Serbian Venezuelans


Serbian Venezuelans or Serb Venezuelans are Venezuelan nationality law citizens of ethnic Serb descent, mostly with partial or distant Serb ancestry, i.e. second- or third-generation of immigrants.

History

Serbian immigration to Venezuela dates back to the mid-XX century and consisted mainly of political emigrants i.e. opponents of newly-established communist regime in Socialist [Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia], that settled in Venezuela after the World War II.
In 1955, they founded the Serbian Orthodox Christian Community in Caracas. Later they built the Serbian Orthodox church in 1966, where the consecration was attended by King Peter II of Yugoslavia. The Serbian Social Club of Aragua State was founded in 1965 by a group of Serb immigrants in order to preserve and promote Serb customs, religion, culture and folklore, with all the community based in the country without distinction of race or creed, sharing in the same space with the activities of the St. John the Baptist Church which belonged to the newly founded Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of [Buenos Aires and South America].

Demographics

By the late 1960s, population of Serbian-Venezuelans reached 2,000 and has been in constant decline ever since, with current estimates in low hundreds.

Notable people