General: Islamists find Latin America funds - fastest-growing religion in Latin America

Latin America is becoming a major fundraising base for radical Islamic groups in the Middle East, which are getting between $300 million and $500 million a year from various criminal networks in the region, a top U.S. military commander told The Herald.

Gen. James T. Hill, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military relations in Latin America, said much of this money comes from drug trafficking, arms dealing and other illegal activities. He said the funds are sent abroad from several Latin American areas with large Middle Eastern populations, such as the triple frontier between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, and Margarita island off the coast of Venezuela.

''The fastest-growing religion in Latin America today is Islam,'' Gen. Hill said during an interview at his office. ``We think that there are between 3 and 6 million people of Middle Eastern descent in Latin America. There are radical Islamic groups associated with that population that are using it to create lots of money for their organizations.''

Hill said that about ``$300 million to $500 million a year, easily, goes [from Latin America] to groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Gamaat.''

Only in Paraguay, news reports in December said the government was investigating suspicious transfers of more than $100 million into Lebanon, he added.

While U.S. officials have long pointed at large flows of money from Middle Eastern population enclaves in Latin American to Islamic radical groups, they had been reluctant to provide specific estimates. Monday, at a conference on ''Building Regional Security'' organized by the University of Miami's North-South Center, Hill had put the figure at ''hundreds of millions of dollars,'' but did not elaborate further.

At the conference, attended by military officers from several Latin American countries, Hill had called for ''increased coordination'' among armed forces to fight narco-terrorism, conduct disaster relief operations, and to help stop the flow of money to international terrorist groups. Many Latin American countries are cautious about discussing security agreements with the United States, fearing they could lead to U.S. interventions in the region.

In an apparent response to such fears, Hill told The Herald that he sees no need to create a multinational military force against narco-terrorism. ''I don't see that happening,'' he said, adding that the 34-country Organization of American States has enough mechanisms to allow a collective fight against international criminal groups.

Asked whether Latin American governments are cooperating with U.S. authorities in the fight against Islamic terrorist groups, he said, ``To varying degrees, different governments are.''

He said Paraguay, in particular, has offered ''a lot of support'' over the past two years.

But Hill played down speculation that there may be al Qaeda terrorist cells or other radical Islamic groups' training bases in Latin America. He said he wouldn't be surprised if they existed, but there isn't enough evidence to say they do.

Emilio Viano, a terrorism expert at American University in Washington, said he is not surprised by Hill's assertions that hundreds of millions of dollars are going from Latin America to radical Islamic groups. But he added that in some cases, such as that of the ''triple frontier,'' increased international scrutiny after the Sept. 11 attacks has made it harder for terrorist groups to launder money there.

''Pressure is being put on Paraguay,'' Viano said. ``The activities have diminished there, but not disappeared.''

Some experts, however, are skeptical about the new estimates of Islamic groups' fundraising in Latin America.

Eduardo Gamarra, director of Florida International University's Latin American and Caribbean Center, called the estimates ``absolutely ridiculous.''

''A lot of figures have been bouncing around, but in the last year I've been looking at these particular issues, and most of what I found was speculation,'' he said.

Anti-Chavez leader gives the slip- CASTRO stocks CHAVEZ'S state-run stores *** CARACAS, Venezuela -- Secret police swooped in on an anti-government demonstration Saturday in a failed attempt to arrest a national strike leader who emerged from hiding to address the rally. The police fired shots into the air and launched tear gas canisters to disperse anti-government protesters, who smashed police vehicle windows with sticks and stones, the television station Globovision reported. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests. Police rushed to the rally trying to seize former oil executive Juan Fernandez, one of several leaders of a failed two-month general strike aiming to force President Hugo Chavez's resignation or early elections. The strike ended Feb. 4.

Fernandez warned Chavez to "pack his bag because we are going to get rid of him" and then was whisked away by supporters as protesters applauded wildly. Thousands of protesters waving placards reading "No to judicial terrorism!" blocked a Caracas highway to demand justice in Venezuela and show support for opposition leaders. One of the leaders, businessman Carlos Fernandez, is under house arrest, and several others are in hiding. At an International Women's Day event Saturday, Chavez accused his foes of committing high-profile crimes -- including last month's bombing of Colombian and Spanish diplomatic missions in Caracas -- in an attempt to smear his government. No one has been arrested for the blasts.

"By God and my mother, there will be justice!" Chavez roared. ***

*** As the protesters gathered, Chavez told a meeting of supporters in a Caracas theater that Venezuela had received donations of sugar and beans from communist Cuba to help his government fight food shortages caused by the recent strike. Chavez thanked his political ally and friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro, for the cargoes of 10,000 tonnes of sugar and 5,000 tonnes of black beans. He said these were being sold cheaply to the poor in the government's food program. "The Cubans gave up 10 million kilos (10,000 tonnes) of sugar from their own reserves ... they didn't want to accept payment, they said we could pay for them whenever we could," the president said. Cuba receives oil from Venezuela on preferential terms under a bilateral energy deal.

Chavez's opponents, who include private business leaders, union bosses and dissident military officers, accuse him of ruining the economy with his anti-capitalist rhetoric and left-wing, statist economic policies. They say he is trying to recreate Cuban-style communism in Venezuela. The president condemns his opponents as a rich, resentful "oligarchy" opposed to his self-styled "revolution."

Chavez announced the creation of a state-run network of shops which would sell cheap food to the poor. The idea appeared to be a replica of a similar system existing in Cuba. ***

A Matter of Faith: Islam is Fastest-Growing Religion in the U.S.

Abdullah Yusuf, center, prays at the Masjid As-Salam in Sacramento
on Friday. Yusuf says he was raised Catholic but converted to Islam
because he liked the teachings of the Qur'an.
Latino Muslims
In April, California State University, Sacramento, hosted a forum on the "Islamic Presence in Latin America" before and after Columbus. One of the speakers, Salvadoran-born AbdulHadi Bazurto (President of Latin American Muslim Unity), said the more he examined his roots, the more he questioned the validity of Catholicism in his life. "Since the day the Spanish arrived, we as people have suffered a lot," he said. "Christianity's 'white God' concept was harmful to our people, who were definitely not white."
Another speaker, Daniel Denton, a Stockton elementary school teacher who was born in Mexico, said he was a hard-drinking veteran of the Gulf War when he began to explore Islam in 1994. At the invitation of Muslims at Delta College, he went to a mosque. "There was a carpet on the floor, and the walls were bare. I wondered, 'Where is everything?' and then I realized that was everything. If you go to a Catholic church, every few feet they have an image or a statue, but in Islam, there is no association between God and any image."
Denton also was impressed by the Islamic belief that each individual will be judged by their deeds on Judgment Day. That night, he took the shahada, the Muslim vow that says "There is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."
When he started fasting for Ramadan, "I heard my relatives in Stockton were calling my mom in San Diego and telling her I had become a terrorist and was doing drugs," Denton said. "When I went down to San Diego toward the end of Ramadan, I had lost 15 pounds and was starting to grow my beard. My mom was just in tears for days."
But, Denton said, his mother soon realized that instead of partying, he was staying home and talking to her as he had never done before.
"As she began to see the change, she came to accept it, and now she's happy. There's a saying in Islam that goes, 'Heaven lies at the feet of the mother. You have to treat her well at all times, take care of her.' "
Denton, 29, sees similarities between Islamic and Latino culture. "I've noticed that if you take away the crosses, the alcohol and the pork, the smells in my house are similar to Muslim homes..."
Link to article HERE.
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California State University, Sacramento, hosted a forum on the "Islamic Presence in Latin America" before and after Columbus. One of the speakers, Salvadoran-born AbdulHadi Bazurto (President of Latin American Muslim Unity), said the more he examined his roots, the more he questioned the validity of Catholicism in his life. "Since the day the Spanish arrived, we as people have suffered a lot," he said. "Christianity's 'white God' concept was harmful to our people, who were definitely not white."
Our tax dollars at work.
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