Migration to Latin America

Jews from Tanger and Tetouan emigrated to the Amazonia at the end of the 19th century.
I received by email such a wonderful account of this migration from Rafael Foinquinos who now lives in South Florida but was born in Peru.

"At the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century there was a significant migration of Jews from Tanger to the Amazonas region in Brasil and Peru. There was a economic boom in that region related to the rubber which was extracted from the plant of the same name. Some of these explorers returned to Morocco but other stayed in Sud America. In Iquitos, Peru (located in the amazonic region), there are a lot of descendants of these migrants, my family is one of them.( I recently found the history of one of this explorers, here is the link:http://juifs-marocains-en-amazonie.com/ , in the second chapter, my great grand parents are mentioned).

All Foinquinos in Peru are descendant from my grandfather, Fortunato Foinquinos. He was from Tanger, his father name was Rafael Foinquinos and his mother Sara Attias (they also were from Tanger).

My Grandfather had 3 sons and 4 daughters. Rafael (my father, 88), Piedadi, Blanca, Flora, Sara, Jorge and Roger (He was in Morocco, 10 or 15 years ago) . My aunt Sara lives in California (Riverside, very close to LA).I know that there are Foinquinos in Brasil (which I believe should be related closely to us, maybe descendants from my grand father brothers). I have found also Foinquinos in Venezuela, they also have their roots in Tanger."

Thank you, Rafael for sharing this bit of our family history with us. I am sure Simone from Haifa will know how we relate to that branch of the family.

I have also found on line almost a book on the same subject, Jews in Amazonia, this is a documentary that was made in Brazil with the participation of the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. The book is written in portugues, so a little bit hard for me to comprehend. If someone could translate the most important parts in English or Spanish I will send them the link.

More info on the general migration of Moroccan Jews can be found on the following link:
http://www.orthohelp.com/geneal/amazon.HTM