Cuba allegedly provided financial support

The Tupamaros began its terrorist operations under the name, National Liberation Movement.  Three years after it commenced its criminal and terrorist activities, the group took the name Tupamaros.  Like the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement in Peru and the Tupamaro Revolutionary Movement in Venezuela, the organization named itself in honor of Jose Condorcanqui, an 18th century Peruvian who called himself Tupac Amaru and claimed to be an Incan descendent.  The Incan descendent claim is dubious, and Jose Condorcanqui took the name Tupac Amaru from a 16th Century Incan king.   Regardless of the legitimacy of Jose Condorcanqui's Incan heritage, it is certain that Jose Condorcanqui led a 1780 failed revolt against Spanish rule.  He was captured and executed in 1782.  <P> In the spirit of anti-imperialism, the Marxist-leaning Uruguayan Tupamaros criticized foreign investors in Uruguay, especially those from U.S. and Brazil.  The group targeted diplomats and diplomatic facilities of both countries.  In addition, the Tupamaros criticized the corruption of Uruguayan government officials.  In the early 1970s, the Tupamaros adopted the inherently flawed strategy of offensive actions against Uruguayan security forces.  The Uruguayan military responded in force and by the end of 1973 the Tupamaros had been eliminated as a sizable terrorist threat.  Following the Tupamaros elimination, the Uruguayan military went on to rule the country for the next twelve years.

When Uruguay finally returned to civilian rule in 1985, a general amnesty was declared.  Upon their release from jail, a group of Tupamaros members re-constituted themselves as a legal political party.

Turkish Hezbollah was founded in southeastern Turkey during the early 1980's.  Its goal was the establishment of a Sunni Muslim theocracy in Turkey, which they attempted to achieve by overthrowing Turkey's secular regime. Despite the common name, Turkish Hezbollah is unrelated to the Iranian-sponsored Lebanese Hezbollah.  It is suspected that Turkish Hezbollah has also received Iranian funding and support, as Iran sought to spread its revolutionary Islamic ideology into Turkey. Initially, Turkish Hezbollah members trained with members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Turkey's main rebel Turkish group. A rivalry soon developed, and Turkish Hezbollah soon focused the bulk of its attacks on the PKK, which it accused of anti-Muslim activities. Turkish Hezbollah also focused on spreading its Islamic theology through Turkey through bookstores and publishing houses. Because the Turkish government's main counterterrorism efforts at this time were directed against the PKK, some accuse the government of supporting and funding Turkish Hezbollah as a proxy, a charge they deny. Regardless of official government complicity, their focus on combating PKK allowed Turkish Hezbollah to act without fear of government reprisal. Charges of connections to the Turkish government are furthered by the fact that from its founding until 2000, Turkish Hezbollah was not involved in any violent confrontation with Turkish police or security forces.