The history of the Jews in Venezuela dates to the middle of the 17th century, when records suggest that groups of marranos (Spanish and Portuguese descendants of baptized Jews suspected of secret adherence to Judaism) lived in Tucacas, Caracas and Maracaibo. The Jewish community, however, did not become established in Venezuela until the middle of the 19th century. Since Hugo Chávez took power in 1999, tension has existed between the government and Jewish population, which has seen large numbers emigrating.[1] Today, the majority of Venezuelan Jews live in Israel, while modern-day Venezuela continues to host a modest Jewish population.
In search of El Dorado during 1568 the conqueror Pedro Malaver de Silva recruited about 600 men, many of them with wives and children, who were mostly Jewish converts (being suspected of continuing with their religious practices, they were called Marranos) expelled from various European cities under Spanish rule. Once the levy was concluded, the preparations were completed, two ships were supplied and the people were reunited with their respective families, on March 19, 1569, they set out to sea in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. After stopping in the Canary Archipelago they arrived in the Margarita Island. Before leaving Margarita, the Hidalgo brothers and more than 150 of the men he brought abandoned him. The rest of the expeditionaries disembark at the port of Borburata on the mainland. Malaver de Silva began his itinerary with the ascent of the coastal mountain range, camping in the Venezuelan city of Valencia del Rey. Malaver suffered a serious illness that kept him bedridden for a long period, in addition to the rainy season. His nephew Garci González de Silva who with 40 more veterans left Don Pedro in the lurch and departed to the eastern of Venezuela. With only 130 men Malaver advances along the mountain range towards the plains. Soon the expedition began to feel the hardships of that inhospitable and unpopulated area. Although initially the hope of finding great fortunes of El Dorado made the men endure all the hardships, the infinity of the plains ended up discouraging them. Fatigue also affected the temperament of Malaver de Silva, who instead of encouraging his soldiers became increasingly distant and intractable. But the man did not give up and from Barquisimeto he left for Peru. On the way he climbed the Andes mountain range, passed through Santa Fe de Bogotá. Later he went to Chachapoyas in Peru, sold his lands and returned to Spain to request a new capitulation.
In 1693 a large group of granas Jews originally from Leghorn left the Dutch colony of Curaçao for Tucacas. With the settlement of Jews there, the place became a lively commercial center. The Jews built houses, grew cattle, erected a fortress, and built a synagogue. They began to purchase cocoa beans and tobacco from the interior of Venezuela, and mule trains carrying cocoa from New Granada and Quito would arrive in Tucacas, sell their produce to the Jews, and purchase textiles and other European goods in return. The attempts by Spanish forces to attack the settlement failed, owing to the protection of Dutch naval units, the local Venezuelan population, and the defense by the Jews themselves. This Dutch enclave was under the command of Jorge Christian, Marquis of Tucacas, and Samuel Gradis Gabai, under the title Señor de Las Tucacas. Samuel was also president of the Hebrew congregation called "Santa Irmandad" (the Holy Brotherhood).
The Spanish provincial authorities collaborated with the Jews of Tucacas, since they saw them as an outlet for export and the suppliers of much-needed European goods, since the over-extended Spanish fleet could not meet the demands of all its American colonies.[citation needed] At the end of 1717, the province of Venezuela became part of the viceroyalty of Nueva Granada which also included actual Colombia and Ecuador. The Viceroy Jorge de Villalonga, because of complaints from the Catholic clergy and from Spain, decided to eliminate Tucacas. Pedro Jose de Olivarriaga was nominated commissioner against the so-called Jewish "contraband trade." With special army units and 40 ships he attacked and captured the town in 1720. According to eyewitnesses the synagogue was destroyed, the Jews burned their own houses, and left for Curaçao.
19th century
The Jewish Cemetery of Coro, established in 1832, is the oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use in the Americas.
At the turn of the 19th century, Venezuela were fighting against their Spanish colonizers in wars of independence. In 1812 Simon Bolivar, considered Venezuela’s liberator, found refuge and material support for his army in the homes of Jews from Curaçao at that time a British colony. Jews such as Mordejai Ricardo and brothers Ricardo and Abraham Meza offered hospitality to an exiliated Bolivar as he fought against the Spanish, thus establishing brotherly relations between Jews and the newly independent Venezuelan republic. Several Jews of Curazao even fought in the ranks of Bolivar’s army during the war as admiral Luis Brion commandant of the Cayes naval expedition, David Haim de Moshe Lopez Penha, who served as a colonel of infantry; Benjamin Henriques, who became a captain in the cavalry; and Juan de Sola, who commanded the cavalry at the Battle of Carabobo in 1821 to join his fight for independence of Latin America.[citation needed] The ties between Jews in the Dutch island colonies and Venezuela increased more dramatically between 1819-1821 after its new constitution called for religious freedom. In 1820, the Curiel was the first Jewish family settled in the town of Santa Ana de Coro. The Jewish Cemetery of Coro is the oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use in the Americas.[2] Its origin can be located in the 19th century, when Sephardic Jews from the Dutch colony of Curaçao began to migrate to the Venezuelan city of Santa Ana de Coro in 1824. Other Jewish communities began springing up in Caracas and Puerto Cabello in the 1840s. In 1844, groups of Jews from Morocco came to the town of Barcelona. Unfortunately, years later in 1854, a violent act of anti-Semitism meant that the entire Coro Jewish population of 168 individuals was expelled by govern back to Curacao. As they claimed Dutch citizenship, the consul-general for the Netherlands, Van Lansberge, informed the home government in Amsterdam, and three war ships were sent to La Guaira, the principal seaport of Venezuela, and the redress demanded was at once granted. The Venezuelan government agreed to salute the Dutch flag; to restore to the Jews their property in Coro; and to pay an indemnity of 200,000 pesos ($160,000), the last clause being carried into effect in 1859, after lengthy diplomatic negotiations with the ambassador of the Netherlands, Jhr. O. van Rees.[3]Assimilation of Jews in Venezuela was difficult, but in the last decade of the 19th century though small communities could be found in Puerto Cabello, Coro, Caracas, Maracaibo, Villa de Cura, Barcelona, Carupano, Rio Chico, and Barquisimeto.[citation needed]
20th century
Holocaust Memorial at the Jewish Cemetery in Caracas
On 2 April 1902, in response to rising political tension between the Netherlands and Venezuela to evacuate the Jews of Coro to Curaçao, the HNLMSKoningin Regentes and the HNLMSUtrecht arrived in the Venezuelan port of La Guaira. Prior to their arrival, the Venezuelan Navy had repeatedly checked Dutch and Antillean merchant ships and the presence of the Dutch warships acted as a deterrent against further actions.[4]
Immigration restrictions were placed on Jews in the early 20th century and were abolished in the late 1950s. By 1950 there were around 6,000 Jewish people in Venezuela [5] and the biggest waves of immigration occurred after World War II and the 1967 Six-Day War,[6][7] The Jewish population in Venezuela was largely centered in Caracas, with smaller concentrations in Maracaibo. Most of Venezuela's Jews are either first or second generation.[7][8]
In 1907, the Israelite Beneficial Society, which became the Israelite Association of Venezuela in 1919, was created as an organization to bring the Jews who were scattered throughout the country together. Jewish prayer and holiday services took place in small houses in Caracas and towns like Los Teques and La Guaira. By 1917, the number of Jewish citizens rose to 475, and to 882 in 1926. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Jewish community began to develop with the arrival of North African and eastern European Jews.[5] Jewish immigration from Eastern and Central Europe increased after 1934 but, by then, Venezuela had imposed specific restrictions on Jewish immigration, which remained in effect until after the 1950s.
In 1939 the steamboats Koenigstein and Caribia left Nazi Germany and docked in Venezuela. One Jewish refugee commented in the Venezuelan newspaper, La Esfera, "Imagine our joy at being free and far from a land in which everything threatened us with death. It is such a holy occurrence given that we were expelled from Germany and you have embraced us."[9] By 1950, in spite of immigration restrictions, there were around 6,000 Jewish people in Venezuela.[5] The biggest waves of immigration occurred after World War II and the 1967 Six-Day War,[6] when a large influx of Sephardi Jews arrived and settled mostly in the capital of Caracas. Coinciding with that very influx, in the mid-60’s the first Chabad representative moved to the country, in order to service the many Jews who had made Venezuela their home.[10] The Jewish population in Venezuela peaked at 45,000,[9] largely centered in Caracas, but with smaller concentrations in Maracaibo. Most of Venezuela's Jews are either first or second generation.[8]
Venezuela was hospitable to Jewish life, and Jews "developed deep ties to the country and a strong sense of patriotism", acculturating and settling into a "comfortable 'live-and-let-live' rapport with the government".[7] According to David Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee:[8]
They have developed an impressive communal infrastructure built around a central umbrella organization, La Confederación de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela (CAIV), with which the American Jewish Committee signed an association agreement last year, fifteen synagogues (all but one Orthodox), and, perhaps most striking of all, a Jewish all-in-one campus, Hebraica. Combining Jewish nursery and day schools, a country club, cultural center, a verdant setting, and wide-ranging sports activities, Hebraica serves as the focus for much of the community.
The results of these communal efforts speak for themselves. The community is close-knit, an overwhelming majority of Jewish children attend Jewish schools, the level of participation is high, identification with Israel is intense, and intermarriage rates are low compared to the United States or Britain.
What is equally striking in talking with Venezuela's Jews, to the extent that generalizations are ever possible, is an obvious pride in being Venezuelan. Not only do they continue to appreciate the refuge the country provided—the Jews having come in search of safety and opportunity — but they also recognize the country's postwar record of tolerance and relative absence of anti-Semitism, as well as its support of the 1947 UN resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish state.
"Judíos (Jews) Go Home" graffiti on the wall of the Israeli Embassy in Caracas.
According to the Latin American Jewish Congress, Venezuela's Jewish community had an estimated 22,000 people when Chávez took office in 1999.[11] In the early 2000s, emigration of Venezuelan Jews to Israel grew steadily.[12] The Algemeiner Journal stated that this emigration from Venezuela occurred due to "the country’s economic crisis ... as well as the anti-Semitic rhetoric that has marked the left-wing regime’s support for Iran, Syria, and Palestinian Islamist organizations like Hamas" and that "first Chavez and now Maduro have found political uses for anti-Jewish rhetoric".[13]
By 2007, amid concerns of rising allegations of antisemitism,[9][14][15][16][17] emigration saw Venezuela's 20,000 Jewish population drop by 20%[18] to 45%.[11] For instance The Latin American Jewish Congress estimated that in 2007, only between 12,000 and 13,000 Jews still resided in Venezuela.[11] By November 2010, more than 50% of Jewish Venezuelans had left the country since Chavez came to power, with some of those remaining behind complaining of "official antisemitism".[19] By early 2013, only 9,000 Jews lived in Venezuela and in early 2015, it was reported that under 7,000 lived in the country.[13]
With the Venezuelan economic crisis of the 2010s, Jewish emigration rapidly increased. This time they primarily moved to Israel, as the devaluation of their property and other assets effectively closed off other possibilities such as the United States and Panama.[21]
Antisemitism has occurred periodically throughout the history of Venezuela, including instances of anti-Jewish rioting in the 19th century and immigration restrictions in the early 20th, leading to a difficult assimilation for Jews in the country.
Since Hugo Chávez took power in 1999, there have been frequent accusations of antisemitism directed at the government. Members of the World Jewish Congress and Simon Wiesenthal Center have portrayed comments from Chávez as antisemitic, including comparing other politicians to Hitler and the use of the phrase wandering Jews in reference to opposition leaders.[14][22][23][24] The Venezuelan Confederation of Israelite Associations also raised concerns that Chavez's rhetoric, which had "once clearly differentiated criticism of Israel from that of the Venezuelan Jewish community," had merged his anti-Zionist views with anti-Semitic ones beginning in 2004,[25] while The Jewish Telegraphic Agency stated that Chavez's criticism of Israeli military actions during the 2006 Lebanon War was "fanning the flames of anti-Semitism."[26]
Public instances of antisemitism have occurred as well. An armed raid carried out by security forces in November on the Jewish elementary and high school in Caracas was described by the Stephen Roth Institute as "perhaps the most serious incident ever to have taken place in the history of the Jewish community." The Institute also stated that pro-Chavez supporters were responsible for frequent antisemitic incidents such as desecrations of and attacks on synagogues and graffitied slogans such as "Jews go home."[14]
Despite this, the United States Department of State stated in its 2005 report on International Religious Freedom that Venezuela is a "historically open society without significant anti-Semitism," while noting that "the Government and its supporters occasionally demonstrated possible anti-Semitism."[24] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has said that antisemitic behavior was not typical for Venezuela.[26]
The history of the Jews in Latin America began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those who refused to do so. However, the vast majority of conversos never made it to the New World and remained in Spain slowly assimilating to the dominant Catholic culture. This was due to the requirement by Spain's Blood Statutes to provide written documentation of Old Christian lineage to travel to the New World. However, the first Jews came with the first expedition of Christopher Columbus, including Rodrigo de Triana and Luis De Torres.
Israeli–Venezuelan relations refer to foreign relations between Israel and Venezuela. Both countries have no formal relations since 2009. Canada serves as Israel's protecting power in Venezuela through its embassy in Caracas, while Spain serves as Venezuela's protecting power in Israel through its embassy in Tel Aviv.
This is a list of countries where antisemitic sentiment has been experienced.
The history of the Jews in Brazil begins during the settlement of Europeans in the new world. Although only baptized Christians were subject to the Inquisition, Jews started settling in Brazil when the Inquisition reached Portugal, in the 16th century. They arrived in Brazil during the period of Dutch rule, setting up in Recife the first synagogue in the Americas, the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, as early as 1636. Most of those Jews were Sephardic Jews who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal to the religious freedom of the Netherlands.
The history of the Jews in Belgium goes back to the 1st century CE until today. The Jewish community numbered 66,000 on the eve of the Second World War but after the war and The Holocaust, now is less than half that number.
Different opinions exist among historians regarding the extent of antisemitism in American history and how American antisemitism contrasted with its European counterpart. Earlier students of American Jewish life minimized the presence of antisemitism in the United States, which they considered a late and alien phenomenon that arose on the American scene in the late 19th century. More recently however, scholars have asserted that no period in American Jewish history was free from antisemitism. The debate about the significance of antisemitism during different periods of American history has continued to the present day.
Antisemitism —prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews— has experienced a long history of expression since the days of ancient civilizations, with most of it having originated in the Christian and pre-Christian civilizations of Europe.
Antisemitic incidents escalated worldwide in frequency and intensity during the Gaza War, and were widely considered to be a wave of reprisal attacks in response to the conflict.
Tucacas is a northern coastal town of Venezuela. It is located in the state of Falcón.
The Jewish Cemetery of Coro is the oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use in the Americas.
The "Casa de Oración Hebrea", mostly known as the Coro Synagogue, is a synagogue in the city of Santa Ana de Coro, Falcón, Venezuela, a city located near the Caribbean Sea coast and the Dutch island of Curaçao; it is known as one of the oldest synagogues in Latin America.
Antisemitism in Pakistan is the presence of hostility and discrimination against Jews in Pakistan based on prejudices against the Jewish people and/or the religion of Judaism. Alongside the prevalence of general stereotypes, Jews are commonly subjected to negative views, feelings and rhetoric in Pakistan, most of which overlap with and are directly related to the antisemitic views prevalent throughout the Islamic world. Widely regarded as miserly within Pakistani Muslim circles, Jews residing in Pakistan have also faced periodic intolerance by the state, which has intensified since the Islamization period of the 1980s under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who propelled Pakistan towards the adoption of strict and highly-conservative Islamic practices and laws. The Jewish population of Pakistan has rapidly decreased since the state's founding and separation from neighbouring India in August 1947, and as of 2019 estimates, stands at less than 200 people amidst Pakistan's total population of over 200 million, the majority of whom are Muslims.
The history of the Jews in Curaçao can be traced back to the mid-17th century, when the first Jewish immigrants began to arrive. The first Jews in Curaçao were Sephardi Jewish immigrants from the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. These immigrants founded Congregation Mikvé Israel-Emanuel, the oldest continuously used synagogue in the Americas. The first Jew to settle in Curaçao was a Dutch-Jewish interpreter named Samuel Cohen, who arrived on board a Dutch fleet in 1634. By the mid-1700s, the community was the most prosperous in the Americas and many of the Jewish communities in Latin America, primarily in Colombia and Venezuela, resulted from the influx of Curaçaoan Jews.
The History of the Jews in Colombia begins in the Spanish colonial period with the arrival of the first Jews during the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Antisemitism in Venezuela has occurred throughout the history of the Jews in Venezuela. However, under the presidencies of both Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, allegations of antisemitism grew following actions and statements by the Venezuelan government, while also occurring in public incidents. The Bolivarian government would also use the words of "Jewish" and "Zionist" interchangeably in order to avoid accusations of antisemitism.
Belgium is a European country with a Jewish population of approximately 35,000 out of a total population of about 11.4 million. It is among the countries experiencing an increase in both antisemitic attitudes and in physical attacks on Jews.
Venezuelan Jews in Israel are Jewish immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Venezuelan Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel.
Antisemitism is a growing problem in 21st-century Germany.
Antisemitism in Argentina is a significant issue for the Jewish community in the country as well as Argentina in general.
The Tiféret Israel Synagogue attack was an attack on Caracas, Venezuela's oldest synagogue that took place on the night of 31 January 2009, during the shabbat. The attack occurred amid a rise in tensions prompted by the 2008–2009 Gaza War, after Venezuela severed diplomatic relations with Israel and Israel responded by expelling Venezuelan officials from the country.
↑ "A Former Guerrilla Reinvents Himself as a Candidate". The New York Times, 1 July 2006. Accessed April 3, 2008.
↑ Perelman, Marc. "Venezuela's Jews Defend Leftist President in Flap Over Remarks". Forward.com, January 13, 2006. Available from the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela.Archived 2015-01-15 at the Wayback Machine Accessed April 3, 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Venezuelaportal 
