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, 2018In 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, 2018Among 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 2017There 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 2002Assuming 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.