During the reign of Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) 1999-2013, political officials spread anti-Semitic disinformation and the Jewish community of 20,000 dwindled down to just 2,000 due to attacks on synagogues and acts of aggression from their own countrymen.
According to the latest statistics compiled by the World Bank, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, and Uruguay are the top five nations that have the highest fiscal debt.
The economic situation for the 105,000 Jews living in Brazil remains volatile. In 2019, there was a depreciation of the local currency, Covid-19 showed up in 2020 with over 5 million people diagnosed and 150,000+ succumbing to the disease. These realities have caused many Jews to question the future of their children in relation to economic, health and personal security conditions now eroding in their country.
Argentina is home to approximately 180,000 Jews, of whom 150,000 reside in the capital city of Buenos Aires, considered to be a major center of Jewish culture, education, and inspiration throughout Latin America.
As of March 2021 a total of 2.2 million people were confirmed to have been infected, with 52,880 people known to have died because of the Covid-19 virus. The combination of a difficult economic situation, future uncertainty, fear of anti-Semitism, coupled with the epidemic of COVID-19 causes people to want to immigrate quickly.
Considering these conditions, Latin American Jews from both Argentina and Brazil are eagerly looking for any flight that can bring them to Israel. However, some have been canceled at the last minute with multiple closures of Israel’s airport. According to the Israeli government forecast, if the skies open, the number of immigrants from Latin America will increase by a significant percentage in 2021.
Your continued financial support will help make the dream of Aliyah a reality for Latin American Jews in 2021.
• Your one-time gift of $7,000 can bring a Latin American family of four to their homeland of Israel.
• Your one-time gift of $1720 can help us bring one Latin American Jew to Israel.
• You can pair your smaller one-time gift or recurring donation with other donors to help make the dream of Aliyah to Israel a reality!
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