A new report released on December 9 by Spain’s Defense Ministry describes how Islamic terrorists operate and fundraise in Latin America to plan attacks on the United States.
Translated by watchdog group Judicial Watch on Wednesday, the document states, “Latin America represents an important region for Islamic radicalism because conditions enable the free, almost undetectable, movement of their members throughout the region.”
Spain’s defense agency also said, “The ignorance involving the threat of jihadist terrorism in Latin America has been such that some governments have refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities and other intelligence services.”
The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah is described as possessing the biggest fundraising operations in Latin America.
However, ISIS and others also have a presence in the region and Islamists have established ties with drug trafficking cartels — like El clan Barakat in Paraguay and Joumaa in Colombia — to raise and launder enormous numerations of cash.
Military experts in Spain call the relationship between terrorists organizations and organized crime groups as a “marriage of convenience” with different goals.