History of the Jews in Latin America and the Caribbean
The history of the Jews in Latin America and the Caribbean began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those who refused to do so. Many conversos, Jews who converted to Christianity under pressure during the Spanish Inquisition, did travel to the New World. While the Spanish Crown required settlers to be of Catholic lineage, conversos often presented themselves as devout Catholics to meet this requirement. Some sought refuge in the Americas to escape persecution of the Inquisition, which followed them even to the Spanish viceregal towns.
In places like Mexico and New Mexico, conversos maintained their faith in secret while outwardly adhering to Catholic practices. Their migration was driven by both the hope for greater economic opportunities and the desire to escape religious oppression.
The first Jews came with the first expedition of Christopher Columbus, including Rodrigo de Triana and Luis De Torres.
Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries a number of converso families migrated to the Netherlands, France and eventually Italy, from where they joined other expeditions to the Americas. Others migrated to England or France and accompanied their colonists as traders and merchants. By the late 16th century, fully functioning Jewish communities were founded in the Portuguese colony of Brazil, the Dutch Suriname and Curaçao; Spanish Santo Domingo, and the English colonies of Jamaica and Barbados. In addition, there were unorganized communities of Jews in Spanish and Portuguese territories where the Inquisition was active, including Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Peru. Many in such communities were crypto-Jews, who had generally concealed their identity from the authorities.
By the mid-17th century, the largest Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere were located in Suriname and Brazil. Several Jewish communities in the Caribbean, Central and South America flourished, particularly in those areas under Dutch and English control, which were more tolerant. More immigrants went to this region as part of the massive emigration of Jews from eastern Europe in the late 19th century. During and after World War II, many Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to South America for refuge. In the 21st century, fewer than 300,000 Jews live in Latin America. They are concentrated in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico and Uruguay.
Argentina
Jews fleeing the Inquisition settled in Argentina, where they intermarried with native women. Portuguese traders and smugglers in the Virreinato del Río de la Plata were considered by many to be crypto-Jewish, but no community emerged after Argentina achieved independence. After 1810, more Jews, especially from France, began to settle in Argentina. By the end of the century in Argentina, as in America, many Jewish immigrants were coming from Eastern Europe fleeing Tsarist persecution. Upon arrival they were generally called "Russians" in reference to their region of origin.Jewish individuals and families emigrated from Europe to Argentina before and after World War II, in an attempt to escape the Holocaust and later postwar antisemitism. Between 250,000 and 300,000 Jews now live in Argentina, the vast majority of whom reside in the cities of Buenos Aires, Rosario, Córdoba, Mendoza, La Plata and San Miguel de Tucumán. Argentina has the third-largest Jewish community in the Americas after the United States and Canada, and the sixth largest in the world. According to recent surveys, more than a million Argentines have at least one grandparent of Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish Argentine community legally receives seven holidays per year, with both days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the first and last two days of Passover, according to the law 26,089.
Bahamas
200 Jews lived in the Bahamas in 2022.Bolivia
Jewish presence in Bolivia started at the beginning of the Spanish colonial period. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, was founded in 1557 by Ñuflo de Chávez who was accompanied by a small group of pioneers, including several crypto-Jews from Ascuncion and Buenos Aires. The city became known as a safe haven for Jews during the Inquisition in the region.The second wave of Conversos came to Santa Cruz de la Sierra after 1570, when the Spanish Inquisition began operating in Lima. Alleged marranos, settled in Potosi, La Paz and La Plata. After they gained economic success in mining and commerce, they faced suspicion and persecution from the Inquisition and local authorities. Most of these marrano families moved to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as it was an isolated urban settlement where the Inquisition did not bother the conversos. Most of the converso settlers were men, and many intermarried with indigenous or mestizo women, founding mixed-race or mestizo families. Conversos also settled in adjacent towns of Vallegrande, Postrervalle, Portachuelo, Terevinto, Pucara, Cotoca and others.
Many of Santa Cruz's oldest families are of partial Jewish heritage; Some traces of Jewish culture can still be found in family traditions, as well as local customs. For example, some families have family-heirloom seven-branched candle sticks or the custom of lighting candles on Friday at sunset. The typical local dishes can be all prepared with kosher practices. Scholars disagree on provenance and recency of these practices. After almost five centuries, some of the descendants of these families claim awareness of Jewish origins, but practice Catholicism.
From independence in 1825 to the end of the 19th century, some Jewish merchants and traders immigrated to Bolivia. Most took local women as wives, founding families that eventually merged into the mainstream Catholic society. This was often the case in the eastern regions of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, where these merchants came from Brazil or Argentina.
During the 20th century, substantial Jewish settlement began in Bolivia. In 1905, a group of Russian Jews, followed by Argentines, settled in Bolivia. In 1917, it was estimated that there were 20 to 25 professing Jews in the country. By 1933, when the Nazi era in Germany started, there were 30 Jewish families. The first large Jewish immigration occurred during the 1930s; the population had climbed to an estimated 8,000 at the end of 1942. During the 1940s, 2,200 Jews emigrated from Bolivia to other countries. But the ones who remained have created communities in La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Santa Cruz, Sucre, Tarija and Potosí. After World War II, a small number of Polish Jews immigrated to Bolivia.
By 2006, approximately 700 Jews remained in Bolivia. There are synagogues in the cities of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, La Paz, and Cochabamba. Most Bolivian Jews live in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Brazil
Jews settled early in Brazil, especially in areas of Dutch rule. They set up a synagogue in Recife in 1636, which is considered the first synagogue in the Americas. Most of these Jews were conversos who had fled Spain and Portugal to the religious freedom of the Netherlands when the Inquisition began in Portugal in 1536. In 1656, following the Portuguese reconquest of Brazil, Jews left for the Caribbean islands and New Amsterdam under Dutch rule; the latter was taken over by the English in 1664 and was renamed as New York City.After independence in the 19th century, Brazil attracted more Jews among its immigrants, and pressure in Europe convinced more Jews to leave. Jewish immigration rose throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, at a time of massive emigration from the Russian Empire. Jewish immigration to Brazil was rather low between 1881 and 1900 although this was the height of other international immigration to Brazil; many were going to more industrialized countries. Between 1921 and 1942 worldwide immigration to Brazil fell by 21%, but Jewish immigration to Brazil increased by 57,000. This was in response to anti-immigration legislation and immigration quotas passed by the United States, Argentina, Canada and South Africa, persisting even after the crisis of Jews under the Third Reich became clear. The Brazilian government generally did not enforce its own immigration legislation. Lastly, the Jews in Brazil developed strong support structures and economic opportunities, which attracted Eastern European and Polish Jewish immigration.
Brazil has the 9th largest Jewish community in the world, about 107,329 by 2010, according to the IBGE census. The Jewish Confederation of Brazil estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil. Brazilian Jews play an active role in politics, sports, academia, trade and industry, and are well integrated in all spheres of Brazilian life. The majority of Brazilian Jews live in the state of São Paulo, but there are also sizable communities in Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais and Paraná.
Chile
Although a relatively small community amounting to no more than 1% of the country's religious minorities, Jews in Chile have achieved prominent positions in its society. They have had key roles both before and after its independence in 1810. Most Chilean Jews today reside in Santiago and Valparaíso, but there are significant communities in the north and south of the country.Mario Kreutzberger, otherwise known as "Don Francisco" and host of Sábado Gigante, the longest-running TV show in the world, is a Chilean Jew of German origin. Other Chilean Jews who have achieved recognition in arts and culture include Alejandro Jodorowsky, now established in France and best known internationally for his literary and filmic work. Others include Nissim Sharim, Shlomit Baytelman and Anita Klesky. Volodia Teitelboim, poet and former leader of the Chilean Communist Party, is one of the many Jews to have held important political positions in the country.
Tomás Hirsch is leader of the radical Green-Communist coalition and former presidential candidate in 2005. State ministers Karen Poniachick and Clarisa Hardy are also Jewish. In the field of sport, tennis player Nicolás Massú has Jewish background.
Many of the country's most important companies, particularly in the retail and commercial field, have been set up by Jews. Examples are Calderón, Gendelman, Hites, and Pollak and Rosen.