I spoke with Michel Jacabo Eljure, whose father emigrated from the district of Qura, located in present-day Lebanon. He is a retired businessman who owned a ranch in the Yucatán. He spoke Arabic well and was familiar with the history of the Arabs in Mérida. According to him, even though the Lebanese were only 1 percent of the city’s 1.5 million population, they controlled 30 percent of the commercial and industrial establishments. As for religion, he explained that the Lebanese were originally evenly divided between Maronite and Orthodox Christians. Today, they are all Roman Catholics with only about 20 families still practicing the Orthodox rites. From time to time, a priest travels from Mexico City to administer to these few families’ needs.
With the tolerance of peoples to others in mind, I asked Michel, “Why is it that in countries like Canada, multicultural societies are encouraged and here in Mexico it’s total assimilation?” He replied, “Our society is montholitic. We want everyone to be Roman Catholic and speak Spanish. In our community only about 20 people still read Arabic.”
He continued, “As for our food, it’s another matter. Even a great number of the non- Lebanese in Mérida cook in their homes our kubbah, grape leaves and other Arabic foods. At least we contributed some of our heritage to Mexico – now our beloved homeland.”
This essay appeared in Al Jadid, Vol. 6, no. 30 (Winter 2000)
I am not saying Mexico’s way is best, but notice the total assimilation of the Arab community. Notice also that these Lebanese are not commercial and industrial elites.
The society to which the Arabs came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries reinforced the almost total loss of the language. The church was all-powerful and every inhabitant had to fit into the narrow view of the Spanish-Catholic world of that time.
I asked George Baladi, a longtime immigrant living in Cartagena, if there were any Muslims among the early Arabs in Colombia. He replied, “I am told that five Muslim families from Tripoli, in present day Lebanon, had come with the early immigrants, but they all had to become Christian.”
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In the political arena, the Arab immigrants have also left an impressive mark. Gabriel Turbay ran for president in 1946, and Julio César Turbay Ayallah, born to an Arab father and Colombian mother, served as president of the country from 1978 to 1982. When first elected he is reported to have stood up in Parliament and declared that he was proud to be of Arab descent.
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At any one time, there are from 20 to 30 members of Parliament and the Senate who are of Arab origin. It is estimated that there are over a quarter of a million Colombians of Arab descent — almost all tracing their origins to Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
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In spite of their small number and almost total assimilation, the Arabs have left a significant mark on Colombian society. In every city where they reside, restaurants and cafes proudly display the nameRestaurante Arabe or Comida Arabe. The Arab dishes, kubbah, shish kabab, taboula, tahini, and all types of pies stuffed with cheese, meat, sweets, and vegetables are well-known among the Colombians. Many Colombians have come to think of these delicacies as their own foods, and a good number of these dishes are sold frozen in almost all markets.
Strangely enough, even though the Arab immigrants’ descendants have lost their tongue and most of their traditions, they still form social clubs, and about 25 percent marry within the Arab community.
This essay appeared in Al Jadid, Vol. 6, no. 30 (Winter 2000)
The author severely undercounts the Arabs in Colombia. He may be ignoring Arabs who are more settled for many generations, or he may be ignoring Arabs of Christian backgrounds.
Notice that the author says: “It is estimated that there are over a quarter of a million Colombians of Arab descent.” Yet, Wikipedia alone estimate that there are 700,000 Lebaneses Colombians.
The infuriating tendency of Lebanese not to number themselves among the Arabs – even though they are Arab speaking – causes havoc with statistics.
Often, the number of Arabs in a Latin American country is woefully underestimated.
Unless there is a good reason, I usually multiply the number of Lebanese x 2.1 – to account for Syrian Christians, and other Arabs – to get a good estimate of the Arabs in a country. This often produces reasonable results. Not always, but it does cross check in countries where the numbers are more reliable.
Palestine and Honduras, where Palestinians are heavily populated, would not come in under this estimate.
Celebrating Lebanese Independence in Downtown Montevideo, Uruguay
The Lebanese are about 2% of the Uruguay’s population, but they have already produced a Vice-President, Alberto Abdala.
Almost all are from Maronite Catholic stock.
Again, as noted, depending on the country, Maronite Catholics are often 45-65% of the Arab ethnic community in Latin American countries. (Chile and Honduras are noteable exceptions)
In Uruguay, Maronites are almost all the Arabs.
Where the Maronites predominate, they are a moderating influence.
When they came to Latin America, because the Maronites are a branch of Roman Catholicism, they fit in well with Catholic Latin America.
When they came to Latin America, some Maronites spoke French, which is a Latin language similar to Spanish and Portuguese making the transition easier.
Historically, Lebanese Maronites have intermarried with the Crusaders, Romans, etc. making them partly European in genetics. They tend to be fairer, and have slightly higher rates of fair eyes than most other Arabs. Outwardly, they could pass for European.
They considered themselves an outpost of Western Civilization in the Mideast. They felt closer to the French than neighboring Arab Muslims.
Maronite Catholics often considered themselves Phoenician not Arab, even though they speak Arabic.
This has caused friction with the Lebanese Muslims who do consider themselves Arabic.
So the Maronite Catholics blended in well with South Americans, and all the other Arabs had to play catch up with them.
They are very moderate concerning Mideast politics. Where they predominate, there will not be much anti-Israel polemics.
In Chile, where Palestinian-Christian predominate among the Arab community, Arab ethnic politics can get ugly.
Some [Jewish] refugees – 879 in number – who reached Chile after the outbreak of World War II were accepted on condition that they settle in the south and not move to the capital.
When one adjusts for population, 879 refugees would have been like the USA accepting 14,000 Jews. They sent them to the south of Chile, to build up the land.
In all, between 10,000 and 12,000 Jews were able to enter Chile in 1933–40. The two last ships, Augusto and Virgilio, arrived in January 1940 with a few hundred Jews who were moved to the south in a special train under military custody. An attempt to bring 50 French Jewish children to Chilean Jewish families who promised to adopt them was made in 1943 but failed.
In certain instances the Chilean government protected Jewish refugees of Chilean origin or Chilean citizens in zones occupied by the Nazis, to prevent their deportation to concentration camps. On a few occasions the foreign minister and the Chilean ambassador to Germany, Tobías Barros Ortíz, threatened to imprison German supporters of the Nazis who resided in Chile if Chilean citizens in Germany were detained.
When adjusted for Chile’s small population [only 18 million today], this is an enormous number. They did this when the rest of the world was refusing Jews.
EL SÁBADO GIGANTE
The most watched TV show in history. It’s hosted by Don Francisco, the Chilean born son of Jewish refugees.
Probably the most famous product of this exodus was Don Franciso (nee Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld) of El Sábado Gigante, who was born in 1940 Talca in the South of Chile soon after his Jewish refugee parents arrived. The show is the longest running TV show on the planet, and may have the biggest regular audience as well. It is shown in the United States, Spain, and all of Latin America.
This mixing of Jews and Palestinians has had the oddest effect on Chile. There are about 15-60 Thousand Jews depending on the sources. Yet, Chilean society is overall sympathetic to them. On the other hand, Chile has 500,000 Palestinians, who are middle class to rich. They cannot be ignored either.
This produces a schizophrenia in Chilean society, policy, and government attitudes towards the Mideast.
In 1947, the Palestinians were able to persuade the Zionist friendly president, Gabriel González Videla, to have Chile abstain from voting for a paritition of Palesitine, which would have created Israel.
In 1945 a Pro-Palestine Committee was founded in Santiago, and its prominent member, Senator Gabriel González Videla (later president of Chile), was among those who sponsored the organization of the International Christian Conference for Palestine, which took place in Washington in 1945. In spite of his past record of goodwill toward Jewish aspirations, as president Videla gave in to the internal pressure of the Arab community (100,000 citizens of Arab descent lived in Chile at that time and were known for their financial and political influence) and instructed his delegation to the UN General Assembly to abstain from voting on the resolution to partition Palestine in 1947. Senator Humberto Alvarez, second-ranking member of this delegation, resigned in protest against that decision.
Arabs are now 800,000 in Chile, with Palestinians alone being roughly 500,000 today. Almost all the Palestinians are Christian, but they are radicalized against Israel. But even as far back as 1947, they had enough wealth and clout to throttle Chile’s pro-Zionist sympathies at the UN.
To get a sense of how schizophrenic this is:
In 2006, according to the Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, Chile had the most Jewish government in the world outside Israel, but …
Following the Israeli government, the newly elected Chilean cabinet is the most Jewish government in the world, with three Jewish ministers, one deputy minister serving in government
… what the article does not say is that there were an equal number of Arabs in the government.
This produces some bizarre occurrences coming out of Chile.
Further compounding this schizophrenia is the massive growth of Evangelicals; many of whom who support Israel.
The Evangelicals of Chile
So you have Chile which produces the largest radicalized population of Arabs in South America, but it is also extraordinarily friendly to Jews and Evangelicals.
Chile is now a first world nation. The Switzerland of South America, yet when it comes to the Mideast, the government is torn between two completely opposite groups.
In 2011, Chile recognized Palestine; and what a fight that was.
The government’s resolution also noted that both Jewish and Palestinian communities have been key to Chile’s social, cultural, political and economic development for many years, working in harmony that should serve as a model for their both the Israeli and Palestinian states. It’s a message that Pinera plans to make personally during a visit to the Middle East in March.
What the above article does not mention is the Pinera put a lot of conditions on the recognition. For ex: The Chilean declaration did not mention the ’67 borders as the borders of Palestine, like the other South American countries did.
As time goes by, the demographic weight, and wealth, of the Palestinian community seems to be asserting itself. This will be interesting to watch.
