Antisemitism in Venezuela

Antisemitism in Venezuela has taken different forms in different periods. Colonial restrictions and episodes of mob violence affected early Jewish settlement, while 20th-century accounts generally described a climate of coexistence interrupted by discriminatory immigration policies and occasional incidents. Since 1999, reports have focused more heavily on government-linked rhetoric, state and pro-government media, political conspiracy theories, attacks on Jewish sites, and pressure on Jews to answer for Israeli policy.[7][3]

Jewish settlement encountered hostility during the colonial period. A Jewish settlement established at Tucacas around 1708 built 17 houses and a synagogue, but Spanish authorities destroyed the synagogue and homes in 1720 and forced the inhabitants to leave. The broader ban on foreign and Jewish establishments in Spain's colonies was widely enforced.[7]

The most significant early episode of anti-Jewish violence occurred in Coro, which had welcomed Sephardic immigrants from Curaçao. Creole residents rioted in 1831 against Jewish merchants' commercial success, and in 1832 the local government imposed a security bond specifically on them. During the 1840s, local authorities and the military garrison increasingly expected interest-free loans from the community. After the national government advised Jews not to finance unauthorized military levies, hostile handbills blamed them for local hardship and threatened their businesses.[8]

On January 30, 1855, Coro's military command dismissed troops after failing to meet payroll. Two nights after an intimidating handbill circulated, about 30 armed men attacked Jewish homes and shops. The remaining Jews fled aboard a ship sent by Curaçao's government.[8] Sources disagree on the number displaced: My Jewish Learning gives 168, while the Jewish Encyclopedia reports about 300 people plundered and maltreated.[8][9] Venezuela agreed in 1858 to pay damages and guarantee a safe return; the Jewish Encyclopedia says the negotiated indemnity was paid in 1859.[8][9]

Another outbreak against foreigners in Coro in June 1902 again drove Jews to Curaçao. The island's governor sent a Dutch warship that first evacuated 80 Jewish women and children and later returned for the remaining refugees.[9]

In April 1975, Venezuela's Jewish community complained after Margarita Island's Diario del Caribe published allegations of a Jewish plot to control local commerce. Island authorities acknowledged the material was inflammatory but said it did not represent the population's views. In 1977, the community protested appearances by Hussein Triki, described in a contemporary account as a Tunisian former Nazi collaborator known for antisemitic activity.[10]

The Jewish Virtual Library describes antisemitism as not widespread before the later 20th century but says anti-Israel and anti-Zionist propaganda became more prominent after the 1967 Six-Day War.[7] A 1978 American Jewish Year Book account characterized the general climate as one of nondiscrimination while recording occasional incidents and concern about virulently anti-Jewish literature sold in Caracas bookstores.[10] Venezuelan governments also restricted Jewish immigration during the first half of the 20th century, with those restrictions remaining until the end of the 1950s.[11]

Hugo Chávez's presidency marked a change in the Jewish community's political environment. A 2010 ADL report said antisemitic sentiment had previously been negligible and characterized contemporary antisemitism as, in its assessment, a byproduct of government hostility toward Israel.[3] The Jewish Virtual Library quotes Rabbi Pynchas Brener linking alliances with Iran and Hezbollah to greater rhetorical hostility. It also records Chávez saying that “minorities such as the descendants of those who crucified Christ” had become owners of global wealth, while community leader Fred Pressner said he did not believe Chávez was referring to Jews.[11]

The State Department's 2007 religious-freedom report said the president, officials, and government-affiliated media made antisemitic comments that had a spillover effect into wider society. It recorded increased vandalism, caricatures, intimidation, and attacks on Jewish institutions.[12] During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Chávez accused Israelis of applying to Palestinians and Lebanese “the same treatment they have so criticized about the Holocaust” and described Israeli conduct as being carried out “in the fascist manner of Hitler.”[12] The pro-Chávez program La Hojilla and the newspaper Vea repeatedly carried antisemitic material, according to the same report.

In May 2004, the Tiferet Israel Synagogue was attacked after a government-sponsored rally supporting the Palestinians.[11] That November, police searched a Jewish day school following reports that weapons were hidden there, reportedly amid rumors of an Israeli connection to a prosecutor's assassination. Police found nothing, but the three-hour search disrupted classes and alarmed parents.[13] A Tel Aviv University institute later called the raid “perhaps the most serious incident” in the community's history.[2] The State Department also recorded antisemitic graffiti, threatening calls, and statements by senior officials supporting Saddam Hussein and Islamist movements.[14]

CAIV vice president David Bittán said in 2008 that an official-sector campaign accused Jewish community members of leading the April 2002 coup attempt. He also cited attacks in state-linked media and two police raids on Jewish schools.[11] In 2007, SWAT officers searched the Hebraica Moral Y Luces Herzl-Bialik school for ammunition while parents were dropping off children; Michel Hausmann recalled that the official character of the operation frightened the community.[15] A 2006 ADL report, summarized by Ynet, accused Chávez and his government of using tropes about Jewish control, financial influence, and responsibility for world problems.[16]

Chávez met World Jewish Congress leaders in 2008, denied being antisemitic, and offered to work with the presidents of Brazil and Argentina to condemn antisemitism.[17] At the same time, Jewish organizations were protesting a police raid on their community center and graffiti telling Jews to leave. The ADL's 2009 report described antisemitism as a political tool fostered at high levels of government. It recorded Holocaust comparisons, conspiracy theories about Jewish or Zionist control, challenges to Jewish loyalty, and calls for boycotts or expulsions, leaving the approximately 15,000-member community feeling “insecure and vulnerable.”[18]

The most widely reported physical attack occurred on the night of January 30–31, 2009, when about 15 armed men broke into Tiferet Israel Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Caracas, and remained for approximately five hours. They tied up a guard, vandalized the Torah room, stole computers and administrative documents, and left graffiti including “Damn the Jews,” “Jews out of here,” and “Israel assassins.”[1] A contemporaneous Ynet report said the attackers threatened the guard, opened the Torah ark, and threw Torah scrolls and ornaments onto the floor.[19]

Antisemitic graffiti and threats had increased in the preceding weeks. The synagogue was spray-painted on January 8, banners appeared in Maracay on January 23, and Jewish organizations received numerous threatening calls. Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with Israel on January 14.[20]

Chávez condemned the attack but suggested the political “oligarchy” might be responsible.[1] After a February 4 meeting between CAIV and Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro, government officials condemned the attack, and Chávez promised to protect the community. Seven police agents and four civilians were arrested, and charges were filed against 11 alleged perpetrators.[21][20] A 2010 ADL report said the investigation had not reached a conclusive result.[3] By the end of 2012, seven defendants had received prison sentences, while proceedings against the remaining four continued.[22]

On February 26, 2009, unknown assailants threw a small explosive device at a Jewish community center in Caracas. No suspects had been charged by the end of the State Department's reporting period.[20] This correction avoids identifying the target as Beit Shmuel or asserting damage details not supported by the cited WJC page.

About 50 people gathered outside the Mariperez Synagogue on November 22, 2012, chanting anti-Jewish slogans and throwing fireworks toward the building.[22] Following increased incidents during and after the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict, antisemitic and anti-Zionist graffiti was painted on the AIV del Este Synagogue on December 30, 2014.[23] In a separate cultural incident in 2009, the state-sponsored Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Orchestra declined to participate in a production of Fiddler on the Roof; a spokesperson cited government funding and Chávez's position on the Gaza conflict as reasons to avoid a play with Jewish content.[15]

Antisemitic rhetoric was also deployed against political opponents with Jewish ancestry. After Henrique Capriles Radonski won the opposition presidential primary in February 2012, a Venezuelan National Radio article titled “The Enemy is Zionism” portrayed Zionism as an “ideology of terror” and formed part of a state-media campaign depicting Capriles, a practicing Catholic of Jewish ancestry, as a secret Zionist. A government-sponsored newspaper also associated him with Caiaphas and Hitler. Chávez called Capriles a “pig,” which some Jewish community members interpreted as thinly veiled antisemitism.[22]

The pattern continued under Maduro. In February 2019, Maduro said Juan Guaidó's inner circle contained CIA agents serving “American and Zionist” interests. Maduro-aligned political organizations also alleged Israeli involvement in U.S. military activity and an imperialist-Zionist plot against the Bolivarian revolution. The ADL noted that similar allegations had targeted Capriles and David Smolansky, both of Jewish heritage.[24]

PSUV vice president Diosdado Cabello called Smolansky a “Zionist” and “fascist.” After criticism, Cabello denied referring to Smolansky's Jewish roots and instead invoked the “Zionist mafia he represented.”[25] Smolansky reported increased online threats after the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.[26]

In August 2024, following protests over Venezuela's disputed July 28 election, Maduro claimed “international Zionism” financed a coup attempt and controlled social networks, satellites, and power.[5] U.S. Special Envoy Deborah Lipstadt condemned the allegation as an antisemitic conspiracy trope.[11]

Reports during Nicolás Maduro's rule continued to document government-linked conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish rhetoric. The 2020 State Department religious-freedom report described regime-controlled or pro-regime media linking Jews and Israel to COVID-19. It also said regime figures continued to trivialize or deny the Holocaust and noted the appointment of Luis Fuenmayor Toro, described as known for questioning the Holocaust's existence, to the National Electoral Council.[27]

In 2021, Freddy Bernal, described by the State Department as the regime's “shadow governor” of Táchira State, called for the downfall of the “murderous Zionist State of Israel” after fighting between Israel and Hamas.[28] The 2022 State Department report recorded a regime video that called the 1994 AMIA Jewish Center bombing in Buenos Aires a “false positive,” implying it was not a terrorist attack. CAIV also condemned broadcaster Esteban Trapiello after he questioned the Holocaust and expressed a desire to ask Hitler why he had not finished what he started.[25]

During the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict, the ADL documented graffiti at a Caracas subway station reading, “Do good to the country, kill a Jew,” as well as swastikas elsewhere in the city.[29] Maduro compared Gaza to Auschwitz and called on Jews to condemn Israel's operation. A broader 2014 report said government bodies, ministries, the National Assembly, and state-linked media promoted or amplified rhetoric against Israel, Zionism, and Jews.[23]

In October 2022, media reported a Nazi-themed birthday party at a Caracas restaurant involving swastikas and Nazi salutes; the attorney general appointed a prosecutor to investigate. That year, the municipalities of Chacao, Baruta, and El Hatillo issued a manifesto endorsing the IHRA definition of antisemitism and urging Holocaust education in primary schools.[25]

After the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the State Department recorded antisemitic graffiti, protest chants calling for attacks on Jews, and march signs equating Zionism with Nazism and Gaza with the Warsaw Ghetto. Jewish community members reported dozens of virulently antisemitic accounts on X, which were subsequently banned, while police were deployed to protect synagogues from protesters.[26] On December 27, Maduro-aligned commentator Alberto Aranguibel wrote that Hitler had not deserved to die so prematurely; Jorge Rodriguez condemned the statement while also denouncing Netanyahu's Zionism.[26]

In January 2026, interim president Delcy Rodríguez described Maduro's removal as having a “Zionist tint.” The American Jewish Committee characterized the remark as echoing the antisemitic rhetoric of her predecessors.[30] AJC also reported that Jewish institutions had limited public expressions of support for Israel out of fear of government reprisals, particularly after October 7, 2023.[31]

Venezuela's Jewish population has declined substantially, although estimates vary by source and year. The Jewish Virtual Library placed the community at approximately 25,000 in the mid-1990s, and a 2006 ADL report cited a similar figure.[11][16] For 2012, the State Department estimated approximately 9,000, while World Jewish Congress material cited demographer Sergio DellaPergola's estimate of about 7,300.[22][32]

A 2019 Jewish Review of Books report said 6,000 or fewer Jews remained in Caracas and that approximately 70 percent of the city's Jewish population had left during the preceding decade.[33] The 2020 State Department report cited a CAIV estimate of 6,000 and media estimates of 5,000, while the WJC also listed about 6,000 for 2020.[27][32] Later State Department reports cited approximately 10,000 in 2021, 2023, and 2024.[28][5] AJC estimated 3,000–5,000 in January 2026, while a contemporaneous Ynet report gave approximately 4,000.[30][6] These estimates are not directly comparable and should not be treated as a single consistent census.

AJC characterized antisemitic rhetoric from Venezuelan leaders as a contributor to Jewish emigration while acknowledging that the wider political, economic, and social crisis drove an exodus of millions of Venezuelans of all backgrounds.[30] The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States denied that Jews were targeted, said Venezuela opposed discrimination, and claimed some emigrants were returning.[34]

Community assessments have differed. David Bittán described state-media hostility and police raids, while Elias Farache said the government tried to respect Jewish religious life. Journalist Sammy Eppel argued that Jews were leaving largely because of the broader economic crisis and had not been particularly targeted.[11] Dina Siegel Vann of AJC distinguished government-linked antisemitism from public attitudes, saying, “Venezuelans are not anti-Semitic” and that hostility “was promoted from the top.”[4]

Those remaining in 2019 were described as vigilant about security and cautious about their movements.[33] The WJC says Venezuelan Jews continue to practice Judaism freely and openly despite persistent antisemitism.[32] CAIV representatives also told U.S. officials that Maduro-aligned figures suspected Venezuelan Jews of maintaining direct connections to the White House and placing U.S. interests above Venezuela's.[27]

Interpretations of specific political statements remain contested. Jewish advocacy organizations and U.S. officials characterized numerous statements as antisemitic, while Venezuelan officials denied targeting Jews. Jewish Chavista Levy Alter Alto argued that Chávez's rhetoric criticized Israel's government rather than expressing hatred of Jews.[35] Some community members said officials used “Zionist” as a substitute for “Jewish” to mask antisemitism, while others maintained a distinction between political anti-Zionism and anti-Jewish hostility.[27]

Responsibility and motive for the January 2009 Tiferet Israel attack were also disputed. Chávez blamed political opponents, while a later account said the assault was presented as the work of a criminal gang rather than an antisemitic organization. Jewish leaders placed it within a broader climate of explicitly anti-Jewish threats and rhetoric.[1][36]

The underlying incidents, statements, graffiti, arrests, and attacks are documented, but broader conclusions about their prevalence, causes, and relationship to state policy often represent assessments by the State Department, advocacy organizations, officials, or community representatives. Population estimates likewise vary substantially by date and methodology.[32][6]