Jewish participation in movements calling for social change in Latin America was cited as a significant fact of current, Jewish affairs on this continent. This was discussed at the recently ended second Latin American Jewish Youth Conference held in Bogota and Barranquilla, Colombia under B’nai B’rith auspices.
Delegates from Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and Panama gathered to discuss the role of youth in the future of Latin American Jewry. Chile under the deposed Salvador Allende, Panama under its current ruler. Gen. Omar Torrijos, and Argentina under the newly initiated Peron regime were mentioned as three lands where Jews were or are working in the government.
Concentrating more on the state of Jewish life in Latin America than on politics, the participants demanded less external ostentation and greater emphasis on education training of Jewish professionals and putting in practice Jewish ethical values. The delegates, who held a memorial ceremony for Jewish victims of the Spanish Inquisition during a visit to the former Inquisitorial Headquarters in Cartagena, Colombia, suggested Jews work for the strengthening of pluralistic societies in Latin America to avoid a repetition of the “tragic” fate suffered by early South American Jewry at the hands of the holy office.
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