Sunday, November 24, 2024
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Get the Daily
Briefing by Email

Subscribe

How Iran is Making Inroads in South America

 

Emanuele Ottolenghi 

The Dispatch, Mar. 10, 2022

 

“Quiroga, a virulent antisemite, remains active in Peru’s politics and has established and Islamic Center in his native Abancay, radicalizing numerous local youth in the process.”

 

Colombians will vote to elect a new parliament on Sunday, two months before they will choose a new president. That might not be a big story for most Americans, but it’s worth paying attention to because of what it says about Iran’s intentions in South America. This year, the mullahs have their own man on the legislative ballot.

Meet Marlon Cantillo BorreroNo. 82 on the Senate list for the Fuerza Ciudadana (or citizen’s Force). Fuerza Ciudadana is a left-wing political party closely aligned with former Marxist guerrilla and left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro. The nature of the Colombian Senate’s electoral system—a combination of pure proportionality and the right to choose individual candidates—means that if Cantillo musters enough personal support, he could become senator. Getting a senator elected in Colombia, possibly the U.S. closest ally in the region, would be a game changer.

Cantillo is a graduate of Iran’s Al Mustafa International University, a religious seminar based in Iran’s city of Qom that opened its doors in 2007 with the specific mission of proselytizing the non-Shiite, non-Muslim world and catering to converts in their native language. If Cantillo were elected, the Tehran regime would have a loyal advocate in Colombia’s next parliament.

Al Mustafa is one of Iran’s main vectors to export its revolutionary brand of Shiite Islam. Its key role in regime efforts to indoctrinate and radicalize its pupils, alongside its active training of Shi’a militias Iran deployed in Syria, earned it U.S. sanctions in December 2020. 

Thanks to robust state funding ($80 million per year) since Al Mustafa launched its operations, it has trained tens of thousands of students, including numerous Latin Americans. Many students go beyond basic indoctrination and become ordained Shiite clerics. Iran’s goal: train a cadre of native speaker propagandists with a deep understanding of the culture in which they operate.

SOURCE



Donate CIJR

Become a CIJR Supporting Member!

Most Recent Articles

The Empty Symbolism of Criminal Charges Against Hamas

0
Jeff Jacoby The Boston Globe, Sept. 8, 2024 “… no Palestinian terrorist has ever been brought to justice in the United States for atrocities committed against Americans abroad.”   Hersh Goldberg-Polin...

Britain Moves Left, But How Far?

0
Editorial WSJ, July 5, 2024   “Their failures created an opening for Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, a party promising stricter immigration controls and the lower-tax policies...

HELP CIJR GET THE MESSAGE ACROSS

0
"For the second time this year, it is my greatest merit to lead you into battle and to fight together.  On this day 80...

Day 5 of the War: Israel Internalizes the Horrors, and Knows Its Survival Is...

0
David Horovitz Times of Israel, Oct. 11, 2023 “The more credible assessments are that the regime in Iran, avowedly bent on Israel’s elimination, did not work...

Subscribe Now!

Subscribe now to receive the
free Daily Briefing by email

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

  • Subscribe to the Daily Briefing

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.