SCHENECTADY – Congregation Agudat Achim will host a lecture titled “Jewish Life in Venezuela, Pre- and Post-Chávez: A Personal Experience,” presented by Samy Yecutieli, a fourth-generation Venezuelan Jew whose family roots trace back to Jerusalem, Iran, and Turkey. The free program (open to the public) will be Sunday, April 26, at 10:30 a.m., via Zoom.

According to program organizers, the presentation offers a personal and institutional perspective on the experience of Venezuela’s Jewish community during one of the most profound political transformations in modern Latin American history.

Yecutieli lived in Venezuela during the rise of Hugo Chávez who became president in 1999 and launched the “Bolivarian Revolution,” reshaping the country’s political and economic landscape. In the decades that followed, Venezuela experienced severe economic collapse, hyperinflation, and increasing international isolation under Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro.

Since 2014, Venezuela has faced one of the largest migration crises in the world, with more than 7.9 million people leaving the country. The Jewish community, once estimated at about 25,000 members in the late 1990s, has also declined, with today’s numbers estimated at 4,000.