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The Arab Community in Bolivia

Latin Arabia Islam, Muslim, Opinion, Other, Politics 0 Comment
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Check out this interesting website concerning the Arab community in Bolivia:

https://comunidadarabebolivia.com/,
which translates to Arab Community Bolivia or, as English grammar would have it: Bolivian Arab Community.

The website is affiliated with the Club la Unión Árabe de Santa Cruz (The Arab Union Club), in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia.

Since 2013, the Arabs of Bolivia have been trying to form an ethnic organization around their Arab ancestry, with an emphasis on a Youth Organization.

BUT FIRST, LET’S SEE HOW BOLIVIAN ARABS DESCRIBE THEIR HISTORY

Source: https://comunidadarabebolivia.com/cultura/
(translated by Google, with some minor corrections by me)

ARAB IMMIGRATION TO BOLIVIA

The vast majority of the Arab immigrant population arrived at the beginning of the 20th century, from what are now the nations of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, followed by some Iraqi, Egyptian, Moroccan and Jordanian families; It could be said that about 80% were of Orthodox or Catholic Christian faith, while only 20% were Muslim. This, while contradicting the demographic distribution of the Arab world, has a reason: Arab ethnic-religious minorities were systematically persecuted and oppressed by the Ottoman Empire, which controlled almost the entire Middle East at that time, until World War I.

It is interesting to note that this Bolivian Arab site admits that the reason that Christian Arabs immigrated to South America was that they were being persecuted by Ottoman Turkish (Muslim) Authorities.

They seem to be in denial, blaming it all on the Turks. Yes, the Ottoman Turks discriminated against Christians; but Islamic governments discriminated against Christians before and after the Ottoman Turkish Empire ruled. The persecution was a Muslim, not just a Turkish, practice.

As noted, the demographic patterns of immigration were similar to that of other Latin American countries … heavily leaning towards Christian, even though the Arab world is majority Muslim.

According to Wikipedia, the first imam did not arrive in Bolivia until 1974, with the first mosque being built in 1994 … in Santa Cruz.

Why 1974?

Remember that OPEC launched its first Oil Embargo to protest Israel’s victory in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Source: OPEC enacts oil embargo

The Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces a decision to cut oil exports to the United States and other nations that provided military aid to Israel in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.

…

Eventually, the price of oil quadrupled, causing a major energy crisis in the United States and Europe that included price gouging, gas shortages, and rationing.

The world was thrown into a crisis, and the Arab oil states got filthy rich. They could not do this today, given America’s oil production from fracking.

By 1974, Arab Muslims felt empowered, and I suspect they sent an imam to Bolivia with the idea of introducing Islam to a country that was almost Muslim-free except for a few isolated individuals.

Source: Fox News: Bolivia Becoming a Hotbed of Islamic Extremism, Report Concludes (2009)

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.

My note: Wikipedia reports that imam Abusharar died in 2011.

Now, Santa Cruz has an Islamic Center and a mosque. And La Paz – one of Bolivia’s two capitals, the other being Sucre – has a mosque since 2004. Quite an achievement for a Muslim community that all but did not exist before 1974. The worries about foreign intrigues are well founded.

According to the Bolivian website, there are 70,000 Bolivians of Arab descent.

Source: https://comunidadarabebolivia.com/cultura/
(translated by Google, with some minor corrections by me)

[W]e can estimate with a reasonable error that there are approximately 70,000 Arab descendants living in Bolivia.

Yet, for all of this, Bolivia still has very few Muslims today (around 2,000), which is not that much out of a Bolivian population of approximately 12 million. Roughly 1 in 6,000.

Nor is it much out of the 70,000 Arab-Bolivians (only about 3% of Arab-Bolivians). It is safe to assume that the Muslim presence was far, far less in the 1970’s, as there seemed to be no Muslim institutions in Bolivia at all prior to that time.

Most of the Muslims who did immigrate to Bolivia, prior to the 1970’s, either converted or their children did. The Arab community in Bolivia was – and still is – almost totally Christian.

Source: https://comunidadarabebolivia.com/cultura/
(translated by Google, with some minor corrections by me)

Regarding religion, although the majority [of the Arab immigrants] were Orthodox or Catholic Christians, plus a few Muslims, practically all would end up converting to Roman Apostolic Catholicism sooner or later, in the absence of other centers of Christian sects in Bolivia, at that time.

Below is a picture of the Islamic Center built in Santa Cruz (Click). It was founded in 1986, and I suspect it has some connection to Club la Unión Árabe de Santa Cruz which seems to have built the website.


Santa Cruz – Islamic Center
The image was taken in 2014.

It seems that the Islamic Center was probably subsidized by Islamic interests. Had it not been subsidized, I suspect Islam would have never risen above the presence of a few isolated individuals and visiting businessmen. According to Wikipedia, most of those associated with the Bolivian Islamic Center are immigrants. From that, we can assume that apart from the Islamic Center, any new Arab immigrants to Bolivia would have repeated the past example of conversion to Christianity.

Putting it all together, it follows that the Islamic Center was set up to subsidize an infusion of Islam into Bolivia, possibly extremist Islam.

We can infer that while Arabs are a glorious presence in Bolivia, Islam is an unnatural intrusion, subsidized by outside interests.

But let’s break from that, and finish up with standard Arab Bolivians, who are almost always Christian.

Chile’s ArabTV talked with some Arab Bolivians.


About Arab-Bolivians, but broadcast on Chile’s ArabTV.
posted on YouTube: September 8, 2020

This is in Spanish, but it there is an option to have it translated to English.

Arabs Are Still Seeking Refuge in Argentina

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Arabs Are Still Seeking Refuge in Argentina


Posted on YouTube: December 16, 2020

The video is in Arabic, but what is clear is that Arabs still seek to go to South America (this video concerns Argentina).

The difference with the past is that former Arab immigrants to South America tended to be Christian. Now, they tend to be Muslim.

In the past, when the Catholic Church was stronger, the occasional Muslim immigrant would not have been much of a problem, as there was social pressure to convert. Those Muslims who went to South America in the past ended up either converting or intermarrying – with the result that their children were baptized Catholic.

Today, in some countries – such as Chile and Brazil – the Evangelical Christian community is so powerful and growing that the function of conversion would be handled by Evangelicals. The effect would be the same: The children of Muslims would become Christian.

So Muslim immigrants would not pose much of a danger to South American culture … provided that there is NOT too many of them.

My own opinion is that South America could easily handle a pulse immigration of Arabs if the numbers are kept within reason – that is to say, kept under 1% of the population, and not allowed to concentrate in Islamic barrios. One would want to avoid creating heavily Arabized banlieues [neighborhoods] as is seen in France. Such concentrations prevent assimilation.

While the situation in France is worrisome, one must remember that France is about 8% Muslim, while I am suggesting that Muslims be kept only around 1% in any Latin American country, and not be allowed to concentrate in neighborhoods. If the immigrants are spread out, the children of Muslim immigrants would quickly assimilate. This has been the case in Latin America. Arabs are Latinized quickly.

Now, Argentina is “officially” roughly 1% Muslim already, but the numbers are exaggerated. In reality, very few are practicing Muslims. So a decent number of Arabs could be allowed in, as long as the stress is placed on assimilation.


(The video is set to the right time.) This imam admits that the official figure
of half a million Muslims in Argentina is ridiculous.
Argentina assimilates/converts Muslims very well.
Posted on YouTube: September 22, 2015

Source: (Video above)

From the late 19th century and early 20th century, there should be about half a million Muslims in Argentina. But now there is not even five to seven thousand Muslims who call themselves Muslim.

WOW! DID YOU HEAR THAT? LATIN AMERICA CONVERTS MUSLIMS.

So, despite the official figures, in reality, Islam in Argentina all but died out. That is how successful Argentine assimilation was. Yes, there are looney converts to Islam, but they are insignificant. While Argentina claims a half-million Muslims, 99% of them either converted to Christianity or are totally non-practicing Muslims.

If you want to see who really is making converts in Argentina, look to Evangelical Christians. Evangelicals are now 15% of the population and growing rapidly.

In fact, in Argentina, as is shown in a 2015 survey (see page 16), at that time, there were 2,200 converts to Protestant Christianity from Islam. That imam is in for a shock. He won’t make too many converts, but a lot of Muslims may become Evangelical.

Islam has no answer to street preaching.

Rather and instead, any newer Muslim immigrants to Argentina would be assisted by a lot of Christian-Arab-Latinos who have been in South America for generations, and who have assimilated successfully.

The story of Graciela [also known as Grace] Spinelli is typical.

DFI Film Review: Beirut Buenos Aires Beirut

When she was 15 watching TV and asking about the Muslim call for prayer, Argentinian Graciela discovered her Arab, Lebanese and Muslim roots.

Years later, she decides to return to Lebanon in search of her great grandfather’s family tree, reconnecting with her lost ancestors and a land she ignores but still belongs to.

[My note: After the trip to Lebanon, Graciela returned to Argentina, and became an actress and producer in Latin movies, sometimes under the name of Grace.]

Of course, Graciela’s family tree also included some Italian, Spanish, and Irish, to the point where she had no idea that her great-grandfather had been a Lebanese Muslim. Below is a documentary (a shortened version) of her discovery.


A shortened version of a documentary about a Catholic Argentine woman
was shocked to find out that one of her ancestors was a Muslim.

Graciela Spinelli’s family was all too typical. Her great-grandfather, a Lebanese Muslim, married a Catholic Argentine woman. So Graciela Spinelli’s great-grandmother had the children baptized Catholic, behind her husband’s back (set to right time in video). Graciela had to find this out from her great aunt.

The children of Muslims integrated and Christianized successfully in South America. In Graciela’s case, all too successfully, because she had no idea of who was in her family tree.

While, I am not advocating that anyone forget their ancestors, the documentary does show that the children of Arab Muslims can be well integrated in Latin America.

New Arab Muslim immigrants would interface with these earlier Christian-Arab-Latinos, and would discover the wisdom of embracing the dominant Christian culture.

The Hogar Árabe Argentino de Berisso [Argentine-Arab Home of Berisso] is an Arab Cultural Society in Berisso (a suburb of Buenos Aires), and is a shining example. It is 100 year old, and helps Arabs in Argentina assimilate, while maintaining pride in their heritage.

The chief difference with the past is that a century ago the Muslim children became Catholic. Today, they might become Bautista (Baptist) or Pentecostalista (Pentecostal).

However, preference should be given to Palestinian immigrants, so as to quiet down the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Perhaps Argentina could be persuaded to take in some of those Palestinians … and who knows … maybe they could be directed to an iglesia bautista (Baptist Church).

I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH

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I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH


Posted on YouTube: May 12, 2019

There is no solution to the Palestinian/Israel conflict in the Mideast. However, individuals may be saved out of it.

For over a century, Chile has been a magnet for Palestinians, and the Palestinians have succeeded mightily in Chile, rising to be elites.

The Arabs know this. If you know how to search on Google, you will see how many Palestinians would love to immigrate to Chile.


Posted on YouTube: September 27, 2016

Chile has almost 19 Million people. About 99%+ are Christian.

Islam is less than one-tenth of one percent of the population.

If Chile were to take in 100,000 Palestinians (who would be mostly Muslim), the total Muslims in Chile would still be roughly one-half of one percent of the population.

They would be clearly assimilable.

WOULD CHILE AGREE TO IT?

If each Muslim came in with $100,000 US, they would have enough to set themselves up in business, and have a nice life.

A family of five would have half-a-million dollars. Enough for a car, a house, and a business.

The total would be $10 Billion.

This is doable.

WOULD IT BRING PEACE TO THE MIDEAST?

NO!

But every little bit help!

Muslim Gauchos?!

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gaucho silhouette

La Angelita is just Spanish for “The Little Angel,” and is an ironic name for a town which is so heavily Muslim.

The town is about 170 miles slightly northeast of Buenos Aires, on the Pampas, in what would be called a sort-of-subtropical climate, similar to interior South Carolina. It is in the Buenos Aires Province (Not to be confused with the city — sort of similar to New York State vs. New York City).

At one time, La Angelita was 70% Muslim, but is now only 40%.

Argentina’s government has labeled La Angelita an “Authentic Town” – an official designation – because it is a real frontier outpost, nothing fake about it. It has been nicknamed a “Little Syria.”

Source: Clarin
Translated with help of an app
March 11, 2018

In 1910, the first immigrants from Italy and Spain began to arrive first, and from Syria and Lebanon later, to these lands that were donated by Doña María Unzué de Alvear, a wealthy woman, owner of thousands of hectares of land. fertile, perhaps the richest and most valuable for cultivation in Argentina. Newly arrived and gathered in the immense Pampas plains, Europeans, Syrians and Lebanese would begin to work the fields and then receive more immigrants who would travel in search of a prosperous future in the long-awaited America. More came in the 1920s, in the coming years as well, and the largest Muslim Arab colony in the entire country was formed in La Angelita .

In the 1970s, the percentage of Muslims in the town peaked around 70%, but it dropped, and today it is around 40%. Still it is Muslim enough that the town has a loudspeaker which calls the Muslim faithful to prayers.


Posted on YouTube: November 16, 2016
You can set the video to auto-translate to English

The density of the Muslim population in La Angelita is such that the Muslims were able to keep many of their traditions from Syria. However, they do have Christian neighbors, and so the Arabs have assimilated enough to be called “Muslim gauchos.”

And the term is well earned. One could drive through it and it would look like a gaucho outpost. The local farmers even dress like gauchos. Indeed, it almost looks like a town in the rural South of the United States … well, except for the Muslim call to prayers.

Today, the town is majority Christian – of Italian and Spanish extraction, the usual Argentine mix, but everyone seems to get along well.

NOTE: Argentina was founded by Spaniards, and they speak Spanish, but the largest ethnic group may be Italians. Hence, people of mixed Italian-Spanish backgrounds are very, common.


Posted on YouTube: May 13, 2019
The town fair – There is an auto-translate to English option.

However, the town’s population has decreased in the past few decades, for the same reason that rural spaces are losing population throughout the world. Lack of employment. Better opportunities in the cities.

What distinguishes La Angelita is that the Arabs in town have managed to maintain their Muslim faith … which is rather difficult in Argentina … and which makes it a bit of a tourist attraction.

Yes, tourists go to see the Muslims.

But such visitors might be disappointed. Apart from festivals, the food/Arab restaurant, and the mosque, the Muslims would usually look like … typical Argentina farmers. They speak Spanish, though the Muslims do have classes to teach their children Arabic as a second language.

Source: Clarin
Translated by Google
March 11, 2018

Among Marta Pepe’s [Arabic class] students is Martina, a 15-year-old teenager with deep green eyes, a white complexion and a shy smile; She is the daughter of an Arab father and a Catholic mother converted to Islam. Her parents decided that she herself should choose which religion to follow, it seemed fair to them. And she, along with her brothers, chose Islam: she reads the Koran, takes language classes and fasts in the month of Ramadan.

If the Clarin article (above) speaks of a conversion from Catholicism to Islam, be aware that this does happen, as this next video will attest.

HOWEVER, IN THE OVERALL, ISLAM HAS NEARLY DIED OFF IN ARGENTINA!


September 22, 2015

The imam (above) will talk about growing Islam in Argentina, but admits the truth starting at (0:52) … which is that … Islam has nearly totally collapsed in Argentina. The reality is that, in spite of a few recent converts to Islam, the numbers are embarrassingly low. Most Muslims drift away … marry a Christian … and that is the end of it.

The next article also hints at the reality, though more cautiously.

Source: Springer
12 July 2017

There is no firm conclusion on the current number of Muslims in Argentina. Estimates range from 50,000 all the way to 900,000. The Center of Higher Islamic Studies places the number at around 450,000. Beyond the actual numbers, there is also a question of whether Islam is growing or decreasing.

My own research indicates that the Muslim authorities often exaggerate their own numbers. Part of the reason for this collapse of Islam is the lack of cultural support for Islam in Argentina. The government does not persecute Muslims, but Argentina has no internal Muslim support structure, so Islam dies on the vine.

Islam thrives in La Angelita because of a strong community, but those young who leave the town will probably drift away. There is little Islamic literature in Spanish, and hence it is easy for a Muslim to convert or marry in to Catholicism.

The Muslim authorities will trot out those local Argentines who have converted to Islam – one wonders how long before these “converts” return to Christianity – but they often ignore those Muslims who have gone in the other direction: converting out of Islam. These former Muslims are kept on membership rolls, though, which distorts the statistics.

The Argentine academics, Pedro Brieger and Enrique Herszkowich, have estimated very low numbers for practicing Muslims in Argentina. In fact, Brieger’s figures are very close to the low figures admitted by the imam in the video (above).

Source: The Muslim Community of Argentina
Spring 2002

Assuming four people per family, a realistic guess for the Muslim population of Buenos Aires might be around 4,500, far fewer than the number projected by some Muslim officials.

What is interesting is that even though Pedro Brieger and Enrique Herszkowich estimated that low number in 2002, the Muslim imam – in the video (above) – which was posted in 2015 – gives the impression that the number of Muslims in Argentina has not grown.

Since most Muslims in Argentina would be expected to be in metropolitan Buenos Aires, one could estimate that practicing Muslims in Argentina are less than 10,000 – very small for a metropolitan area of 15 million.

Yet, the Muslim officials in Argentina estimate around one million Muslims in the country. What an exaggeration?!

On paper, Argentina may officially be 1-2% Muslim. In reality, the number is much, much lower, and Islam is a paper tiger in Argentina … at this moment.

This pattern is repeated throughout South America. On paper, Islam is growing in South America. Yes, there are converts to Islam. In reality, the attrition rate is enormous – yet, the Muslim authorities never adjust their figures.

SHOULD THE WEST BE WORRIED?!

The historic truth is that Islam was created in violence and can only prosper in violence. Where there is no social, cultural, or political force to impose Islam, it will deteriorate. Islam survives so well in the Mideast because there are violent penalties for apostasy from Islam.

In South America, the culture is Christian. Islam does not know how to resist street preaching apart from killing the messenger. In South America, that option is not available to them. So, Islam will slowly evaporate membership to Christianity over time – to Catholicism, due to social pressure, or to Evangelical Christianity, due to genuine conversion.

Yes, the imams will haul out ten or twenty converts … SO WHAT?! They won’t tell you about the much larger numbers who leave.

HERE IS WHERE THE REAL GROWTH OF RELIGION IS … IN ARGENTINA!

Source: Evangelical Focus
25 NOVEMBER 2019

[T]he number of people who identified as evangelical Christians in Argentina increased from 9% in 2008 to 15.3% in 2019.

How many of these new Evangelical Christians came from Muslim backgrounds? Only God knows.

To be blunt, Islam has no answer to Christian street preaching – which is growing in Argentina.


Posted on YouTube: January 12, 2020
Plaza de San Martin, Buenos Aires

The answer to Islam in South America is … Christ!

In South America, Christ is winning, only the politically correct media do not want to admit it. They would prefer to roll out some recently converted Islamic bogeymen.

If Islam in South America terrifies you, then donate to some Christian ministry which operates on the continent.

As for La Angelita … I find it interesting and fascinating that it has maintained its Arab ways … but the town is shrinking and – interesting though the town may be – Islam is not helping it. La Angelita is a tourist trap precisely because it is so unusual. It is not typical.

In plain terms, the townspeople should keep the recipes, keep the music, even learn Arabic as a second language if they want; but La Angelita’s Muslims should leave Islam.

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