Venecia, Durango

Venecia, Gomez Palacio, Durango, belongs to the Comarca Lagunera that spreads from the state of Coahuila to Durango.

Venecia, Durango was a hacienda ranch owned by many families since its foundation. One of the notable owners was Luz Lourdes Lanz Duret de Suniaga as well as a very well known and respected residents of Don Ramon Iriarte Enncoiz, father of Ramon Iriarte Maisterrena and family, founders and owners of Grupo Lala, who later moved to the neighboring city of Torreón. Another notable and prominent family was the crypto-Sephardic Jewish family of Don Isabel Antunez Cardenas, of Spanish descent. The Antunez and Iriarte family built excellent relationship, having neighboring agriculture land across Venecia. The families became close, that Don Ramon Iriarte Enncoiz was the best man for Don Isabel Antunez son, Jose Isabel Antunez Saucedo, wedding held in Venecia, in 1947. The Antunez family is originally from Toledo, Spain, and later moved to Valladolid, Castile and León, where records exist of their baptism and conversion to Catholicism. Like many other Sephardic Jewish families at the time, they practiced Judaism in private, and continued to pass down traditions, names, Ladino language and customs for many generations. During the inquisition, some family members migrated to Nueva Vizcaya, and the rest moved to Andalucia, Spain, to later migrate to Nueva Vizcaya, present day Durango, Mexico. The family arrived to Mapimi, Durango, where they settled and successfully established businesses in the trading of precious metals, crops, and entertaining businesses like bars and restaurants. The family members continued to travel between Mapimi and Andalusia until the early 1900s. The last male descendant born in Mapimi was Don Isabel Antunez Cardenas, who married Maria Ines Saucedo de Antunez, and settled in the hacienda Venecia, shown in picture. The family owned a drive-in movie theater, bar, and versatile agriculture land. Hacienda Venecia is now a private residence, not owned by any of the previous families, with much of its land sold to local farmers and developers. Don Isabel Antunez Cardenas, later moved with most of his family to San Diego, California, where the family continued in the business industry, including respected family operated restaurant owned by his daughter, Lydia Antunez de Pimentel. Some of his direct descendants still live in Venecia, Durango, while other members moved to Cd. Juarez Chihuahua, where they are in the Education sector, and the rest reside in San Diego, California.