Jews in Uruguay are deeply concerned over a recent anti-Jewish order issued in this smallest and most advanced republic in South America by Mayor Rivera Berreta of Canelones, who is also administrative head of the township La Paz, where the only Jewish cemetery in the country is located.
The Mayor’s order provides for an unprecedented increase in the tax on burials of Jews in the La Paz cemetery. Instead of paying two pesos–about $1.00–burial tax, Jews will now have to pay 120 pesos for each person buried in their cemetery. The Mayor is reported as having said that the tax rise should bring about “the suppression of the cemetery of the Jewish race and religion in this province.”
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