March 31, 2007
Letter to the Editor of The Jewish Chronicle by the Secretary of the Venezuela Information Centre.

The Editor
The Jewish Chronicle

Dear Sir,

The implication that Hugo Chavez, the elected President of Venezuela, is complicit in a rise of anti-Semitism is wholly unsubstantiated. (" Venezuela

Jews Having Worst Time in 40 Years", J.C. 30 March 2007).

For example, the selective and misleading use of a quote that President Chavez made about the 'those who killed Christ', that you repeated in your

article, has been widely rejected as not being about the Jewish community including by the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela, as well

as the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress. The Venezuelan body added that the Chavez government has always acted quickly

when incidents of racial or religious intolerance occur.

On Holocaust Memorial Day in 2005, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a motion honouring the victims of the Holocaust. The motion makes special

mention of the descendents of Holocaust survivors living in Venezuela and emphasises their importance to Venezuelan society.

President Chavez strongly opposes the bombing in Lebanon by Israel last year and specific actions by the Israeli government, however he has also made it

clear as recently as last month that he does not believe that the state of Israel should cease to exist.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon Hutchison
Secretary
Venezuela Information Centre.