In light of last week's attack on a synagogue in Caracas, Venezuela, we are linking to the following testimony given by David J. Myers, a political science professor from Pennsylvania State, before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on July 16, 2008. (source)
The position of Venezuela's Jewish community is a special human rights concern. The Community's population continues to decline as a result of severe political and economic instability in the country. This has led to some hostility being directed at Venezuelan Jews, of which there are probably no more than 15,000 remaining out of a total population of close to 26 million. More than half of the Jewish population of Venezuela lives in Caracas. The other large community is in the oil center of Maracaibo. At its peak, in the late 1980's, Venezuela's Jewish community numbered 30.000.
Relations between the Jewish community and the government of President Chávez were strained from the start. Few businesspersons from the Community supported Chavez in the 1998 presidential election campaign and early in his government President Chávez cultivated a friendship with Norberto Ceresolei, an Argentine sociologist with anti-Semitic leanings. The situation worsened after the United States invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which President Chávez denounced. His opposition to the Bush Administration's policies led him to seek out special relationships with states hostile to the United States. Close ties with Iran developed, and these ties led to increasing criticism of Israel and her supporters in Venezuela. It was not long before President Chavez was echoing the Iranian line that Jews were likely to blame for the 9/11 bombings in the United States.In November of 2004, the Venezuelan Investigative Police searched the Jewish Day School in Caracas, claiming to have reports of weapons cached on the school grounds. According to media reports, rumors of an Israeli connection to the assassination of a Venezuelan federal prosecutor prompted the search. (The federal judge who issued the search warrant was also leading the investigation into the prosecutor's death.) The police found nothing. However, their 3-hour search disrupted the school day and alarmed parents. Leaders of the Jewish community protested to President Chávez following the incident. The government's anti-Semitic orientation intensified following Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 2006. An outstanding feature of this discourse was the blending of old and new anti-Semitic stereotypes using religious themes (Judas, deicide, usurers, etc.), as well as modern ones (Jews as capitalists, Zionist racists, etc.). Anti-Semitic leaflets also appeared in the waiting room of the Interior and Justice Ministries. Nevertheless, President Chávez maintains that he has nothing against Jews as a group. His concern is with Zionist Jews who support Israeli imperialism.
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