COUVA, Trinidad (AP) — Twenty-eight years after one of the United States’ most important victories came in stunning fashion at Trinidad to end a four-decade World Cup absence, the Americans’ chances for the 2018 tournament in Russia ended on this island nation off the coast of Venezuela.
Up to 125 jihadists and their relatives have traveled from the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago to join the Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East, making the country “the largest per-capita source” of recruits for the jihadist group in the Western Hemisphere, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The latest issue of the Islamic State (ISIS) magazine, Dabiq, features two stories on jihadis based in the Caribbean – one an interview, one an obituary – encouraging Caribbean islanders to abandon Christianity and join the jihad. In both stories, the jihadis in question boast of having been arrested, investigated, and ultimately released.
Smuggling human beings has become a more profitable commodity than smuggling drugs. Just one person can command a profit of up to $100,000 for human smugglers, according to one criminologist in the Caribbean. That “premium package” could get the migrant a new identity, foreign passport, legitimate documents, and a plane ticket to the US.
Acutely aware of Venezuela’s growing economic destitution, the government of Trinidad & Tobago has proposed exchanging Venezuelan oil for Trinidadian toilet paper, to keep supplies in the South American nation’s market replenished.
