Bolivia Becoming a Hotbed of Islamic Extremism

In regards to the Islamic situation things are getting worse by the day. We are having endless problems within the USA with Muslims, and now we are slowly being surrounded by Islamists. Recently we had Dictator Obama release some Gitmo guys in Bermuda and now a new report states that even though there are only 1000 Muslims out of almost 10 million people in Bolivia, they are certainly making their presence felt.

Bolivia Becoming a Hotbed of Islamic Extremism, Report Concludes
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
By Nora Zimmett

A poor, agrarian, landlocked country in South America with a nearly 100 percent Christian population is hardly the place one would expect to become a hotbed of Islamic extremism in the Western Hemisphere.

But a recent report by the Open Source Center (OSC) of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence says it's so.

There are only 1,000 Muslims in Bolivia, a country of 9.7 million people, but the connection between some of the community’s religious leaders and Iran — as well as with fundamentalist factions in the Palestinian territories — has U.S. officials and terror experts keeping a watchful eye on them.

The report revealed a number of Muslim organizations in Bolivia whose leaders have publicly denounced U.S. foreign policy and have direct associations with extremists in the Middle East.

“There’s a theory that they may believe — Latin America, particularly with its Leftist leanings in recent years, may be more receptive to the anti-American-type rhetoric that we’ve been accustomed to hearing from Iran,” said a U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

One Muslim leader named in the OSC report is Mahmud Amer Abusharar, founder of the Centro Islamico Boliviano (CIB) in Santa Cruz. Abusharar emigrated from the Palestinian territories in 1974 and claims to have built Bolivia’s first mosque in 1994 so that he would not lose touch with his religion.

But public statements by Abusharar and other members of his mosque reveal clear anti-US sentiments. In a 2007 interview with a local Bolivian university, Abusharar told a student that he didn’t know Muslims in jail who weren’t there “especially due to the United States’ influence in Bolivian politics.” The CIB’s Web site also posts an article by its administrative director, Isa Amer Quevedo, that rebukes the U.S. for launching an attack on the Taliban after 9/11, stating: “Today we see the U.S. declaring armed Jihad against terrorism. They aim their bombs at UBL and Afghanistan, whom they financed and trained.”

The CIB is also the Bolivian headquarters for the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi-based major fundraiser for the Muslim community. According to U.S. State Department documents, one of its regional offices in Northern Virginia was raided by the FBI in connection with terrorist activities in 2004.

Another Muslim leader in Bolivia, Husayn Salgueiro, is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian government and a known critic of Israel. While there are no public records of Salgueiro speaking out against the U.S., a local news interview earlier this year shows him urging Palestinians to continue their armed struggle against the Israeli people.

Other leaders of Islamic groups in Bolivia, according to the OCS report, have shown evidence of sympathies with Islamic radicals. Fayez Rajab Khedeer Kannan, leader of the Asociacion Cultural Boliviana Musulmana (ACBM), has openly praised Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and asked the wealthy Islamic organization, The Libyan International Center for Studies and Research of the Green Book, to heighten its missionary efforts in Bolivia. Roberto “Yusuf” Chambi Calle, president of the Fundacion Cultural Islamica Boliviana (FCIB) is friendly with a possible associate of Moshen Rabbani, a known Iranian terrorist and the former director of a Buenos Aires mosque.

SNIP

Latin America has already seen the influence of Muslim extremists. In 1994, Hezbollah — the Islamic terror organization based in Lebanon — bombed the Argentine-Jewish Mutual Association in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding many more. Moshen Rabbani was believed to be one of the main operatives. In 1992, Hezbollah bombed Argentina’s Israeli embassy, killing 29.

SNIP

“It’s about anti-Americanism,” Mr. Walser told FOXNews.com. “It’s about, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

SNIP

“The goal of the revolution is not just for Iran, but they feel an obligation to spread it,” the U.S. intelligence official told Foxnews.com. “So we see their outreach as not just an economic one, but also a cultural one. Now, is there potential that that could be capitalized by some other for some more nefarious purposes? There’s a lot of possibilities out there.”

Link to Article