Tear gas canisters were lobbed into the Vatican's diplomatic compound in Caracas on Wednesday, the head of the mission said, days after armed men vandalized a synagogue in the capital. The Vatican's Nunciature had already been the target of tear gas attacks in January blamed by some officials on hard-line supporters of president Hugo Chávez who accuse the Catholic Church of interfering in the country's politics. Venezuelan media said two canisters landed inside the compound and two fell outside. "We totally reject these actions, they cannot be permitted," Giacinto Berloco, who heads the mission, said. Nobody claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack. A spokesman for a small group called La Piedrita had said it threw gas at the Nunciature in January, but the group told the news agency ‘Reuters’ on Wednesday it was not involved in any recent incidents against religious institutions.
On the weekend, armed men forced their way into a synagogue in Caracas, destroying religious objects and spray-painting walls. The attackers, who also hit the administrative center of the Venezuelan Israelite Association, wrote racist slogans such as "Jews get out." The incident sparked international outrage and complaints by the Jewish community of growing anti-Semitism in Venezuela. Chávez, a fierce critic of Israel who expelled Israel's ambassador in January in protest at the Gaza offensive, condemned the synagogue attack and blamed it on groups opposed to his government.
"We reject violence and aggression against human beings, we fight for peace and respect," Chavez, dressed in army uniform, said on Wednesday, in reference to the recent anti-Jewish acts. He spoke during a military parade to commemorate a failed coup he led in 1992. The government met with Jewish community leaders on Wednesday. Chavez insists he is tolerant vis-à-vis all religions and cultures. However, some of his supporters are openly anti-Semitic, and anti-Jewish graffiti has increased in Caracas since the offensive in the Middle East.
