Latino Muslims and Radical Extremism: Why There Is No Daesh (ISIS) Threat in Latin America

Despite much talk about infiltration of ISIS into Latin America and participation from Latino Muslims, there is no concrete evidence yet. Latin America still represents the safest continent on the earth from ISIS threat. When we look at the recruitment strategy of ISIS, social media comes as a surprisingly first way of attracting young people to its ideology. Latin American Muslims are extremely well connected to social media, through which many of them do not only learn about Islam; but also feel close to Arabic or Middle Eastern culture. Yet, the strong presence of Latino Muslims in online spaces did not yield a success attracting Latinos to ISIS via these channels. Are Latino Muslims immune from ISIS’s attractiveness? What makes them keep away from ISIS’s social media messages and recruitment strategies? This article argues that this can only be explained with the nature of the socio-political context in which young and social media addicted Latino Muslims live.