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Venezuelan Jews

Rescuers search a building for earthquake survivors in La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026 (AP/Matias Delacroix)
June 30, 2026, 3:45 pm
Impoverished Venezuelan Jews open synagogues to help shelter hundreds of earthquake victims
5,000-strong Jewish community, already diminished by decades of political turmoil, provides aid while straining depleted resources as rescue efforts continue
By Zev Stub
Damaged buildings are seen three days after earthquakes struck in La Guaira, Venezuela, June 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
June 29, 2026, 6:50 am
3 members of Venezuelan Jewish community confirmed dead in earthquakes, Jewish leader says
President of Venezuela’s largest Ashkenazi congregation says 4 community members still missing, while dozens of families’ homes have been destroyed or rendered unlivable
By Zev Stub and Sue Surkes
A woman holds Israeli and Venezuelan flags in front of the Venezuelan consulate in Miami to show solidarity with the Venezuelan Jewish community after an attack on a Caracas synagogue, February 13, 2009. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images via JTA)
January 9, 2026, 6:58 pm
Relieved to see Maduro deposed, can Venezuela’s Jewish diaspora imagine returning?
An estimated 20,000 Venezuelan Jews fled state-fueled antisemitism during the Chavez era, leaving just 4,000 behind. They’re hesitating to pick up the pieces for now
By Larry Luxner
Pro-government armed civilians monitor shoppers lining up outside a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, January 4, 2026. (AP/Ariana Cubillos)
January 5, 2026, 1:29 am
After Maduro ouster, Venezuela’s embattled Jews watch cautiously from sidelines
Decades of repression from pro-Iran, anti-Zionist regime leave community wary of celebrating US raid, with deposed leader’s deputy now in charge, but exiles hope for regime change
By Zev Stub
Illustrative: People look at a portion of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building that partially collapsed on June 24, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty images via AFP)
October 18, 2021, 3:18 am
Venezuela’s tight-knit Jewish community is still mourning its Surfside victims
After the number of Jews dwindled to roughly 6,000 from a peak of 25,000 in the ’90s, denomination and ethnicity are not dividing lines and most people know each other by name
By Orge Castellano
A cardboard coffin with a body sits on the roof rack of a car before it is taken away to be buried, outside the Teodoro Maldonado Hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Monday, April 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Luis Perez)
April 25, 2020, 2:39 am
Latin American Jews suffer lockdown on religion as virus ravages communities
Jewish leaders describe delicate balance between government steps to halt COVID-19 and religious observance, even as citizens wait out shutdowns and shortages
By Rich Tenorio
Nathalia Coriat moved to Aventura from Caracas two years ago with her family. (Josefin Dolsten/ JTA)
January 13, 2020, 3:25 am
As their former community crumbles, booming Miami is a haven for Venezuelan Jews
A crippled economy and decrease in security has led to an exodus which has seen more well-to-do families settling in Florida, paving the way for a growing Latin-Jewish community
By Josefin Dolsten
Pynchas Brener, December 9, 2019 (Raphael Ahren/Times of Israel)
December 14, 2019, 5:19 am
At 88, Venezuela’s would-be ambassador to Israel can’t wait to get to work
After 44 years as chief rabbi, Pynchas Brener is ready for a new career in diplomacy. But so far, Jerusalem recognizes him only as interim leader Guaido’s ‘special representative’
By Raphael Ahren
Venezuelan actress and model Catherine Fulop gives an interview on November 12, 2018 (Screen grab via YouTube)
May 6, 2019, 9:53 am
Venezuelan actress compares President Maduro’s supporters to kapos
After outcry, Catherine Fulop apologizes for saying Jews were ‘the fierce torturers of their own people’ in interview on Holocaust Remembrance Day
By JTA
Students argue with police officers during a rally in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido and against Nicolas Maduro at Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela, May 2, 2019. (Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images/via JTA)
May 5, 2019, 5:25 am
How Venezuela’s remaining Jews are hanging on amid the crisis
From a height of 25,000 members in the 1990s, the generations-old Jewish community is down to about 6,000 as the country’s political and economic situation reaches a boiling point
By Ben Sales
Venezuelan-American comedian, writer, and actress Joanna Hausmann during an interview in Central Park in New York on April 17, 2019 (Don Emmert / AFP)
April 22, 2019, 1:34 pm
Venezuelan comic of Jewish descent pokes fun at stereotypes
Red-haired tornado of energy Joanna Hausmann likes to explore how puzzled Americans are when she says she’s Latina
By Laura BONILLA
Beit Venezuela administrator Rivka Lobl Mitelberg. (Federico Maccioni/ Times of Israel)
March 24, 2019, 4:25 pm
Jews fleeing Venezuela for Israel face language barriers and work shortages
15,000 Jews have left the South American country in the past decade. For the hundreds who reach the Jewish state, high integration hurdles may mean their journeys have just begun
By Federico Maccioni
Venezuela's self proclaimed president Juan Guaido arrives for a meet with university students at the Central University of Venezuela, in Caracas, February 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
February 12, 2019, 7:40 pm
Venezuelan challenger Guaido says he’s working to renew ties with Israel
Self-proclaimed leader tells Israeli paper talks ‘at their height,’ doesn’t rule out embassy in Jerusalem; Foreign Ministry refuses to comment
By Michael Bachner
A crowd of opposition supporters listen to Venezuela's National Assembly head and the country's self-proclaimed "acting president" Juan Guaido (out of frame), at Bolivar Square in Chacao, eastern Caracas, on January 25, 2019. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP)
February 1, 2019, 11:42 pm
Venezuelan Jews accept Israeli recognition of opposition leader: Chief rabbi
Isaac Cohen’s statement seems to contradict his community’s policy of neutrality in the power struggle
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a former lawmaker, greets supporters during a vigil in honor of those who have been killed during clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
January 30, 2019, 12:19 am
Top Venezuelan opposition figure asks Jewish expats to return
Maria Corina Machado thanks Netanyahu for recognizing Juan Guaido as interim president; says she hopes many who were forced to leave will now come back to rebuild nation
By ToI Staff
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