The first Latin-American Zionist Congress opened here today with three-hundred delegates from Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venzuela, Costa Rica, Cuba and Mexico in attendance. The delegates represent nearly 100 Zionist and non-zionist organizations.
Dr. Abraham Mibashan, South American representative of the Jewish Agency, addressing the opening session, called upon the meeting to adopt a resolution declaring that the 1,000,000 Jews in Latin-American support Zionist demands, including the formation of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine and the abolition of the White Paper restrictions on Jewish immigration. The congress, he continued, must warn the United Nations that a solution of the Jewish problem is a prerequisite to world peace.
This conference, Dr. Mibashan said, is not only a demonstration of the pro-Zionist sentiments of Latin-American Jewry, but is an indication that the Jewish people are determined to secure recognition of its sacrifices on behalf of the United Nations. Other speakers appealed to the American democracies to indicate in this present period, after yalta and before San Francisco, that they support the Jewish people’s demand for a national homeland.
Dr. Chaim Weizmann and president Juan Jose de Ame zaga of Uruguay were elected honorary presidents of the congress.
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