Islam in Argentina is represented by one of Latin America's largest Muslim minorities. Although accurate statistics on religion are not available (because the national census does not solicit religious data) the actual size of Argentina 's Muslim community is estimated around 1.5% of the total population (500,000 to 600,000) Early Muslim immigration Though early Spanish and Portuguese explorers and immigrants to the New World were very familiar with Muslims and Islamic culture (due to 800...

The networks of global terrorism--both formal and informal--leave no region untouched. The Western Hemisphere is no exception, as we recently learned from the tragic events of September 11th. The Americas, from Canada to Tierra del Fuego, is a breeding ground for Islamic radical and extremist organizations that take advantage of the region's ill-equipped, and poorly trained security agencies. Canadian intelligence officials acknowledge that their country is riddled with terrorists and have...

Islamic leaders are allying with South American indigenous groups, because they see this impoverished, illiterate population, as the ideal environment for starting an extremist revolution and converting them to Islam. The process may take hundreds of years, but time means nothing to the fundamentalist. After all Allah is immortal and if Muslims waited 1300 years before invading Europe again, they can wait to convert Christians, animists and pagans. In 711 C.E. Muslims crossed the Straight of...

Marcelo Garcia / AFP/Getty Images: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, left, greets his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, last year. BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations. Linked to deadly attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina in the early 1990s, Hezbollah...

Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, U.S. attention to terrorism in Latin America has intensified, with an increase in bilateral and regional cooperation. In its April 2008 Country Reports on Terrorism, the State Department highlighted threats in Colombia and the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Cuba has remained on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1982, which triggers a number of economic sanctions. In...

Praised be Allah, Creator of the universe, peace and blessings be with the Prophet Muhammad, with his Family and with all his Companions. Praised be He who made us noble through the Coran and illumined our hearts with faith. Dear brothers and sisters: Assalamu ?Alaikum wa Rahmatullah Introduction: I am pleased to present this compact study on the muslims in Latin America, begging God Allmighty will assist me to provide an image that is clear and correct. In this study I will try, with...

With her hijab and dark complexion, Catherine Garcia doesn't look like an Orlando native or a Disney tourist. When people ask where she's from, often they are surprised that it's not the Middle East but Colombia. That's because Ms. Garcia, a bookstore clerk who immigrated to the US seven years ago, is Hispanic and Muslim. On this balmy afternoon at the start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, she is at her mosque dressed in long sleeves and a long skirt in keeping with the Islamic belief in...

Catherine Garcia enters the mosque barefoot and finds a spot on the floor. She kneels and leans forward. Palms, nose and forehead touch the ground. Her lips move, almost imperceptibly, whispering words in Arabic. Three years ago, she would have been in a Roman Catholic church, murmuring prayers with her rosary beads. Today, she invokes Allah while reciting portions of the Quran. Garcia, 33, is among an estimated 70,000 Hispanics nationwide embracing Islam, blending with apparent ease two...

National Defense University Washington, D.C. The Pew Forum co-sponsored a symposium with the National Defense University's School for National Security Executive Education on "Religion, Conflict and the Global War on Terrorism in Latin America." A panel entitled "Islam and the Global War on Terrorism in Latin America" featured Col. Curtis Connell, USAF, and Vitoria Peres of Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora/MG, Brazil. The panelists examined Islam in Latin America,...

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the possibility of al-Qaeda infiltrating Latin America became a priority for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials. However, the most publicized incidents of radical Islamist activity in Latin America have not been linked to al-Qaeda but instead to the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah, which is ideologically and politically close to Iran. These include the March 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the July 1994...