Academic and international relations expert Iván Ernesto Gatón, said there is a significant presence of Islam in Haiti that is beginning to appear in the Dominican Republic.

"Haiti has about 40 mosques and some of them with funding over $ 100,000 that comes from extremist groups, 10 to 15% are radicalized [...]", said Gatón in an interview on ColorVision (channel 9) in Dominican Republic.

According to some estimates there are at least 5,000 Haitians who have converted to Islam in the past 20 years in Haiti. In 2016, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship officially listed 36 mosques and around 50 Koranic schools.

The academic pointed out that young Dominicans, including women, were discovering Islam in universities, stressing "[...] You go to San José de los Llanos, to San Pedro de Macorís and you will find a mosque". According to estimates there are nearly a thousand Muslims in Dominican territory.

Iván Gatón explains that in the face of Islamism in the Caribbean and Latin America, the American authorities and other strategic experts in the United States have expressed their concern about the risk of radicalization of some converts recalling in other than "[...] ISIS (Islamic State) was providing sniper training in Trinidad and Tobago; that one of the terrorists who was part of the attack in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002 where more than 200 people died, was Ali Imron a teacher at a primary school in Suriname [...] one of those involved in the John F. Kennedy airport bombing in New York was a former member of Congress from Guyana [..]; One of the terrorists involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States passed through Haiti and left through the Dominican Republic. "

Adding "Islam is the fastest growing religion" recalling that besides the Caribbean, "[...] in Latin America, Islam continues to grow in Brazil, Argentina and Chile."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-3969-haiti-security-ten-pakistanis-arrested-in-artibonite.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-1350-haiti-religionthe-haitian-muslim-community-rebuild-their-mosques.html

SL/ HaitiLibre