Islam

Was a Bolivian Leader Right?

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Was a Bolivian Leader Right?

With this story, we will have to start about sixteen years ago.

Scaremongering About Bolivia and Islam
CounterPunch
Devin Beaulieu
September 4, 2009

Jose Brechner, who has warned of the dangers of Islamic radicalism in Bolivia even prior to Evo Morales’ election, is instructive on this point. Brechner is a Bolivian journalist and political commentator who writes for various Latin American news journals and magazines and was a founder of the rightwing Nationalist Democratic Action party, the now defunct political organization of former US backed Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer. As in the March 2009 opinion “Bolivia, Israel, and the Muslims” , he describes the threat in unabashed xenophobic terms.

“There is fear in Bolivia, and a lot of it, because those who do not know the frantic Indians do not know terror. The closest to the Bolivian altiplano indigenous are the hordes of Muslim fanatics.

(Read More)

MY NOTE: Counterpunch is a leftist journal, and writes with a slant.

In reality, Hugo Banzer was more than a dictator, and Banzer was democratically elected to his last term of office.

While José Brechner is right wing, there is no indication that José Brechner is anti-democratic. Rather his history is one of commitment to democracy. But, he does not mince words about the semi-anarchial state of Bolivian politics, where pre-Christian practices still linger among the indigenous population, which constitutes a massive demographic among the electorate. The problem is not their race, but their practices.

Finally, the Nationalist Democratic Action was split into competing factions, with Brechner in the more democratic wing.

Here is the article by José Brechner, which was cited by CounterPunch: Bolivia, Israel, and the Muslims. What Brechner was afraid of is that Islam might make inroads with the indigenous population. He claimed the indigenous were naïve, that they might fall for Islam.

He obviously considered some of the native peoples to be uncivilized, savage, and a fertile ground for Islamic indoctrination. Essentially, he was afraid that the Bolivian Indians might be induced to go on the warpath, or in this case: jihad.

Definitely, not woke; but was he right?

Bolivia, Israel, and the Muslims
Bolivia, Israel, and the Muslims
José Brechner “Corrección Política Cero”
Jose Brechner
February 3, 2009

November last, [Evo Morales’] closest and most loyal followers, the bloodthirsty indians from Achacachi—a town close to La Paz–, after brutally beating up a group of 11 men and women between the ages of 40 and 60 that were visiting the place, were burnt alive until nine of them died. They accused them of theft, but they did not prove their crime.

…

Muslims want to settle in South America, and there is no better place than Bolivia to start the Islamic indoctrination, where they enjoy a numerous, naïve indigenous population, with no religious conviction.

(Read more)

Fox News also picked up the story.

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

Fox News
Nora Zimmett
Updated: May 16, 2015

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 had once reported that imam Abusharar died in 2011, but the citation was removed.

Yet, at the time of this post (2025), Wikipedia claims that Bolivia has only 2000 Muslims, less than .017% of the population.

This does not sound like a cause for panic.

Was it all smoke and mirrors … much ado about nothing?

José Brechner is Jewish, the Bolivian-born son of Holocaust survivors. Was he allowing his Jewish, and Zionist, sympathies to overwhelm his judgment?

Well, not exactly. As noted, on this website, and elsewhere (the ADL), Iran actively seeks to propagandize South America, with the help of Venezuela.

And then came this stunner, in 2023.

IRAN-BOLIVIA MILITARY COOPERATION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE SECURITY OF THE REGION?
Instituto Analisi Relazioni Internazionali (IARI)
Daniel Andrés Birchner
August 10, 2023

On July 20, the Defense Ministers of Iran and Bolivia (Brigadier General Mohammed Reza Ashtiani and Edmundo Novillo Aguilar, respectively) signed a Defense Agreement, in which Tehran commits to the sale of various military systems to La Paz. The intention declared by the Andean country consists of reinforcing its surveillance power on the borders, specifically north and south, where a large part of drug trafficking circulates. However, several states in the region expressed their disagreement with the treaty, alleging that it implies a possible threat to security.

(Read More)

Bolivia is one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere, and it is landlocked. Why in the world would Iran even consider a military deal with it, unless Islamic infiltration were in mind.

It is starting to look like José Brechner might have been prescient after all.

Bolivia was steered to the left by Evo Marales, a socialist leader; and while Morales is out of power, and has just been indicted, the socialists still control politics in Bolivia.

However, even though Israel has given the Iranians a beating in 2024, the ayatollahs’ rule over Iran is still not finished, yet. And caution is in order, not only in the Mideast, but in Latin America.

José Brechner was right all along.

An even more fundamental question is why Islam and socialism partner so well.

Muslims in Mexico?

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Muslims in Mexico?

I have my suspicions regarding this video below.


Posted on YouTube: February 20, 2023
(The video can be auto-translated)

According to Wikipedia, Mexico is less than 1/10th of 1% Muslim.

Source: Islam in Mexico

Mexico is a predominantly Christian country, with adherents of Islam representing a small minority. Due to the secular nature of the state established by Mexico’s constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. The country has a population of around 126 million as of 2020 census and according to the Pew Research Center, the Muslim population was 60,000 in 1980, 111,000 in 2010, and is predicted to be 126,000 in 2030; however, according to the 2010 National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) census, there were only 2,500 individuals who identified Islam as their religion. Most Muslims are foreign nationals and the majority are Sunni.

…

(Read More)

Notice that the official numbers were much lower than the claimed numbers. Most of the Muslims were foreign nationals.

Yet, Mexico may have over a million Lebanese (almost all of whom are Christian),

What we see here is the all too common phenomena of Muslims exaggerating their numbers. Those few Muslims in Mexico may be temporary converts who will become Evangelical or revert to Catholicism in the following year. Mexico, like much of Latin America is in the midst of an Evangelical Revival. Evangelicals may not be growing as rapidly in Mexico as in the other Latin American countries, but they are still growing.

The thing to remember is that, while the Muslim population in Mexico is miniscule, the Arab-Mexican (Christian) population is very large, in the millions. And the Arab-Mexican Christians are significant. Think of Carlos Slim and Salma Hayek. Getting figures for them is unreliable, however, because a lot of them have moved to the United States.

In the case of Islam, practically speaking, Mexico has almost no Muslims. There are exceptions.

Argentina Differs From Chile Concerning Israel

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Argentina Differs From Chile Concerning Israel

Chile is turning against Israel, thanks to a left-wing government, with a left wing president, Gabriel Boric, with a powerful Palestinian-Chilean community.

However, Argentina has just elected a center-right politician, Javier Milei, who is thoroughly fascinated with both Israel and Judaism.

Presidente Milei supports Israel.

So let’s go over some basics.

– There are 46 million Argentines.

– There are roughly 4 million Argentines with a degree of Arab ancestry. However, many of them are attenuated in their Arabness, being only one-half, one-quarter, one-eighth Arab, and so on.

– Most of the Arab-Argentines are Christian. They were descended from Syrians and Lebanese whose ancestors fled Muslim tyranny. These Lebanese and Syrian Arab Christians did not often have an anti-Israel prejudice, per se, as they often view the Mideast through a Christian vs. Muslim lens. Whereas Chile’s Arab tend to be Palestinians, who, even though mostly Christian, are hostile to Israel.

– Contrary to official statistics. the few Muslims who made it to Argentina, tended to convert, marry out, or lapse in their Islamic observance. Hence the official numbers for the Muslims in Argentina are grossly exaggerated.

The Jewish community in Argentina is about 180,000, the seventh largest Jewish community in the world. It tends to be centered in Buenos Aires. There was also an agricultural community in Moisés Ville.

They have had a massive effect on Argentina’s history, culture, and music. A lot of tangos were written by Jews.

So while Chile, and much of Latin America, is turning against Israel, the Argentine government is not. The dynamic is interesting to follow.

The problem is that Chile is a very successful country, a first world country, and a leader in South America, while Argentina, though bigger – and with a much greater potential – has a history of instability and poor government.

But here is an interesting aside of a video, which describes the Villa Crespo neighborhood in Buenos Aires as an Argentine Shtetls (Jewish towns).


Posted on YouTube: September 1, 2022
The video can be auto-translated, using the settings options.

As important as the Jews are in Argentina, they were once more powerful. During the dictatorship, from 1976-83, in Argentina, many Jews fled to Israel. The population dropped from approximately 300,000 to 180,000.

However, that number may not include the children of intermarriage, who might have a Jewish father, but a Christian mother. And if one includes the Christian relatives of these Jews, the numbers would still be around 300,000, or a little under 1% of the country.

Fuzzy Islamic History About Argentina

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Fuzzy Islamic History About Argentina


Posted on YouTube: December 9, 2022
Note: There were some Muslim immigrants, but not a half million.

Muslims tend to exaggerate.

The largest immigrant strains were:

1) The Italians (who ended up speaking Spanish, because the Spanish got there first)
2) The Spanish
3) The French
4) The Germans
5) Arabs (most of whom were Christian, and usually the Muslims among them dropped out of Islam)
5) Other Europeans like the Ukrainians, and yes, British, Irish, and Scandinavians

Officially – on paper – there are lots of Muslims in Argentina: supposedly half a millions (by descent, not immigration). However, most of those Muslim Argentines tend to intermarry into a branch of Christianity, or drift into non-observance, or convert themselves.

Such people may not officially change their affiliation on paper.

This video explains it.


(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

Islamic clerics like to boast of higher numbers than they really have. If someone was born to Muslim parents, they are counted as Muslim even if they never attended a mosque, or if they converted out.

Source: Islam in Argentina – Pedro Breiger

Arab immigration to Argentina was quite considerable in the late 19th century, after World War I and up to the mid-20th century , having become its third most important immigration wave. Of these immigrants, 40% are estimated to have been Muslims or children or grandchildren of Muslims.

Forty percent of Argentina’s Arabs had one Muslim ancestor, yet Argentina’s Arabs are only about 10% Muslim today, if even that. Even then, most Argentine Muslims are not practicing at all. This means a steady translation over to Christianity, whether by conversion, intermarriage, or just simple neglect.

That is the real ongoing situation concerning Islam in Argentina … and in the rest of Latin America.

The religion that IS growing in Argentina is Evangelical Christianity.

On top of that, Argentina has just elected a president sympathetic to Israel.

The basic pattern in South America is basically this.

A) The vast majority of Arabs who immigrated to Latin America were Christians (often fleeing some form of Muslim persecution).

B) Those Muslims who did arrive usually intermarried with Christians, converted to Christianity, or had their children raised Christian.

C) Those who remained Muslim were often not practicing. Until recently, there was nothing in Latin America which facilitated an Islamic lifestyle.

D) Until the 1980s-90s, when Arab oil subsidies floated in, Islam in Latin America – which was incredibly small to begin with – almost died out.

E) So the numbers for Muslims in South America are often inflated, not taking into account those who dropped out.

F) The rise of Evangelical Christianity is winning the spiritual battle in Latin America.

AND NEVER FORGET — The statistics for Muslims can often be horribly exaggerated.

There are small cells of Hezbollah; but while worrisome, they are few in number, often just drug smugglers raising cash for their cause.

Meanwhile, Argentina has blacklisted Hezbollah, because of attacks on Argentine soil. And the border region of Brazil, Argentine, and Paraguay (the Triple Frontier) was worrisome for a while, but the FBI and Mossad went down there and helped the locals clean it up. Again, it was mostly smuggling to raise cash.

However, Islamic penetration into the general population is very small.

3 January 2024 – Edited: Made corrections. Improved writing.

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