Venezuela was once home to a flourishing Jewish community. When Hugo Chávez was elected president in 1998, an estimated 25.000 Jews lived in the tropical country. Today, only 7000 remain.
The Arauca river, about 100 meters wide, is the border line and a lifeline between Colombia and Venezuela. It is a permeable border, through which people pass and also contraband. A photo story from the turbulent waters that separate the inseparable.
Colombia’s bloodletting has left the country with a macabre puzzle. The government says 61,825 people have been reported missing and there are records of more than 11,000 unidentified corpses. People of Puerto Berrio adopt the tombs of the unknown dead.
It´s hard to oversee the Tower of David. The second highest building of Venezuela rises 190 meters into heaven, right in the middle of the historic center of the capital Caracas. A group of followers of President Hugo Chávez squatted the complex in 1997. I visited them.
Once a year, on Corpus Christi, Naiguatá, a small fishing village about an hour's drive from the Venezuelan capital Caracas, transforms into a cauldron occupied by hundreds of devils.