The Jewish presence in Mexico dates back
to the Spanish Conquest, although it was not until the final
years of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the
twentieth that a mass immigration of Jews from Syria, the
Balkanic countries and eastern Europe, fleeing from
persecution and poverty, laid the foundations of the modem
Jewish Mexican community. Today’s Jewish population is about
40,000, the majority in Mexico City. The city has twelve
Jewish day-schools and several Yeshivot attended by up to 90
per cent of Mexican Jewish children. There are communities
in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana.
Mexico recognised Israel on April 4,
1949, and on May 11th of the same year voted in favour of
accepting Israel into the UN. In July 1952 the two states
agreed to establish diplomatic relations and exchange
legations. The Israel legation in Mexico was established on
Nov. 5, 1953, and the Mexican legation in Israel was
established in August 1956. The legations were raised to the
status of embassies in June 1959. The Mexican embassy is
located in Tel Aviv, as Mexico voted for international
administration over Jerusalem on Dec. 9, 1949.
In line with Mexico’s traditional policy
towards problems in various areas of the world, her
government has adopted a neutral stance toward the Middle
East conflict, which is expressed by Mexico’s consistent
abstentions in the UN votes on Middle Eastern issues.
Nonetheless, public support and sympathy of certain groups
toward Israel are in evidence in Mexico, especially in
professional and cultural circles. After the Six-Day War
(1967), Mexico was among the major forces behind the Latin
American resolution raised in the General Assembly to
counter the Yugoslav resolution, which demanded Israel’s
unconditional withdrawal from territories captured during
the hostilities.
In July 1969 a cultural pact was signed
between the two countries. In the framework of cultural
exchanges, a permanent exhibit of 250 valuable cultural
articles contributed by the Mexican government and various
Mexican personalities is on view in the Israel Museum in
Jerusalem. In turn, a permanent exhibit of Israel cultural
articles is on show in the Mexican Cultural Museum. A
building on the campus of the University of Tel Aviv has
been named in honour of Mexico, and the Institute for
Mexican-Israel Cultural Relations is especially active in
Mexico.
A trade agreement was signed between the
two states on July 25, 1952.
The Mexican Postal Service and the
Central Committee of the Jewish community in Mexico have
introduced a commemorative postal stamp to mark the
Centenary of the Jewish Presence in Mexico.
The official cancellation took place in
the Community Centre of the Ashkenazi community in Mexico on
the 6th December 2005.
