fraud operations and extensive money laundering networks throughout Latin America. These operations have not only survived but thrived despite efforts by multiple U.S. agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the DEA, the FBI, and the Treasury, to combat them.
“Despite the efforts that DHS, the Department of State, Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of the Treasury have taken to subdue these networks, many reportedly persist with the support of Lebanese diaspora communities in the region,” reported RAND in their comprehensive analysis.
Particularly alarming are the ties between Hezbollah and Brazil’s First Capital Command (PCC), one of South America’s most dangerous criminal organizations. Brazilian federal police investigations revealed that in 2023, Lebanese arms dealers with links to Hezbollah were supplying weapons to PCC, while the Brazilian gang offered protection to Lebanese criminals in Brazilian prisons. This mutually beneficial relationship has significantly enhanced Hezbollah’s operational capabilities in the region while providing PCC with international connections and sophisticated weaponry.
America’s National Security Threat in the Western Hemisphere
The strategic importance of the TBA to terrorist operations cannot be overstated. With its large Arab community and weak governance, the region has proven to be fertile ground for Islamic terrorist sleeper cells and operational bases. The Department of Justice has explicitly identified this vulnerability, highlighting how the demographic and political conditions create an environment where terrorist networks can embed themselves within legitimate communities and businesses.
“The large Arab community in the TBA is conducive to the establishment of sleeper cells of Islamic terrorists,” warned the Department of Justice (DOJ) in their assessment of the region.
The reward program represents a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s approach to confronting terrorist financing, particularly in regions traditionally not associated with Middle Eastern terrorist groups. The $10 million bounty demonstrates the seriousness with which U.S. intelligence and security agencies view Hezbollah’s Latin American operations and their determination to disrupt the financial lifelines that have allowed the terrorist organization to expand its global reach despite international sanctions and counterterrorism efforts.
Closing the Terrorist Funding Pipeline
This latest initiative builds on decades of intelligence gathering about terrorist activities in the TBA, dating back to at least 2003. What makes the current situation particularly concerning is that despite this awareness, Hezbollah has managed to not only maintain but also strengthen its position in the region. The Trump administration’s reward program recognizes that conventional law enforcement and intelligence gathering have proven insufficient against these deeply entrenched networks, necessitating financial incentives to generate insider information.
“The US Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Hezbollah’s activities and connections in Latin America,” stated the US Department of State in its announcement of the bounty program.
The multi-million dollar reward underscores a critical reality that has been ignored for too long: Hezbollah isn’t just a Middle Eastern problem but a direct threat to American security interests in our own hemisphere. By targeting the financial infrastructure that supports terrorist operations, the administration aims to weaken Hezbollah’s global capabilities while simultaneously disrupting the criminal networks that have flourished in the regulatory gaps of the Tri-Border Area, delivering a potential double blow to both terrorism and organized crime in Latin America.
