(Tablet) - Ben Cohen - Henrique Capriles, the youthful governor of Miranda state in Venezuela, has launched a campaign to rid the country of Hugo Chavez at the presidential election scheduled for October. Chavez has been pounding away at Capriles' reputation, demonizing him as an agent of capitalism, gringoism, imperialism, and - critically - "Zionism," which for many is interchangeable with "Judaism." Capriles may be a devout Catholic, but he comes from Jewish stock. His mother's family, the Radonskis, were Jewish emigres from Poland; his great-grandparents were exterminated in the Treblinka concentration camp. His father is descended from the long-established Sephardic community on the Caribbean island of Curacao. Venezuela's Jewish community has declined under Chavez from a height of 30,000 to just 9,000.
2012-06-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive