President of the Latin American Jewish Congress (LAJC), Jack Terpins, has confirmed that on November 8-9 his institution will hold an "informative" meeting in the city of Sao Paulo, which will be attended by political representatives of Latin America’s Jewish communities.
At the conference, the leaders will analyze the situation of the Venezuelan Jewry after the meeting held between authorities of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), the LACJ, the Venezuelan community, and President Hugo Chávez.
In a dialogue with AJN, Terpins noted that during the meeting with Chávez, the Venezuelan leader promised to send an ambassador to Israel, among other things.
Moreover, he stressed that the Jewish community in Venezuela "has a direct contact" with the president for cases when there is "a problem of anti-Semitism in Caracas".
Another issue to be discussed in Sao Paulo will be the influence of Iran in Latin America. Terpins explained that "the Argentineans will inform" on this issue.
The interim chief of the Israeli Embassy in Brasilia, Raphael Singer, exressed this week his concern over a possible terror attack after the recent visit of Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, to Teheran, where he met with Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Amorim handed a letter written by President Lula da Silva, where he expressed his intention to travel to Teheran to meet Ahmadinejad. It has also been reported in the media that the Iranian leader could visit Brazil in 2009.
The Delegation of Argentine Israeli Associations (DAIA) told AJN it will be sending representatives to Brazil.
Terpins added that Clara Ant, Lula da Silva’s advisor, will attend the meeting to give a speech on "Brazil’s relationship with Israel and the Arab world".
In the context of the meeting in Sao Paulo, the Jewish leaders will also discuss the inter-religious dialogue that is being carried out by the different communities in the region.
Finally, a report will be prepared ahead of the upcoming WJC meeting which will be held in January in Jerusalem, where the new WJC authorities will be elected.
The meeting of the LAJC will begin in the evening of Friday 7, with the inauguration of Claudio Lotenberg, who will be taking office as President of the Confederación Israelita de Brasil (CONIB), Brazil’s Jewish leading organization.
On Saturday, a dinner will be held to honor regional leaders and the closing ceremony will be held on Sunday.
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