The death of Islamic State (ISIS) caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi does not mean that the threat from the Islamic State is over. Far from it. The Islamic State’s mission is to advance Islam violently, in accord with the dictates of Islamic theology found in the Hadith and Quran. The Washington Post referred to al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar” and was lambasted for that reference, but that’s one of the things that al-Baghdadi really was (along with mass murderer and rapist).

“One of the biggest recruitment hubs for ISIS in the West” is the Caribbean Island of Trinidad.

“One of the least known, but most alarming, aspects of the Islamic State is its ability to draw recruits and sympathizers from around the world, including from many countries not known as hotbeds of radicalism. On a per-capita basis, Trinidad was one of the largest providers of volunteers for the caliphate, a development that seems to come out of nowhere.”

Adding to the problem, Trinidad is uncomfortably close to Venezuela. Foreign Policy published an article two years ago, In Venezuela’s Toxic Brew, Failed Narco-State Meets Iran-Backed Terrorism, which addressed “the convergence of narco-trafficking and jihadism in America’s own backyard.” Venezuela is so close to Trinidad that it can be seen with the naked eye from the Southern and Western coast of the island, and like many Western countries, Trinidad has a grave problem with unvetted refugees.

A mass exodus of Venezuelans into Trinidad, with an untold number belonging to this “toxic brew,” adds to the already serious jihadist problem in Trinidad. Stephen Brown explained in his FrontPage Magazine article about “the forgotten Islamic coup” that happened 29 years ago in Trinidad — the only Islamic coup attempt against a sovereign country in the Western hemisphere, so far.

Of little comfort is an announcement two years ago that “the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is currently taking measures to prevent fighters from returning to the islands, located southeastern from the United States, into a platform from which terrorist attacks can be organised.” There was no followup.



Jihad Watch was also cited at a CARICOM Counter-Terrorism Strategy conference at that time, in which twenty Caribbean countries participated. When quizzed over the risk of jihadis returning at the conference in Port of Spain, Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon replied, according to the Trinidad Express:

It is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when….The UK Sun warned that “fears are growing that Trinidad and Tobago could face a new wave of terror attacks from returning ISIS jihadis” and that we have “the highest rate of ISIS foreign recruitment in the Western hemisphere, while Jihad Watch reported that ‘fears are growing that Western holidaymakers will be targeted in terror attacks by depraved terrorists who have travelled back to Trinidad and Tobago from the beaten caliphate.’”

What is it about Trinidad that attracts jihadists? According to the article below:

What seems to have pushed them, although “push” is far too deterministic a metaphor, was a profound spiritual disaffection from the very best that Trinidad had to offer, which was a decent life of tranquility and ease on a tropical island that they came to see as sexually permissive, corrupt and lacking in any real value—a sort of anti-paradise. What seems to have “pulled” them to the Islamic State was a conviction that it was the true paradise that Trinidad claimed to be but was not: a pristine society of faith free of corruption, deviance and worldly temptation.

We live in a world with tragic social ills, mental illness and endless challenges; millions of those suffering do not commit murder in reaction to their suffering. But in the case of jihadists, everything else but Islam is blamed for their woes. Those who promote Islamic jihad inspire their followers with lies about material rewards and paradise. It is this flawed theological “hope” that drives jihadist recruitment. What makes the call to jihad more alluring for those who are psychologically troubled is the fact that Islam teaches that martyrs are heroes for the cause of Allah and that these heroes will be eternally rewarded in paradise.

Such a theology — incorporating the psychological, spiritual and physical — can be attractive to disturbed and hopeless elements of society. Of course, all Muslims do not follow commands of jihad by the sword in accordance with normative Islam, but enough do follow (or quietly support) such doctrine to warrant alarm.

Thus far the T&T government, like most Western states, has shown little political will in seeking to address this issue and has not yet even publicly acknowledged that there are Trini children in the Al-Hol camp.

Throughout the West, merely discussing the jihad threat is now taboo. To pursue such a discussion or to propose it renders one Islamophobic. Stealth jihadists worldwide have created an effective means to further their war on Western civilization using fear and identity politics. As one can see in the report below, the jihad doctrine is not discussed as jihadists in Trinidad become an ever increasing threat to other countries in the West.

“Trinidad’s Islamic State Problem,” by Simon Cottee, Lawfare Blog, November 17, 2019: