LATIN AMERICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST: A Threatening Alliance? http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/main070610.html

Whether in the media or in U.S. policy circles, the words "Middle East" and "South America" are rarely mentioned together in a positive light. Reports of Middle Eastern terrorist cells allegedly operating in South America's Tri-Border region or on Venezuela's Margarita Island have appeared intermittently in the U.S. press since at least 2003.

These reports allege that sleeper cells belonging to Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and a number of other groups are potentially plotting violent attacks throughout the Americas. Never mind that no evidence has yet emerged of terrorist acts or plots hatched by the alleged cells; the rumors of their presence continue to pop up regularly in the U.S. press and in government reports.