Why Jews Are Fleeing Venezuela

Government anti-Semitism, Chávez style.

12:05 PM, Feb 28, 2012 • By JAIME DAREMBLUM

Much like Fidel Castro, his ideological soulmate, Hugo Chávez is fond of denouncing his critics as “fascists” and “Nazis,” regardless of whether those critics are U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill, heads of state in Europe, or opposition presidential candidates in Venezuela. Yet in his militarization of society, his promulgation of chauvinistic nationalism, and (above all) his persistent use of anti-Semitic demagoguery, Chávez himself is much closer to 1930s-style fascism than any of his democratic opponents.

Consider the ongoing efforts to smear Henrique Capriles, the man who will represent the Coalition for Democratic Unity (MUD) in Venezuela’s October 2012 presidential election. Capriles, the governor of Miranda state, is a practicing Catholic, but his grandparents were European Jews who escaped Nazism, and his great grandparents were murdered at Treblinka. Immediately after he won the MUD primary vote on February 12, the pro-Chávez state-run media began attacking him with a fusillade of anti-Semitic propaganda.

Prominent Jewish leaders swiftly condemned the bigotry and demanded action from Caracas. “We urge President Chávez to put an end to this campaign that will surely become more threatening as the elections date approaches,” declared Shimon Samuels, director for international relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. 

“The people of Venezuela should forcefully reject the tactics of the Chávez regime to recycle classical anti-Semitic canards branding Jews as disloyal, as a menace to the values of the country, as capitalists responsible for the misery of others, and as being part of an international Zionist Lobby,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. 

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