Russia says al-Qaeda, Daesh, similar groups emerging in Latin America

Russia’s military intelligence chief says such terrorist groups as al-Qaeda and Daesh are establishing a foothold in Latin America to recruit members for their activities in the Middle East and North Africa, where they have been mainly based.

Igor Kostyukov, the head of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, said on Thursday that terrorist “training camps and harbors” were “new risk factors” emerging in Latin America, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.

Kostyukov was speaking at the 8th Moscow Conference on International Security, an international defense forum gathering defense ministers and experts from various countries.

He said the terrorist groups were seeking to infiltrate the six million Muslims living in Latin America.

The terrorist groups “are recruiting militants to fill their ranks in the Middle East and North Africa,” and “gathering the funds needed for that,” he said.

Extremist activity has been rare in Latin America so far. In a singular case last year, Brazilian prosecutors announced charges against 11 people for promoting Daesh through social media and recruiting militants to send to Syria.

SS