Last week, the Islamic Society and Latin Women hosted an event on Latin American Muslims. The event featured two Ecuadorian Americans who converted to Islam from Catholicism. The event, entitled "Latin Muslims: the Sons and Daughters of Golden Spain," focused on two seemingly different cultural groups, Muslims and Latinos, and their respective cultures. The event was attended by over 50 students. Ahson Mahfooz, vice president of the Islamic Society, served as master of ceremonies...

The number of Hispanic Americans converting to Islam is growing rapidly -- particularly in New York, California, Texas and Florida, which have the greatest concentration of Hispanic residents. Muslim leaders say interest in Islam has increased in the past few years, and they also note that Muslims and Hispanics, many of whom are immigrants, share a number of common concerns. Steve Mort reports from a mosque in Florida that has seen a steady increase in Latino worshippers. The al-Rahman mosque...

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila is an admitted Mexican drug dealer who regularly transports Marijuana and other illegal narcotics across the US-Mexico border. In February 2005, US Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who said Davila had a gun, fired on Davila and the drug dealer fled back across the border. It was later discovered that Davila had been hit, in one of his buttocks, by a bullet. The US Border Agents, not Davila, were convicted of "violating Davila's civil...

CHINO - When the sun finally sets and the fast of Ramadan ends for the day, Luqman Malik joins the faithful at the Baitul Hameed Mosque for a feast of chicken, rice, potatoes. And Mexican food. Islam is a tapestry, Imam Shamshad A. Nasir says, a religion that attracts men and women of many cultures. More Latinos are embracing the faith, said Hussam Ayloush, a Corona man who is spokesman for the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. While he has has no...

A new “popular front” has been forming that should worry every American. White Supremacist organizations have been loitering on the fringes of radical left politics for decades, but open displays of loyalty amongst such groups were considered taboo until now. It is a widely held misconception that organizations like the Aryan Nations or the Ku Klux Klan are right-wing, pro-American groups but they are not. They are dedicated to the destruction of the United States and will ally...

Editor’s Note: On September 2006, Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, in a speech at the United Nations delivered a series of personal attacks on U.S. President George W. Bush. While this is not the first instance of Chavez railing against President Bush, it is an important event, as it could signal that the covert war, originally described by Dr. Duarte on March 11, 2006 [ ] has hit a new phase. In this analysis, originally posted on 9-22-06, at , Dr. Duarte looks at the...

CIUDAD DEL ESTE, Paraguay -- For years, this region -- where the boundaries of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina converge -- has been considered a teeming stew of globalization's more unseemly byproducts. Much of the trade that crosses the borders, officials say, is illegitimate. The region is full of smuggled goods and laundered money. Now U.S. officials are launching a broad series of new measures aimed at uncovering money-laundering rings that they believe are funding Hezbollah and other...

In Venezuela, leftist president Hugo Chavez apparently plans to spend several billion dollars on rearmament. Details have been slipping out over the last year, as an increasing number of sales teams (mostly Russian), travel to Venezuela, and return boasting of splendid results. Chavez has apparently decided to get three dozen Russian helicopter, two Russian subs, and some Russian high tech jet fighters. One reason for getting mostly Russian gear, is because much Western stuff off limits if...

UNION CITY, N.J. - On a hot summer day, Stefani Perada left work for the day in West New York, N.J., and stepped outside in her long jilbab, the flowing clothes worn by many Muslim women. Meanwhile, other Latinas in the mostly Hispanic neighborhood were taking advantage of the warm day, walking around in shorts and midriff-exposing halter tops. Perada, 19, who converted to Islam just over a year ago, is still trying to become acclimated to certain customs, such as the jilbab and the hijab,...

WASHINGTON -- The Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hizballah is now the major international terrorist group active in Latin America, a senior State Department official told Congress. Coordinator for Counterterrorism Philip Wilcox Jr. testified Sept. 28 to the House Committee on International Relations, warning lawmakers that two bombings and other actions over the last three years point to Teheran as Hizballah's chief supporter. He described Hizballah's recent actions in the region, particularly...