Islamofascists in Latin America
Posted by Richard on June 8, 2005
A WorldNetDaily report on the growth of Islam in Latin America paints a chilling picture of Islamofascist terrorist group activities in the region:
Indeed, with Islamic "charities" under increasing international pressure and scrutiny to cut ties with terrorists, al-Qaida and other allied organizations are expanding operations throughout Latin America, establishing both legitimate and criminal enterprises to fund future operations.
According to U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro, almost every extremist terror group is now represented in Latin America.
Anti-terrorism experts say extremist cells tied to Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaida network are operating in Argentina, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay. …
It came as a surprise to me that Latin America is home to tens of millions of mostly Arabic Muslims. Apparently, the extremist Islamist ideologies have been making significant inroads among this population:
In the so-called Muslim triangle, where the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet, a growing number of Arab-owned businesses are being forced to identify with the Palestinian cause.
In the business town of Punte Arnes, the home of many Palestinians in touch with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, stores carry names of Palestinian communities and are decorated with the colors of the Palestinian flag.
Bus companies owned by Islamic militants are also painting vehicles with the colors of Palestine, giving the vehicles Arabic names, which leave no doubt as to their ownership.
It’s all an indication of the growing power and spread of Islamist ideology in Latin America.
And, the Islamists have been successfully converting more and more non-Muslims to Islam:
The recruitment of new followers is especially active in southern Mexico and among the indigenous Mayans who are converting by the hundreds, according to a report in Der Spiegel. …
… The government even suspects the new converts of subversive activity and has already set the secret service onto the track of the Mayan Muslims. Mexican President Vincente Fox has even gone so far as to say he fears the influence of the radical fundamentalists of al-Qaida.
The long-run implications are certainly cause for some concern, but there are more immediate dangers as well. In March, FBI Director Robert Muller testified to Congress that the FBI knows of people with Middle Eastern names who assumed Hispanic names and entered the US from Mexico:
Mueller said one route takes Middle Easterners to Brazil, where they assume false identities before entering Mexico and then crossing into the U.S. Bush administration officials have previously said al-Qaida could try to infiltrate the United States through the Mexican border.
Mueller stopped short of confirming that terrorists had entered illegally via Mexico, but said it’s believed people from countries where al-Qaida is active have done so.
Even more disturbing — Venezuela’s rabidly anti-American Socialist president may have ties to the Islamofascists:
The terrorists even get some official support in Latin America, according to sources. As WorldNetDaily reported, a Venezuelan military defector claims President Hugo Chavez developed ties to terrorist groups such as al-Qaida – even providing it with $1 million in cash after Sept. 11, 2001.
Air Force Maj. Juan Diaz Castillo, who was Chavez’s pilot, told WorldNetDaily through an interpreter that "the American people should awaken and be aware of the enemy they have just three hours’ flight from the United States."
Diaz said he was part of an operation in which Chavez gave $1 million to al-Qaida for relocation costs, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
If Diaz Castillo’s claims are true, then Chavez could be turning Venezuela into a state sponsor and sanctuary for the Islamofascists in Latin America.
So many liberals and libertarians still believe that if the US stopped "meddling" in the Middle East and quit supporting Israel, we wouldn’t be a target anymore and would have nothing to fear. They need to wake up and recognize the nature of our enemy.
Islamofascism is as much a political ideology as it is a religion. In fact, it insists that the two are one and the same. Its goal is world domination. While the anti-war crowd laughs at or shrugs off that statement, the Islamofascists are converting more and more Latin Americans to their cause.
When will the critics of US policy take Islamofascism seriously as a world-wide threat? Perhaps when this activity bears fruit:
Egyptian intelligence experts … aware of the role of Egyptian militants in the ranks of al-Qaida and the Taliban, said in 2003 that Islamic terrorists shifted their interest from training pilots in the U.S. to schools in South America, where they can study and train practically without any security agencies on their heels.
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