An operation carried out by Islamist’s eminent in Caribbean.

In 2003 I published a book entitled Rastafari and its Hindu Origins, which I subsequently renamed Rastafari and its Shamanist Origins.  In the chapter titled: A Changing Caribbean, I wrote that: “The Caribbean region will figure greatly in the upcoming years as a region that is part of the Arab-Israeli question. The island of Trinidad and Tobago has gone unnoticed in international circles as a haven for extremist Muslim rhetoric. The attempted coup led by the Jamaat al-Muslimeen in Trinidad is an example of Muslim extremism in the region. The tendency of Arab Muslim extremists to train and finance Muslim extremists in other parts of the world has also proven true in Trinidad and Tobago.  

Today 2016 , thirteen years later newspaper reports, both in the print and online mediums abound all validating my prediction bolstered by factual data.

Looptt.com posted online on November 16 2015 that: “After ISIS claimed responsibility for the terror attacks in Paris last Friday, concerns are growing over its ability to infiltrate and cause terror attacks in the Caribbean.

Many of the island states like Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia, Aruba and the Cayman Islands are heavily dependent on tourism, with many of its visitors comprising of Americans and Europeans.

“Security has never been considered a high priority for the industry in the region, making it a soft target for ISIS. Many Caribbean countries do not want their tourism product debilitated by menacing security measures. Mind you, if Jamaica was the subject of an ISIS attack on tourists, it would certainly damage a leading pillar of its economy and significantly reduce its foreign exchange earning abilities," said Joseph Simpson, formerly of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourists Association (CHTA).

Earlier this year, US Marine General John Kelly told a Pentagon briefing that Caribbean countries including Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname were worried about Muslim terrorists returning home to conduct terror attacks and that their respective governments did not have the ability to track or monitor them. Of more concern to Kelly was the likelihood of Caribbean ISIS militants moving undetected into the United States.

Trinidad & Tobago has proven fertile ground for ISIS. Both the Minister for National Security, Edmund Dillon, and his predecessor Gary Griffith have acknowledged that some 89 of their nationals have joined ISIS to date. Trinidadian criminologist Daurius Figueira noted the spread of radical Islam in Trinidad and has said that the country is already a recruitment pool for ISIS. The United Nations has also warned that the country is being used as a recruitment ground for ISIS.

 A Trinidadian called Abu Zayd al-Muhajir left to join ISIS in Syria and in a video released earlier this year, said that as a Muslim, in his country, he was unable to conform 100 per cent to the Islam faith. Aktar Ali of Port-Of-Spain is an ISIS loyalist who believes in Sharia law and would like to see the spread of Islam throughout the Caribbean. He maintains that Trinidad & Tobago should be a caliphate and lead the region.

Gary Griffith is calling for legislation to prevent Trinidadian –born terrorists traveling back and forth into the country, however the Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon has said: “As citizens of Trinidad and Tobago there is no law in place to stop them from coming home. If they have committed an international crime, we will work with our international partners to bring them to justice but for now they are still citizens of Trinidad & Tobago.”

Earlier this year it was reported that websites of both the government of Jamaica and St Vincent were hacked by supporters of ISIS. The FBI investigated the matter. General Secretary of the Islamic Association of St Lucia, Taaiq Assad expressed concerned about the presence of ISIS in the Caribbean and the rise of radical Islam there”.

The Mirror UK carried the following article in their online edition of 30 April 2016 by Jonathan Sharman it reads as follows: “The problem is so significant that a telephone hotline was set up at the end of last year to allow islanders to contact authorities if they believe someone is planning to make the journey (Syria or Iraq).

Jihadists from ISIS are reportedly exploiting an undercurrent of extremism in the Caribbean to gain new recruits.

Trinidad and Tobago's government estimates that 89 of its citizens have left to join Islamic State, a higher figure per head of population than even Belgium has recorded.

The problem is so significant that a telephone hotline was set up in the former British colony at the end of last year. It allows islanders to contact authorities if they believe someone is planning to make the journey.

And the US government has said that it fears an attack might originate from the area. General John Kelly, the former head of US Southern Command, said ISIS was doing a "fair amount" of recruitment in the region, including in Jamaica and Venezuela, The Times reported.

 The background of Islamism within the Caribbean context, started with the Jamaat al Muslimeen of Trinidad. Whose leader Abu Bakr, was present in the Sudan during al-Qaeda’s reign in Sudan. I will quote here from Nazim Baksh whose own son was kidnapped and murdered, a former journalist and parliamentarian: “In the summer of 1990, three months after I joined the CBC, one hundred very angry Muslim men staged a coup in the twin-island Caribbean state of Trinidad and Tobago. Using an arsenal of illegal weapons they seized control of Parliament, took the Prime Minister hostage and shot him the leg for good measure. They did make him sign a document pardoning them for doing this. The name of this radical group was Jamaat Al-Muslimeen, which translates as “The Muslim Group.”

I knew these characters, had met some of them before, including their leader, Yasin Abu Bakr. I would later run into him while on assignment in the Sudan. There he was sipping tea at the Hilton in Khartoum and complaining to me about how unfair Canadian officials were for not allowing him to visit his family in Toronto. It didn’t take me long to realize that there was a world of difference between the Jamaat’s Islam and mine”.   

There exists at present a growing and radical fringe in the region, and those not resident in the region but hailing from the region,and are residing in specifically Holland, Canada, and the UK who pose an eminent threat upon their return to the region. They have demonstrated an ability to influence mainly “lumpens” and other disaffected persons to their cause.

On Thurday, March 19, 2015 the Daily Herald featured a report captioned; “US NAVY PULLING OUT OF THE CARIBBEAN”.  General John Kelly previously mentioned , commander of US Southern Command USSOUTHCOM. Kelly warned that Caribbean countries are unable to monitor hundreds of their citizens that could return from fighting for ISIS in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. He claimed that it would be easy for terrorist’s to ‘walk” north to the US border. Kelly’s assessment of the situation is egregiously and tragically mistaken, terrorist’s in the Caribbean need not go to the US, to harm or kill it’s citizens, they need only to target the millions of US and European tourist’s in our midst. The massive inflow on for instance Sint Martin of American tourist’s through, the airport and harbour are all perfect targets for terrorists. The fastest growing religion in prison on Sint Maarten, and many other islands regionally is Islam, with a decidedly Sunni militant bent. This does not bode well for the tourist product of the island. As I have indicated in previous book’s, tourism regionally will be rendered obsolete, if a massive rethink of the economic, educational  and political policies, pertaining to the youngest most vulnerable elements of the region are not undertaken with immediate effect, these “lumpens” are forming and will continue to form the backbone of a regional “Islamist”, uprising.