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Reading Venezuela's Enigmatic President

by Julie Drucker

"There is no anti-Semitism in Venezuela, we don't know what that is," declared Bernardo Alvarez, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, in his recent two-day trip to Los Angeles to discuss his country's Bolivarian Revolution and the changing political landscape of Latin America. In the past, Venezuelan Jews would have agreed. However, events over the past few years have caused the local and international Jewish communities to revisit their opinion.

Two years ago, an unsubstantiated armed government search of a Jewish day school terrified parents and children.

There were no accusations of anti-Semitism, but the Jewish community was on edge. On Christmas Eve 2005, though, President Hugo Ch vez made remarks that set off a furor.

"The world has an offer for everybody, but some minorities," he stated, "the descendants of those who crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones who threw out [South American liberator Simon] Bolivar ... they took possession of all the planet's gold ... concentrated the riches in a few hands; less than 10 percent of the world population owns more than half of the riches of the world."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center immediately condemned the speech, demanding an apology for what it termed Chavez's invocation of the "canard of the decade and the association of Jews with wealth." Separately, about 250 Venezuelan intellectuals protested the remarks with a full-page ad in the major Venezuelan newspaper.

However, the major Jewish confederation, known by its acronym CAIV, supported by the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress, issued its own statement - criticizing the Wiesenthal Center for jumping to conclusions and acting without consulting the local community: Supporters of Ch vez explained away the anti-Semitic interpretations of his comment by citing the president's adherence to "Liberation Theology," which views Jesus as a socialist and the elite classes responsible for his crucifixion.

The result was utter confusion. Traditional roles and relationships are changing in Venezuela, as in the rest of Latin America.

Two polarized camps are emerging, aggressively challenging the status quo: one aligned with the West and the other with the left. Meanwhile, local Jewish communities walk a tightrope, trying to balance patriotism, respect for their leaders and issues of security.

The backdrop for these developments is Ch vez's Bolivarian Revolution.

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