Terrorist Organization: Hezbollah;
Status: Head of Rada clan Latin America;
Roll: Leading the clan for decades in the Latin American region. Connected to high figures in Hezbollah. Lebanese – Venezuelan, involved in money laundering, drug smuggling and weapon trafficking for Hezbollah. Above all, he had an operational and critical part on the ground in both terror attacks that took place in Argentina in the 90’s against Israeli targets. At least in one case he was the guy who provided the suicide terrorist his c4 explosives for the attack;
Amer Mohamed Akil Rada (Amer) is a longtime Hizballah member who currently lives in Lebanon but served in an operational role for the group for over a decade in South America. Amer functioned as a senior operative for Hizballah’s External Security Organization (ESO), which is responsible for Hizballah’s extraterritorial operations. Amer has coordinated the activities of various commercial enterprises for Hizballah, including charcoal exports from Colombia to Lebanon. As a Hizballah operative and leader, Amer uses as much as 80 percent of the proceeds of his commercial enterprise to benefit Hizballah.
In addition, Amer worked in close coordination with U.S.-designated Salman Raouf Salman to case targets around South America on behalf of Hizballah and was one of the operational members of Hizballah who carried out the AMIA bombing, the 1994 attack on the community center for the largest Jewish community in South America, killing 85 people and wounding hundreds more. He was also allegedly involved in the Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires in 1992.
Amer is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hizballah.
Location: Most likely still in Venezuela;
Also Known As: Amer Mohamed Akil Rada, Amer Mohamed Akil;
Country: Venezuela (suspected);
Citizenship: Lebanese, Venezuelan;
Activities:
Amer Akil Rada is a Venezuelan-Lebanese dual national who runs a South American import-export business suspected of funneling money to Hezbollah.
Akil Rada is the head of a family of Lebanese ex-patriates called the Akil Rada clan, which runs a diverse array of businesses across South America and allegedly transfers large sums of money from its profits to Hezbollah.
Akil Rada is also suspected of involvement in Hezbollah’s 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Hezbollah’s 1994 attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) community center in Buenos Aires.
On July 18, 1994, a suicide bomber exploded at the AMIA, killing 85 people and wounding 300. Israeli investigators reportedly identified Salman Raouf Salman as the coordinator of the attack.
Argentine security officials accused Salman of overseeing Hezbollah “sleeper cells in Buenos Aires and the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.”
Prior to the attack, Akil Rada allegedly worked closely with Salman to identify various potential targets in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Akil Rada is also suspected of transferring the detonators to Argentina for the bombing. He is also suspected of involvement in Hezbollah’s March 17, 1992, attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 23 and wounded 242.
Akil Rada financed Hezbollah through the creation of multiple import-export companies in Panama, sending textiles to Colombia and charcoal to Lebanon. As much as 80 percent of the proceeds from the companies were reportedly used to support Hezbollah.
Akil Rada also reportedly conducted business in Belize and Costa Rica. The Akil Rada clan is one of a handful of Lebanese families in South America accused of providing support for Hezbollah and allegedly linked to the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
According to Argentine and Colombian authorities, in addition to transferring portions of their business profits to Hezbollah, the Akil Rada clan has also aided Hezbollah in smuggling cocaine into Lebanon.
In Venezuela, the Akil Rada clan is reportedly profiting from cryptocurrencies. Akil Rada’s brother Samer Akil Rada heads the family’s cryptocurrency business, which helps the Maduro regime evade international sanctions.
Amer Akil Rada reportedly disappeared from the public eye in 2014 but allegedly maintains contact with Hezbollah and Salman in particular.