The Latino community in the United States, which has been growing steadily in demographic and political strength, now has its own Israeli envoy.
He is Avraham Setton, who recently visited southern Florida and Los Angeles to inform his new constituency about the Middle East peace process and to meet with Hispanic leaders and the Spanish-language media.
In part, said Setton, he hopes that the Latino community in this country will serve as a bridge for Israel to the countries of Latin America.
But the community is of considerable importance in its own right, he added. Latinos, mainly from Mexico, Central America, Cuba and Puerto Rico, now make up 9 percent of the U.S. population, or roughly 22.5 million people. The percentage is expected to rise to 13 percent by the beginning of the next century.
Setton said he found an intense interest in Israel on the part of the Hispanic media in Florida and California, based on the biblical link to Christianity, a general interest in foreign countries and Israel’s specific expertise in immigrant absorption, language instruction and health care.
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