Students at the Ma’or HaTorah yeshiva in Caracas knew something was afoot Tuesday afternoon when bodyguards driving bullet-proof vehicles started showing up unexpectedly at the gate, whisking teenagers from wealthy families to the safety of their homes. “After the second and third came, we realized this was serious,” Aron Misadon, a 16-year-old student at the…
For more than a decade, Venezuelan Jews have been holding their breath, subject to the whims of a mercurial president who used his bully pulpit to intimidate, rail against Israel and embrace Iran. There was the police raid of a Caracas school in 2004, allegedly to search for evidence in the high-profile murder case of…
Playing basketball with locals and shuttling between slums, Venezuela’s opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, exuded youth and energy in last year’s punishing presidential race. Yet he ended up exhausted, quaffing Red Bull to keep going – and ultimately devastated at his loss to Hugo Chavez. Now Capriles, 40, has to do it all again. The governor…
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s death in Caracas today will likely amplify turbulence that’s characterized life in the South American nation since his ascension to power in 1999. Friends I met during a visit to Caracas last month tell me everything – the economy, social stability, livelihoods, diplomatic relations – could be ripe for upheaval. I’m…
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles called for unity among Venezuelans and offered condolences to Hugo Chavez’s family and supporters after the president’s death on Tuesday. “At such a difficult time, we must show our deep love and respect to our Venezuela,” he Tweeted. “My solidarity to all the family and followers of President Hugo Chavez. We…
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died after a two-year battle with cancer, ending the socialist leader’s 14-year rule of the South American country, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised speech. The flamboyant 58-year-old leader had undergone four operations in Cuba for a cancer that was first detected in his pelvic region in mid-2011….
The Venezuelan human rights group Espacio Anna Frank says its goal is to promote tolerance by teaching the life story of the teenage diarist murdered by the Nazis. But is there something sinister lurking behind the organization’s benevolent facade? SEBIN, the Venezuelan intelligence service, seems to believe so. According to a dossier attributed to SEBIN,…
The Latin American Jewish Congress is holding its plenary meeting in Venezuela “to strengthen the link with a community that has difficulties,” according to the organization’s executive director. World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder is scheduled to attend the regional meeting in the Venezuelan capital, which begins Sunday, Latin American Jewish Congress Executive Director Claudio…
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