Venezuela’s Jews Fear Backlash As Maduro Falls, Choosing Caution Over Celebration

As jubilant scenes unfolded across Venezuela after the US-led removal of President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, the country’s small and long-besieged Jewish community responded with restraint rather than public celebration.

Many Jews in Caracas privately view the regime change with hope, but years of repression have taught them to keep a low profile, wary that overt joy could invite retaliation, members of the community told the Times of Israel.

“Everyone is very happy about the news, but they have to be very cautious,” Daniel Behar, an Israeli resident who left Venezuela two decades ago as the government tightened its authoritarian grip told the Israeli news outlet. “There is fear that the entire community might face repercussions later on.”

Venezuelans across the globe, including large numbers who fled the country to escape Maduro’s rule, openly welcomed news of his capture by US forces in a surprise pre-dawn operation. For Jewish Venezuelans still inside the country, however, memories of intimidation and violence temper any impulse to rejoice.

Past threats by officials to seize Jewish schools, restaurants, and communal institutions have reinforced fears that celebrating too openly could provoke renewed hostility.

“The community’s chief rabbi has warned many times not to publicly oppose the government,” Behar said. “There was always a fear that if something happens, people will blame Israel and the Jews.”

Jewish life in Venezuela stretches back at least two centuries, to the period surrounding independence from Spain in 1821. While some historians believe forcibly converted Jewish Conversos may have arrived even earlier, documented communities emerged in coastal cities such as Coro and Caracas, where Sephardic Jews became active in trade and commerce.

The community expanded further in the 20th century through additional immigration waves, eventually reaching between 25,000 and 45,000 Jews before Hugo Chávez rose to power in 1999, according to various estimates.

That number collapsed in the years that followed, as political persecution and economic collapse drove millions of Venezuelans abroad — a trend that accelerated after Maduro succeeded Chávez in 2013. An estimated quarter of the country’s population left over two decades, while the Jewish community shrank to roughly 4,000 to 6,000 people.

“This used to be the richest country in South America, and one of the wealthiest in the world,” said Arie Kacowicz, the Chaim Weizmann Chair in International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “The Jewish community was quite wealthy and generally pro-Israel, but ten years after Chávez came to power, he broke off diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009. Since then, reports of antisemitism have been sporadic.”

Much of the antisemitism seen in Venezuela today originates within the political leadership and is closely tied to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with state-controlled media often deploying anti-Zionist language that echoes classic antisemitic themes.

“The revolutionary left-wing government has an intrinsic distrust and hatred for the Jewish community, but they aren’t persecuted for being Jewish,” said Gustavo Aristegui, a Spanish diplomat and analyst who has written extensively on Venezuela. “They are persecuted mainly for being against the regime and its relationships with Iran and Hezbollah.”

Behar agreees. “Antisemitism in Venezuela is not the same as in Europe,” he said. “It’s mostly tied to the Palestinian issue, and it is encouraged by the dictatorship. The people on the streets have bigger problems to worry about.”

Still, the aggressively anti-Israel policies of both Chávez and Maduro, combined with a long record of brutal crackdowns on dissent, have left the Jewish community feeling persistently exposed.

“You have to remember that we are talking about one of the most violent countries in the world,” Aristegui said. “The regime has used a constant threat of violence to repress its people.”

Although violent crime has dropped since peaking in the mid-2010s, Venezuela continues to record one of the world’s highest homicide rates — a reality Aristegui says the government exploits to silence critics.

“Often, what looks like a mugging in the street, or a home robbery that leads to a whole family being killed, is really a political assassination,” he alleged. “The Jewish community is particularly vulnerable to these attacks, and that’s why you only see them speak out against the regime after they have left the country.”

Aristegui added that Venezuela has cultivated deep ties with Iran and Hezbollah, allegedly using drug trafficking and money laundering networks to bankroll terror activity. He accused the country of hosting Hezbollah training camps and operating large-scale illegal Captagon trafficking rings.

“Venezuela is Tehran’s most important ally in Latin America,” Aristegui said. “Its 27-year relationship with Hezbollah and Iran has been very profitable.”

“Hopefully this will all end with the fall of the regime,” he added.

Venezuela’s path forward remains uncertain. According to Aristegui, heavily armed, state-backed militias continue to patrol the streets, suggesting that stability is far from guaranteed.

Washington has announced plans to assume control of Venezuela’s oil fields and invest heavily in modernizing production, pledging to revive the country’s most valuable economic asset. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has meanwhile been named interim president to ensure what authorities describe as “administrative continuity.”

Jewish leaders were alarmed when Rodríguez claimed the US operation against Maduro carried “a Zionist tint.” Aristegui described her as “one of the most dangerous members of the current regime.”

“The Jewish population is on standby,” said Samy Yecutieli, a member of the Security Forum of the Israel–Latin America Chamber of Commerce. “Everyone is staying low-profile. The regime controls everything, and repression could still be very aggressive.”

Even so, Yecutieli said there are cautious grounds for hope. Opposition figure María Corina Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has emerged as a possible future leader and has voiced support for restoring diplomatic ties with Israel.

“That would be very good for Israel and for the local Jewish community,” Yecutieli said.