Antisemitism Forced My Family to Flee Colombia

I grew up with my family's stories, like my great-grandfather Jaime who crossed the Atlantic, got off at the wrong port in Barranquilla, and made his way to the Valle del Cauca, Colombia in a small boat on the Magdalena River.

That's how my abuelito, Spanish for grandfather, Chicole Ghitis was born in Cali, along with my father, David, and finally me. I used to think about everything my ancestors had done to escape the pogroms in Russia and the Nazis in Romania so that I could sit and drink coffee on my abuelita’s balcony and feel the breeze that comes into Cali from the Pacific at five in the afternoon. I was sure that Cali was the promised land for me and my family, even though life and the pursuit of a career in screenwriting had taken me to Los Angeles, California. I would go back at least twice a year to be with my family and feel that breeze from the Pacific.

My great-grandfather on a horse in Colombia

The president of Colombia called my father a Nazi and an Israeli criminal, putting a target on my father’s back and ultimately forcing him and my mother to flee from Colombia.

But there are moments that bind you to history. Your name gets tangled up with events and dates, and you become one more Jew in a long history of discrimination and displacement. In March 2022, the president of Colombia, President Gustavo Petro, called my father a Nazi and an Israeli criminal, and then published my father’s work history with Israel on Twitter. His comment put a target on my father’s back and ultimately forced him and my mother to flee from Colombia.

My father is an activist who gained popularity on Twitter back in 2012 when Gustavo Petro was only the mayor of Bogotá. He fought to get the then mayor impeached, and this enraged him. Petro had previously belonged to a terrorist group called the M-19. Many didn’t believe someone who had taken up arms against Colombia should run the capital, especially someone who had been accused of killing those who disagreed with their views. My father also openly accused Petro of corruption because of the way he fast-tracked city contracts.

I was 19 at the time and felt horror rush through my veins as my last name, which had been foreign and difficult for non-Jews to pronounce, began to roll off people’s tongues with recognition. Most people believed that Petro’s disdain was personal, not antisemitic. At the time, even I didn’t view it as antisemitic.

In 2022, during a contentious presidential race, Gustavo Petro attacked and defamed my father because he published an opinion column criticizing Petro for wanting to use pension funds for government expenses. Petro had to say something big to turn attention away from him, and bringing attention to my father’s Jewishness was just the trick.

Since Petro’s remarks came just a year after President Vladimir Putin called Jewish president Volodymyr Zelensky a Nazi as his justification for invading Ukraine, the media paid attention and my family name was in the news again. Putin ignored thousands of years of history to attack Zelensky and justify his war, and Petro, who has repeatedly refused to condemn Russia’s war on Ukraine, followed in his footsteps to attack a person who belonged to an ethnic minority. (The population of Colombia is around 51 million inhabitants. Jews in Colombia number less than 14,700.)

The attack also touched old wounds for us as Colombians. The Colombian people have worked tirelessly to overcome their violent past, and this was a rude reminder that we hadn’t gotten far. Stories of kidnapped or murdered activists were swirling, and as a nation we feared that we were moving toward dark times once again.

Jessica Ghitis

My father began to receive kidnapping threats that reeked of antisemitism. They ranged from the unoriginal “Maldito Judio”, damned Jew, to “Israeli criminal”, feeding off Petro’s rhetoric and publication of my father’s work history where the world could see he had almost exclusively worked with Israeli companies, making him seem less Colombian and more “other”.

My father and mother, along with their four dogs, had to flee before threats became actions. Many other Jews have since followed, fearing the poisonous seeds planted by Petro are spreading.

It's not the first time that Colombia has witnessed a Jewish exodus. Back in the 90s, my family and many others decided to leave Colombia out of fear of the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. This group was responsible for bombings, murders, drug trafficking, and kidnappings all in the name of gathering funds for their so-called “revolution”. When I was four years old, the FARC threatened our school. I remember seeing soldiers with guns escorting us onto buses to take us home. My parents told me that this was the last straw. I was five years old when we left Colombia for the first time and moved to Israel. Ten years and two presidents later, my parents finally felt it was safe enough to return.

We don’t talk about Colombian antisemitism, but the history buff in me rebels against this pajaso mental, a Colombian saying that refers to the strawman-like lies we tell ourselves. Unsurprisingly, many government officials were against “the Hebrew race” immigrating to Colombia during World War II and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prevent it. In the years that followed, anti-Jewish propaganda was posted on the streets and outside Jewish-owned shops as right-wing leaders supported Hitler’s fascism. They viewed it as a form of resistance. In 1944, after Alfonso Pardo Ruiz attacked Jacobo Fisboim, 44-year-old Jewish Colombian, businesses were vandalized, and Jews were beaten in the streets. These incidents were swept under the rug by my ancestors, perhaps so they could go on feeling that Colombia was welcoming to Jews.

When Gustavo Petro attacked my father, I thought about my ancestors. Those who brought the first Torah to Colombia, those who helped found my synagogue, proclaiming it should be made of iron so nothing could ever demolish it. The synagogue where my grandfather would be the rabbi for many years. I thought about my grandparents and great-aunts, who were mistreated by nuns in Catholic schools until the Jewish community built its own school.

My father was singled out for one simple reason: he is a Jew.

I also thought about my descendants, those who would never step inside my synagogue or school, those who would never feel the Cali breeze, and those who were going to be the first generation born in another country.

My father was not leading the charge against Petro. He’s not a politician. Many other people believe and say the same things my father said, and they have much more power and political standing than he ever had.

My father was singled out for one simple reason: he is a Jew.

Jews are the canary in a coal mine, warning the world of what’s to come. Since October 7^th, the president of Colombia has spewed more antisemitic vile than just about any other world leader. He’s threatened to break political ties with Israel, stood silent as the Israeli Embassy is vandalized and threatened, and compared Jews to Nazis.

These signs cannot be ignored, and they are not only happening in Colombia.

I am a strong liberal feminist. I have marched in the United States for the rights of the Black community, LGBTQ+, reproductive rights, and for the rights of us immigrants. My friends share my ideals, but when it comes to my Jewish identity and what happened to my family due to antisemitism, they don’t take it seriously. Nobody is going to march for Jews except Jews.

Three generations of my family were born in Colombia. Three generations of my family have loved Colombia, but history obliges us to pay attention to the signs. The damage is irreparable. There is no Jewish future in Colombia, and Jews have been dehumanized to pave the way for hate and violence against them.

I refuse to sweep our pain under the rug. Violence begins with words, like the words of President Gustavo Petro. And when we needed support, none was found; we were abandoned.

Today, Jews around the world need support, and every citizen of the world needs to ask themselves: will I stand with the forces of darkness or with the forces of light?