14 The Jewish Herald • Friday, March 22, 2013 XX V
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A huge poster showing the eyes of the late leftist leader Hugo Chavez in downtown Caracas reads, “We are all Chavez”
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For members of dwindling community, the uncertainty is particularly unnerving “It’s a beautiful prison,” said a
S H EF L ER
ARACAS, Venezuela — The eyes of a dead man stare
at visitors passing through immigration at Simon Bolivar International Airport. They follow drivers making the trek along the tortuous four-lane highway through a mountain range leading to town. And they reappear at public spaces throughout this city. It’s easy to be spooked by
the ubiquitous image of Hugo Chavez, the larger-than-life leftist leader who died earlier this month from an unspecified form of cancer. But in Venezue- la, it has been the reality since he came to power in 1999. “It never used to be this way
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with presidents before him,” said David Bittan, the owner of a taxi company whose cousin of the same name is the president of the Venezuelan Jewish um- brella group CAIV. “They start- ed putting up these posters ev- erywhere after he was first elect- ed. It’s in line with Communist Party propaganda.” With Chavez gone, this di-
vided nation finds itself at a crossroads. Will Nicolas Ma- duro, Chavez’s handpicked suc- cessor, carry on “until victo- ry,” as the posters of his polit- ical patron promise? Or might he chart a new path, taking a more conciliatory approach to relations with the United States and with the business commu- nity? Or could opposition lead-
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er Henrique Capriles Radon- ski, the Catholic grandson of Jewish Holocaust survivors, surprise everyone by winning the presidential election set for April 14? For members of Venezuela’s
dwindling Jewish communi- ty, the political uncertainty is particularly unnerving. Dur- ing Chavez’s 14 years in pow- er, their numbers have dropped from 25,000 to about 9,000 to- day, driven abroad by econom- ic instability, antiSemitism in State-owned media and ram- pant crime that made Caracas a serious contender for murder capital of the world. “We have great institutions,
we have a great school, we have a wonderful Hebraica,” said Efraim Lapscher, the vice pres- ident of CAIV, referring to the sprawling community center that is the heart of Jewish life here. “We, our fathers and our grandfathers, built this with a lot of sweat, ideology and hard work. And it’s painful for us to see them slowly emptying out.” Jewish life in Caracas revolves
around the Hebraica, the com- pound at the foot of the Avila Mountain that is also home to the Jewish school and a grow- ing number of communal insti- tutions. Past the heavily guard- ed gate and high walls is the lush campus with a pool, soccer pitch, tennis courts, gym, food court — even a bank. On a warm day, children gambol by the pool while their parents lay on deck chairs.
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representative of an international Jewish organization based in Ca- racas. “Members of the commu- nity live their entire lives there without leaving because of fear of crime outside. Children are so used to being cooped up that when they visit Israel, they call their parents and say, ‘Guess what, I’m on a bus!’ That’s an exciting experience for them.” The sense of siege hinders
the willingness of Venezuelan Jews to publicly criticize their government, though there is little love lost for the president who severed diplomatic ties with Israel while embracing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lapscher talks about the community’s post- Chavez prospects with deliber- ate caution so as not to be con- strued as taking sides. “Sometime in the near future
we’ll have elections and we can change the government. Or the same government will stay but we will have the same issues,” he said. “We will try to give the best Jewish life possible and combat antiSemitism if it comes from the government, its supporters or from the outside.” Asked about the tense politi-
cal situation, most Venezuelan Jews direct questions to commu- nity leaders, fearing unwelcome repercussions. An exception is Sammy Eppel, a Jewish colum- nist who writes for the opposi- tion paper El Nacional. Eppel has paid a heavy price for his
Photo Gil Shefler
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