Iranian Islamization In Central and South America

The recent slaughter in Orlando leaves many citizens acutely aware of the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism, however, many Americans have never heard about Iran’s Islamic proselytization efforts in Central and South America.

“ …The Iranian regime, for 3½ decades and counting, has been … exporting its revolutionary ideals to your own backyard in Latin America,” Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi explained during a panel discussion about Israel at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority Conference.”

During his address, Ottolenghi, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, mentioned that “ … they have a publishing house that produces texts on Islam in Spanish,” with “a book denying the Holocaust” representing the singular book he could locate by that publisher that did not specifically focus on the Islamic religion.

Ottolenghi asserted that, “ … One of the key promoters of intolerance and radicalism in the middle east is the Islamic Republic of Iran — a country that is predicated upon the export of the Islamic revolution … It is an expansionist, radical, revolutionary, religious ideology that seeks to, in the course of time, come to dominate the world.”

Elaborating on Iran’s endeavors to Islamize Central and South America, Ottolenghi noted, “From Tijuana at the Mexican-U.S. border where Iran has established a center for the diffusion and spread of Islam, all the way to southern Argentina, the Iranians are aggressively promoting their own version of Islam in Latin America and they are using the cover of religious freedom … the claim for tolerance, in order to indoctrinate and radicalize Muslim communities that live south of the Mexican-U.S. border … and also to convert Christians in Latin America, and they’re doing so with considerable success.”

In his article “Hezbollah: Iran’s Henchmen in Brazil,” Dr. Ottolenghi writes about this Iranian infiltration, “ … beneath the veneer of piety, outreach and interfaith dialogue, Tehran leverages connections with anti-American regimes and movements to gain a foothold in the region, and to indoctrinate local Muslims in its brand of revolutionary Islam. Rather than relying on the traditional tools of statecraft, Iran advances its agenda with mosques and missionaries.”

This situation combined with inadequate border security threatens the safety of American citizens. Dr. Ottolenghi warns in his article that these Islamic Latinos could attack the United States: “ … the Latin American targets of Iran’s anti-American indoctrination could one day draw the logical conclusion from their education that striking the ‘Great Satan’ itself is no less than God’s will.”

The Orlando attack highlights the relevance of the information relayed by Dr. Ottolenghi. But even as the media laser-focus on terrorism in the coming weeks, they will likely underreport this information, leaving the majority of the public in a state of ignorance.

Alex Nitzberg is an intern at the American Journalism Center at Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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