History of The Jews in Latin America - Panama

Panama

For nearly five hundred years Panama has been a transit station. Long before the construction of the Panama Canal in the early twentieth century, merchants and missionaries, adventurers and bandits crossed the swamps of Panama ports and to go from the Atlantic to Pacific or vice versa.

Although descendants of the "anusim" or crypto from the Iberian Peninsula, have lived in Panama since the early sixteenth century, there was there a Jewish community that has openly practiced their religion until it took centuries. Jews, both Sephardic and Ashkenazi, began arriving in Panama in large quantities until the mid-nineteenth century, attracted by economic incentives such as bi-oceanic railway construction and the California gold rush.

They were followed by other waves of immigration: during the First World War the Ottoman Empire from disintegrating, before and after the Second World War from Europe, from Arab countries because of the exodus caused in 1948 and more recently from South American countries suffered economic crises. They all contributed to the diversity of the Jewish population in Panama today.

The center of Jewish life in Panama is Panama City, although historically small groups of Jews settled in other cities, like Columbus, David, Chitre, La Chorrera, Santiago de Veraguas and Bocas del Toro, Those communities were disappearing As families were moved to the capital in search of education for their children and for economic reasons. With some 20,000 souls, the Jewish community is a strong presence in the country despite its relatively small demography in relation to the total population (three million).

Panamanian Jews have their peculiar history of participation in government and in civic and diplomatic functions. Love the fact that Panama is the only country in the world except for Israel which has had two Jewish presidents in the twentieth century. In the sixties Max Delvalle was first vice president and then president. Delvalle is famous for its inaugural presidential address in which he said: "Today there are two Jewish presidents in the world who are the president of the State of Israel and myself." His nephew, Eric Arturo Delvalle, was president between 1985 and 1988. The two were members of Kol Shearith Israel synagogue and were involved in Jewish life.