Source: The Jersey Journal
http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1059387008155480.xml
On July 28, 2003 The Jersey Journal reported that "the Islamic Educational Center of North Hudson took its message to a new demographic yesterday: Latinos... In a one-day celebration at the Union City center, Muslims and Latino converts sought to teach their neighbors, the vast majority of whom are Latino, about the Spanish Moors, who ruled Spain from the eighth century to the fifteenth century... The 'Latinos Rediscovering their Roots' celebration included a keynote address by Omar Pacheco, who is an imam at a mosque in New York City. Pacheco was born in Spain, grew up in Argentina, and studied theology in Saudi Arabia... He spurned his Catholic upbringing for the lack of answers the religion offered him and urged Latinos to look into their Muslim roots."