This article was originally posted by The Latin American Herald
A few days ago, The Jerusalem Post reported that, in the past decade, the Venezuelan Jewish community has been cut by half. Today, only 9,500 Jews remain of the 18,000 who lived in the country in 1999.
According to Salomón Cohen, the president of the Confederation of Israeli Associations of Venezuela, the main causes of the exodus apparently include: (1) an economy in decline; (2) the lack of security; and (3) anti-Semitic attacks (encouraged from within the Presidency of the Republic).
The Jerusalem Post fell short, however. The exodus of Venezuelans is not limited to the Jews. It also includes hundreds of thousands of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of people from Europe and the Middle East and anti-Castrist Cubans who have helped, with their dedication and work, to build a prosperous, democratic Venezuela.
Ironically, this generation of Venezuelans that is now leaving the country are descendents of people who fled their homelands for the same reasons that today are driving their children and grandchildren to emigrate.
The Venezuelans who are leaving are, in their majority, young professionals, technicians or productive individuals who have much to give to the progress of the country. Even entire families have left for different reasons, but all of them have to do with their rejection of a retrograde regime that offers its citizens no opportunities for work, a better standard of living or security.
The web page “mequieroir.com” says that, according to “recent opinion polls, more than 43% of the Venezuelan population would leave if they had the chance to do so, an indicator that goes up to 53% when young people under 24 are asked.”