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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a very outspoken critic of Israel and has openly embraced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a fellow opponent of the US and the Jewish state.
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BUENOS AIRES (EJP)---About 30 Jewish families in Venezuela will immigrate to Colombia in 2010 because of concern about the policies of President Hugo Chavez and also because of the energetic and economic crisis which affects the country, a Jewish leader in Bogota said.
Marcos Peckel, chairman of Bogota’s Israeli Center, told the Argentinian Jewish News Agency that a special committee has been set up to receive the Venezuelan Jews.
He said the Colombian Jewish community is worried about the worsening of relations with Venezuela.
"We are still worried about the situation in Venezuela and there are members from the Jewish community that are already living in Colombia," said Peckel who stressed that the immigration of Venezuelan Jews “isn’t massive.”
The special committee will help "logistically" the families and university students that come from Venezuela.
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Miami has also become the exile capital for Venezuelan Jews, just as it has been for Cuban Jews.
As it happened in Cuba under Fidel Castro, the number of Jews in Venezuela has dramatically decreased since Hugo Chavez came to power.
According to some sources, the Venezuelan community is currently down to 9,000 members from a peak of 20-30,000.
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"We help them find an apartment, we show them videos from schools, the synagogue and the sports club. We also help them get a cell phone or open a bank account," he said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a very outspoken critic of Israel and has openly embraced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a fellow opponent of the US and the Jewish state.
Earlier last year, it was reported that Chavez had begun to allow the Hezbollah Lebanese militia to operate in Venezuela.