Behind the Headlines Central American Jews Worried About Rise-in Political Violence

Like other economic middle class residents of troubled Central American nations, Jews in the five little countries on the isthmus between Panama and Mexico are worried about their personal safety and property and some have liquidated their assets and emigrated because of the spiraling rise in political violence.

Asking their names not be used, visitors from Central America here related the circumstances of the small Jewish communities on the isthmus in interviews with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. They stressed that Jews are not singled out any more or less than other Central Americans of their economic class but generally they are more visible targets of revolutionaries aiming to alter social and economic conditions. Jews on the isthmus are nearly all engaged in light industry or commerce.

Very few, if any, Jews remain of the tiny community in Nicaragua which underwent violent civil war for months. At its height, in the early years of this decode, the Jewish community numbered only about 120 persons, mainly Eastern Europeans who arrived in the late 1920s and during the Hitler period. The first Jews in Nicaragua came from France more than a century ago. Virtually all have become assimilated.

About 15 years ago, the community built a two-room structure that served as a synagogue and a clubhouse. It was ravaged by the earthquake of 1976 and damaged again during the fighting last year. “There was not too much fallout from the outcry by revolutionaries in Nicaragua against Israel because it sold some arms to the Somoza government, “one visitor said. He pointed out Nicaragua continues to have diplomatic relations with Israel. The Israeli Ambassador in Panama is accredited to the government in Managua.

FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY

In El Salvador, which numbers about 100 families who maintain a magnificent synagogue, personal fear and uncertainty of the future grips the community, a traveler said. As in other countries, the Jews who are among the most prominent citizens, are not singled out but are lumped with other Salvadorans by revolutionaries.

The venerable Rabbi Alexander Granat continues to lead the community which was shocked by the kidnapping and subsequent murder a year ago by revolutionaries of Ernesto liebes, a leading merchant and coffee exporter who was Israel’s Honorary Consul. Liebes, it was emphasized, was seized because of his wealth and prestige and not for his identification with either Judaism or Israel.

“Life in EI Salvador is difficult, ” the traveler added. “Some Salvadoreans–Jews and non-Jews–are half in and half out. I mean, a man puts his family in Guatemala or Miami and commutes between those places and San Salvador to tend to his business which is run by office managers. “He said ” the hope is that the present government, which is much more liberal than the previous one, can defuse the situation and arrange economic and social standards to stop the violence. ” He reported that a branch of the Ernesto Freund chain of stores in the provincial city of San Miguel was recently destroyed by fire.

A TARGET FOR TROUBLE

In Guatemala, which has about 300 Jewish families and three synagogues– Ashkenazic, Sephardic and Reform– Jews are concerned by the waves of violence, particularly the recent seizure and subsequent Killings in the Spanish Embassy. “It was all very upsetting,” a visitor said. He analyzed the antagonism against the propertied classes as being a form of xenophobia. “You could be French, American, Mexican, or a Jew, but if you are prospering economically you are a target for trouble.” he said.

Costa Rica’s 2,000 Jews, whose communal activities center on a quadrangle near downtown San Jose with a synagogue, school and recreation halls, also are uneasy. They worry, it was said, that if El Salvador’s government is wiped out, then Costa Rica may be next. Costa Rico adjoins Nicaragua and aided the revolutionaries to overthrow the Somoza government but nevertheless its propertied classes are troubled by events in El Salvador that borders on Nicaragua to the north.

Circumstances for the approximately 125 Jews in Honduras are reportedly similar. They are divided between Tegucigalpa, the Political capital in the mountains to the west, and San Pedro Solo, the commercial center on the Caribbean coast, where they have a Jewish center.

Panama’s 2500 Jews are in a much more agreeable position. The country’s economy is described as stable and the government as friendly towards the community. Some anti-Semitism appears through the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization against Israel. Being a Third World country, Panama tolerates a PLO office there.

Mexican-Israeli relations were described as never better and the Jewish community of about 45,000 is similarly much less concerned about its future than in the small countries to the south. Most of Mexican Jews live in Mexico City with groupings in Monterrey, Guadalajara and Tijuana, “So they’re not worried in Mexico?” a visitor was asked “Did you ever find a Jew who wasn’t worried?” he responded. “if you’re a Jew you worry.”