Washington Post discusses Venezuela's grim future

March 26,2009

The Venezuelan community has been under significant pressure under President Chavez "revolutionary" government. The main Sephardi synagogue was vandalized, Hebraica -a social, sport club and school- was twice intervened by the police, the Israeli Embassy was closed, and anti-israeli and anti-semitic graphite are widespread. Now it has even spread to the performing arts. The state- sponsored Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Orchestra withdrew from performing the acclaimed classic Fiddler on the roof. The Orchestra's conductor claimed," We receive financial aid from the government, and the given the current situation we prefer not to participate in a play that has Jewish content." This anti-semitic action comes as no surprise following the many other recent actions of the Venezuelan Government. In 2004 the government staged an attack on the private Jewish School where police led a search for weapons. During the 2006 UN memorial to Auschwitz victims, Venezuela was the only country who twisted it around in order to make it a forum for the Palestinian plight. During Christmas time, Chavez blamed the "Christ killers" for all of the country's problems.The situation escalated with the recent attack on the synagogue.In March rumors emerged that Chavez was creating an alliance with Hezbollah in order to kidnap Jewish travelers in the international airport for ransom. In any of these cases the message is clear, the situation has gone too far and Chavez needs to be stopped before anything else happens.
While this article was written a few months ago, it continues to stress the dangerous situation that the Jews are living in. Even a simple night of culture, has been stripped away from them. There have not necessarily been headlines about the Jewish community recently, but there has definitely been action going on behind the scenes. As I continue to speak to my family, they tell me the situation is getting worse and worse. There has been a rise in kidnappings and the government is nationalizing companies in an attempt to control the market. Besides the deteriorating situation for the Jews, the economy is collapsing and simple things like milk have started to disappear off of the grocery store shelves. The quality of life has gone down significantly and that is why there is a huge wave of emigration, particularly from the Jewish community.
Link to Original Article: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/03/precarious_future_of_jews_in_venezuela.html