Since immigration began in the late 19th century, the Jewish population of Latin America has risen to more than 500,000 — more than half of whom live in Argentina, with large communities also present in Brazil and Mexico. Here is a list of some prominent Latin American Jews, arranged by country of origin.

Contents

1 Argentina 2 Brazil 3 Chile 4 Colombia 5 Cuba 6 El Salvador 7 Guatemala 8 Honduras 9 Mexico 10 Panama 11 Peru 12 Uruguay 13 Venezuela 14 See also

Argentina

• Hector Babenco, film director (Argentinian-born)
• Daniel Barenboim, conductor & pianist
• Laszlo Biro, inventor of the biro
• Andrés Calamaro, singer/songwriter
• Gregory Chaitin, mathematician (Argentinian parents)
• Mario Davidovsky, composer
• Ariel Dorfman, playwright (Argentinian-born)
• Giora Feidman, klezmer musician
• Alberto Gerchunoff, writer
• Osvaldo Golijov, classical composer
• Mauricio Kagel, classical composer
• Daniela Krukower, judo world champion
• César Milstein, immunologist, Nobel prize (1984)
• Miguel Najdorf, chess player
• Alejandra Pizarnik, poet
• Cecilia Roth, actress
• Lalo Schifrin, composer
• Ana María Shua, writer
• Juan Pablo Sorin, football player
• Alicia Steimberg, writer
• Jacobo Timerman, journalist
• Horacio Verbitsky, journalist

Brazil

• Hector Babenco, film director
• Adriana Behar, beach volleyball player
• Daniel Benzali, TV actor
• Otto Maria Carpeaux, literary critic
• Vilém Flusser, philosopher
• Ithamara Koorax, jazz singer
• Jaime Lerner, Paraná governor, urban planner
• Clarice Lispector, writer
• Ivo Perelman, jazz saxophonist
• Flora Purim, jazz singer
• Bernard Rajzman, volleyball player
• Edmond Safra, banker
• Silvio Santos, TV show host
• Moacyr Scliar, author
• Lasar Segall, artist

Chile

• Marjorie Agosín, human rights activist and writer
• Ariel Dorfman, playwright
• Don Francisco, TV host
• Alejandro Jodorowsky, film director (Chilean-born)
• Nicolás Massú, tennis player (Jewish mother)

Colombia

• Jorge Isaacs, poet
• Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, entrepeneur

Cuba

• Ruth Behar, writer
• Jamie-Lynn DiScala, actress (converted Cuban mother)
• Fabio Grobart, communist party co-founder
• Brett Ratner, film director (Cuban mother)

El Salvador

• Juan Lindo, president (1841) (Jewish father)

Guatemala

• Francisco Goldman, author (Jewish father)

Honduras

• Juan Lindo, president (1847) (Jewish father)
• Ricardo Maduro, president (2002)
• Salvador Moncada, pharmacologist (Jewish mother)

Mexico

• Jacob Bekenstein, physicist
• Sabina Berman, playwright
• Jorge Castañeda, foreign minister (Jewish mother)
• Daniel Catán, composer
• Tito Fuentes, member of Molotov
• Margo Glantz, writer & critic
• Alejandro Jodorowsky, director
• Frida Kahlo, painter (Jewish father)
• Alejandro Marcovich, member of Caifanes
• Marcos Moshinsky, physicist
• Fernando Schwartz, sports comentator
• Ilan Stavans, literary critic
• Henryk Szeryng, violinist
• Ari Telch, actor
• Leon Trotsky, revolutionary (Mexican exile)
• Jacobo Zabludovsky, tv journalist

Panama

• Eric Arturo Delvalle, president (1987)
• Ricardo Maduro, Honduran president (Panamanian-born)

Peru

• Isaac Goldemberg, poet
• Meredith Monk, performance artist
• Alex Perez, artist
• David Waisman, second vice-president

Uruguay

• Gisele Ben-Dor, conductor
• Jose Gurvich, painter
• Teresa Porzecanski, writer

Venezuela

• Manuel Blum, computer scientist, Turing Award (1995)
• Andres Levin, keyboardist in Yerba Buena
• Moisés Kaufman, founder of NY's Tectonic Theater Project
• Reynaldo Hahn, composer (Jewish father)
• Baruj Benacerraf, immunologist, Nobel prize (1980)

See also

• List of Jews, Argentines, Brazilians, Chileans, Colombians, Cubans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, Panamanians, Peruvians, Uruguayans, Venezuelans