At this website, the part of the world least discussed is Latin America. A few things are alluded to: one knows about the triangle between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, a supposed no man’s land full of Muslim Arabs, engaged in all kinds of louche activities, and where support for Hizballah is high. Is it beyond the wit of those whose duty it is to make us secure to clean out, using whatever local forces may be able and willing to help, the entire area? There are a number of local militaries that could do the job.
One knows that there are “Palestinians” who have achieved high office in Central America (e.g., Shafik Handal). One has read that among those who control the Chilean fruit trade — all those off-season raspberries and kiwis — are some “Palestinian” families, and one naturally wonders about how easy it is to use large shipments of fruit to smuggle in other things.
One knows that Muslim terrorists have been interested in infiltrating Mexico for its own sake, and also as a way to enter the United States. One hears on NPR of the campaigns of Da’wa in this country aimed at women from Latin America — presented merely as uplifting stories of those who have “found in Islam” just what they were looking for, a belief-system that apparently will protect “modesty” (and how), and a comforting Total Regulation that relieves one of the need to think for oneself. When there are so many different cell phone company plans to choose from, so many detergents to consider, why not choose the belief-system that ‘splains it all to you, and at least get that part of your life settled, once and for all?
What one does not know is what the American government knows or intends to do about all this, and what it is now trying to halt or undo — or if the business in Iraq, the bringing of “freedom” to “the Iraqis,” is the sum of all half-hearted parts. If, by chance, there is actually a part of the Pentagon now devoted to tracking and checking campaigns of Da’wa — understanding this is a mortal threat and not merely one more innocent missionary activity — then what role, if any, has been or will be played by Spanish-speaking Americans? What role has been or will be played especially by those who may have had direct experience of Islam and Muslim societies in Iraq, and who would or could usefully help to monitor and counter these Da’wa campaigns both in the United States and in Latin America?
And what effect, if any, is the link — such as it might be — with Spain? Hispanidad, a cultural notion akin to French francophonie, with ties of language and culture, might be enrolled. As Spain is threatened by islamization — see the disturbing ceremonies that took place three years ago, in which Muslim spokesmen came to mark the opening of the new mosque in Granada by urging Muslims to work for Europe’s downfall. Surely some of this filters back to the press of Latin America. Surely there are some — including the many, such as Ecuadoreans, now working in Spain — who have been made aware of the problem, and may communicate their thoughts to others at home.
What can the former Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar do, and what can Gustavo de Aristegui do, to awaken and alarm, and thereby help to protect, not only their own country, but also other countries? Chiefly, what can they do to awaken awareness of the activities of the Islamic Jihad (and its attendant thrusts of Da”wa and demographic) in Latin American countries, which are quasi-members of what might once, less self-consciously, long ago (about the time of Ortega and Unamuno) have been considered, culturally, a single Hispanidad? Or is that connection today so etiolated that what happens to Spain does not matter, or cannot be made to matter, as a way of waking those who might otherwise be preoccupied only with the power and the perceived mistakes, and possibly at times even the admirable qualities of the Colossus of the North?
What about Brazil’s Lula da Silva? Like Musharraf, he could be made an offer he cannot refuse: trade sanctions, for a start, might not necessarily win his support in disrupting centers of financial aid for terrorists, and centers as well for what is equally dangerous, da’wa, but his cooperation — which is all, ultimately, that we need.
There are a goodly number of Spanish-speaking people, well versed in every conceivable local dialect, in the United States, who would willingly prove their value as agents against the Jihad both within this country, and in South America. Let them — ojala (a word, of course, from the time of Muslim subjugation of Spain) — be given the support, and given the chance.