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V.., Lynn.* ft MOO. If.)1 Mtn, (313) 358-5170 20247 Mack Avenue • Grosse Pointe Woods Lender 74 FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1988 (313) 881-5200 . LINDA BENSON Special to The Jewish News M ario Vasquez, of Yoro Province, Honduras, was involved in land-reform ac- tivities that he says placed his life in jeopardy with the Honduran govern- ment. In the autumn of 1986, after threats from the police, he decided to take his chances and become one of the hordes of illegal aliens who make their way to the United States. Just about that time, Rabbi Robert Levy's com- mittee on Central America was getting organized. It sent two observers, Ann Arborites Eve Mukotoff and Janet Landman, to visit a detention center for illegal Central American aliens located in Brownsville, Texas. Here, thousands of illegals who get caught by border guards spend time that might range from a few weeks to a few months. Frequently, they are sent back home when they can- not provide the $3,000 bond required for a hear- ing, or when they cannot adequately build a case to justify a well-founded fear of persecution. And here the two Ann Arborites crossed paths with Mario Vasquez. Through bribes and other machinations Vas- quez had made his way in- to Texas, where he was picked up by suspicious INS officials while boar- ding a bus. He was dispat- ched to the detention center in Brownsville. Vasquez, who had no money for bond and had been in detention for one month when the Ann Ar- bor committee contacted him, was willing to submit to the legal process to avoid the alternative of voluntary deportation. The committee sent him the necessary bond money, Vasquez was released, and arrangements were made for him to fly to Ann Arbor for his asylum hearing. University of Michigan law professor and Temple Beth Emeth member T. Alexander Aleinikoff and a group of his students were enlisted for legal support. Shortly before the hear- ing, on Feb. 2, 1988, another complication developed. Vasquez' wife and family back in Yoro Province, were threatened and harassed by the local police. Again, the Beth Emeth committee stepped in, advising her on how to get a Mexican tourist visa, sending air fare, and put- ting her in contact with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees once she arrived in Mexico City. The asylum hearing was conducted in Spanish in a Chicago federal court. Vas- quez was granted legal alien status and his wife and children were allowed to join him in Ann Arbor the following month. ❑ Ghost At The Feast Judith Laikin Elkin explores the invisible history of Latin American Jews SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE Special to The Jewish News T hus after having driven all the Jews out of your realms and dominions, Your Highness in this same month of January commanded me to set out with a sufficient armada to the said countries to India." That sentence was written by Christopher Columbus in 1492. In a way, an extremely simplified way, it symbolizes much of the subsequent history of the Jews in Latin America. At the very moment when Jews were being destroyed by the Inquisition in Iberia, a New World thousands of miles away was being born. And Jews though repudiated and spurned were also rendered necessary. Even Col- umbus — who set sail with "a certain Luis de Thrres, a con- verted Jew who, it is said knew Hebrew, Aramaic and also some Arabic" — needed a Jew on the Santa Maria to mediate the tongues of the known and unknown. Luis de Torres wasn't forgot- ten by history. But many, many other Jews who came to the New World over the cen- turies — the merchants and sea captains, the pirates and peddlers, the agriculturalists and engineers — whose names have been lost to history weren't so lucky. Of the thousands who settled on the islands of the Caribbean, on the coasts of Suriname and Brazil, in the high sierras of Peru and Mexico, of all these, who can recall them? That was one question that disturbed Judith Laikin Elkin. She wondered why this incredibly rich history was, if not forgotten and lost, cer- tainly not well known. "I had been teaching Latin American history for a long time," she says. "There was never any mention of Jews. I was interested in knowing why Latin American history could be written without writing about the Jewish in- fluence." Laikin Elkin also wondered why Jewish historians neglected the Diaspora ex- perience in Latin America. "In Jewish history books Latin American communities were always listed under "Other" along with China and Japan, which have only tiny Jewish populations." Laikin Elkin did more than wonder about this neglected history. "I became convinced that there was a lot to be learned from the Jewish Latin American experience, so I founded an association which is now in it's eighth year?' The organization is called the Latin American Jewish Studies Association and Laikin Elkin is its presi- dent. Though its 400 members are primarily scholars and academics there's a sprinkling of businessmen, rabbis, jour- nalists, filmmakers, and even a Catholic priest or two. In August, the association will hold its 5th international con- ference in Buenos Aires. Several themes distinguish the history of Jews in Latin America from that of their northern neighbors. One predominant difference, Laikin Elkin points out, is that the U.S. and Canada are 5.y