SAMY YECUTIELI
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.
A former security consultant with more than three decades of experience in urban security and risk analysis, Yecutieli gained insight into Venezuela’s institutional transformation during the Chávez era. His work has included advising police departments, local governments, and private organizations, and delivering presentations at conferences in Israel, the United States, and Latin America. Yecutieli is also an author and genealogical researcher dedicated to preserving Jewish family history. He published A Story, Two Countries: The Yecutieli Cohen Family Saga and is completing The Jewish Children of Istanbul: The Biçaço Gershon Family Story, a study of Sephardic Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey based on archival documentation, oral histories, and scholarly research. His work combines personal narrative with historical analysis.
Yecutieli lives in Israel with his wife and three daughters. Two daughters serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and the youngest daughter is preparing for her upcoming service. He works as a real estate advisor with KW Keller Williams, advising buyers, sellers, and investors in the Israeli property market.
Registration is required via the following link https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/GivZ3VnGS-CffgpdFb-leQ or by contacting the synagogue office at 518-393-9211.
