U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie during a meeting on the sidelines of an international counterterrorism conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 19, 2019 (AP photo by Natacha Pisarenko).

The Trump administration has boosted security cooperation with right-wing governments in South America in recent months to address the perceived threat of Hezbollah in the region. In late July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended a counterterrorism conference in Buenos Aires, where the Lebanese militia and political party, which is backed by Iran, was a major focus of his meetings. Under pressure from the United States, Argentina and Paraguay have already designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and Brazil is considering doing the same. But according to Fernando Brancoli, a professor of international security at the Federal University of Rio de […]