The curious case of Assad Barakat

There is a thin line between fact and fiction in discussions of the Triple Frontier, a border area between Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil that is rumored to be a Hezbollah hotspot. More than one year has passed since US President Donald Trump stood on the White House lawn and promised an answer to the “menace” of Hezbollah. The Americans have long had Hezbollah in their crosshairs, but the change in occupancy at the White House brought expectations of a change in strategy. Instead, the US has renewed its focus on disrupting alleged Hezbollah financing networks by profiling  the Shiite diaspora in Latin America. “Brazilian police arrest alleged Hezbollah financer,” read a Reuters headline on September 21. Lebanese-born businessman Assad Ahmad Barakat was taken into custody after an arrest warrant was issued against him by the Paraguayan authorities for “declaring an incorrect nationality and omitting information about loss of nationality.” Argentinean