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Iran Exporting Radical Islam to Latin America
(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Emanuele Ottolenghi and Michaela Frai - Since the 1980s, Iran has worked diligently to create the infrastructure for both overt and covert operations in the Western Hemisphere. Iranian preachers and their local enablers have gained footholds in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, and Peru. Edwar Quiroga Vargas, a Peruvian who converted to Shi'a Islam, has opened six Shi'a Islamic cultural centers across Peru and has sent 25 students for training in Iran. The centers promote a radical agenda across Latin America and glorify the terror organization Hizbullah. Iranian-backed Spanish-language media such as HispanTV also spread revolutionary themes. Ultimately, Iran threatens the national security of the U.S. and its allies with its spread of anti-Zionist hatred and Islamic revolutionary rhetoric to the Western Hemisphere. Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at FDD, where Michaela Frai is a research associate.