Jewish in South America. Part IV

                      Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is currently home to the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean, with over 3,000 Jews supporting four synagogues; three in the capital city of San Juan: one each Reform, Conservative and Chabad, as well as a Satmer community in the western part of the island in the town of Mayaguez known as Toiras Jesed for Minyanim information.

Many Jews managed to settle in the island as secret Jews and settled in the island's remote mountainous interior as did the early Jews in all Spanish and Portuguese colonies. In the late 1800s during the Spanish-American War many Jewish American servicemen gathered together with local Puerto Rican Jews at the Old Telegraph building in Ponce to hold religious services. Many Central and Eastern European Jews came after World War II.

                          Uruguay

The New Christian presence in Uruguay may date back to the 16th century, yet few documents relating to converso history during the Colonial period are extant. In 1726, the governor of Montevideo called upon the first settlers to be "persons of worth, of good habits, repute and family, so that they be not inferior nor of Moorish or Jewish race." The first record of open Jewish settlement is in the 1770s.

With the end of the Inquisition in 1813, the political and social system of Uruguay evolved to a greater level of openness and tolerance. This openness provided the basis for continued Jewish residence beginning in the 19th century. Some Uruguayan Jews later left for the bordering countries of Argentina or Brazil. In 1929, the Ashkenazi Jewish community set up an educational network. Jewish schools have been functioning in various parts of the country since the 1920s.

In the 1930s, there were significant Fascist and liberal anti-immigration elements that opposed all foreign immigration, weighing heavily on Jewish immigration. Jews were singled out and many people opposed Jewish inclusion in Uruguayan society. Today, the Jewish community of Uruguay is made up of Polish–Russian families. 75% are Ashkenazi, which 11% are Sephardic.

                         Venezuela

The history of Venezuela New Christians most likely began in the middle of the 17th century, when some records suggest that groups of conversos lived in Caracas and Maracaibo. At the turn of the 19th century, Venezuela and Colombia were fighting against their Spanish colonizers in wars of independence. Simon Bolivar, Venezuela's liberator, found refuge and material support for his army in the homes of Jews from Curaçao.

According to a national census taken at the end of the 19th century, 247 Jews lived in Venezuela as citizens in 1891. In 1907, the Israelite Beneficial Society, which became the Israelite Society of Venezuela in 1919, was created as an organization to bring all the Jews who were scattered through various cities and towns throughout the country together.

By 1943, nearly 600 German Jews had entered the country, with several hundred more becoming citizens after World War II. By 1950, the community had grown to around 6,000 people, even in the face of immigration restrictions.

Currently, there are more than 35,000 Jews living in Venezuela, with more than half living in the capital Caracas. Venezuelan Jewry is split equally between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. All but one of the country's 15 synagogues are Orthodox. The majority of Venezuela's Jews are members of the middle class.