The denying threat to national security and defense: Hezbollah’s presence in Colombia

This article critically examines Hezbollah’s presence in Colombia and evaluates whether it constitutes a strategic threat to the nation’s security and defense. Through qualitative documentary analysis, the study explores the convergence of international terrorism and transnational organized crime and its impact on Colombia’s internal conflict. It focuses on Hezbollah’s involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms smuggling, highlighting the group’s integration into local criminal networks and its potential to destabilize regional security. Drawing on open-source intelligence, official documents, and peer-reviewed literature, the research reveals that Colombian defense policies have largely failed to recognize Hezbollah as a significant threat. This institutional blind spot endangers both national and regional stability, especially given Hezbollah’s ties to Venezuelan political actors and Colombian insurgent groups. The central research question asks to what extent Hezbollah’s presence has influenced Colombia’s national security and defense policy since 2001, and how the state has acknowledged—or neglected—this influence. The study hypothesizes that Hezbollah’s role has been consistently underestimated due to a narrow view of terrorism as an external threat. As a result, Colombia’s security strategies have remained inward-focused and insufficient to address the hybrid, transnational nature of contemporary non-state actors.