 |
 Travel to Venezuela — Unbiased reviews and great
deals from TripAdvisorVenezuela
| Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela National name: República Bolivariana de
Venezuela President: Hugo Chavez (1999)
Current government officials Land
area: 340,560 sq mi (882,050 sq km); total area: 352,144 sq
mi (912,050 sq km) Population (2007
est.): 26,084,662 (growth rate: 1.4%); birth rate: 18.5/1000;
infant mortality rate: 20.9/1000; life expectancy: 74.8; density per
sq mile: 77 Capital (2003 est.): Caracas, 3,517,300 (metro. area), 1,741,400 (city proper) Largest cities: Maracaibo, 1,889,000
(metro. area), 1,854,300 (city proper); Valencia, 1,515,400;
Barquisimeto, 948,900 Monetary unit:
Bolivar Languages: Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects Ethnicity/race: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African, indigenous
people Religions: Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2% Literacy rate: 93% (2003 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2006 est.):
$186.3 billion; per capita $7,200. Real growth rate: 10.3%.
Inflation: 15.8%. Unemployment: 8.9%. Arable
land: 3%. Agriculture: corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice,
bananas, vegetables, coffee; beef, pork, milk, eggs; fish. Labor
force: 12.5 million; services 64%, industry 23%, agriculture 13%
(1997 est.). Industries: petroleum, construction materials,
food processing, textiles; iron ore mining, steel, aluminum; motor
vehicle assembly. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas,
iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower, diamonds.
Exports: $69.23 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): petroleum, bauxite and
aluminum, steel, chemicals, agricultural products, basic manufactures.
Imports: $28.81 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): raw materials,
machinery and equipment, transport equipment, construction materials.
Major trading partners: U.S., Netherlands Antilles, Dominican
Republic, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico (2004). Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 4.216 million (2006); mobile cellular: 12.496 million (2005).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 201, FM n.a. (20 in Caracas),
shortwave 11 (1998). Radios: 10.75 million (1997).
Television broadcast stations: 66 (plus 45 repeaters) (1997).
Televisions: 4.1 million (1997). Internet Service Providers
(ISPs): 51,968 (2006). Internet users: 3.04 million
(2005). Transportation: Railways:
total: 682 km (2002). Highways: total: 96,155 km; paved: 32,308
km; unpaved: 63,847 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 7,100 km; Rio
Orinoco and Lago de Maracaibo accept oceangoing vessels. Ports and
harbors: Amuay, Bajo Grande, El Tablazo, La Guaira, La Salina,
Maracaibo, Matanzas, Palua, Puerto Cabello, Puerto la Cruz, Puerto
Ordaz, Puerto Sucre, Punta Cardon. Airports: 375 (2006). International disputes: claims all of Guyana
west of the Essequibo River; maritime boundary dispute with Colombia
in the Gulf of Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea; US, France and the
Netherlands recognize Venezuela's claim to give full effect to Aves
Island, which creates a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending
over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest the
claim and other states' recognition of it. Major sources and definitions |
 |
Geography Venezuela, a
third larger than Texas, occupies most of the northern coast of South
America on the Caribbean Sea. It is bordered by Colombia to the west, Guyana
to the east, and Brazil to the south. Mountain systems break Venezuela into
four distinct areas: (1) the Maracaibo lowlands; (2) the mountainous region
in the north and northwest; (3) the Orinoco basin, with the llanos (vast
grass-covered plains) on its northern border and great forest areas in the
south and southeast; and (4) the Guiana Highlands, south of the Orinoco,
accounting for nearly half the national territory. Government Federal republic. History When Columbus explored Venezuela on his third
voyage in 1498, the area was inhabited by Arawak, Carib, and Chibcha
Indians. A subsequent Spanish explorer gave the country its name, meaning
“Little Venice.” Caracas was founded in 1567. Simón Bolívar, who led the
liberation from Spain of much of the continent, was born in Caracas in 1783.
With Bolívar taking part, Venezuela was one of the first South American
colonies to revolt in 1810, winning independence in 1821. Federated at first
with Colombia and Ecuador as the Republic of Greater Colombia, Venezuela
became a republic in 1830. A period of unstable dictatorships followed.
Antonio Guzman Blanco governed from 1870 to 1888, developing an
infrastructure, expanding agriculture, and welcoming foreign investment.
Gen. Juan Vicente Gómez was dictator from 1908 to 1935, when Venezuela
became a major oil exporter. A military junta ruled after his death. Leftist
Dr. Rómulo Betancourt and the Democratic Action Party won a majority of
seats in a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution in 1946. A
well-known writer, Rómulo Gallegos, candidate of Betancourt's party, became
Venezuela's first democratically elected president in 1947. Within eight
months, Gallegos was overthrown by a military-backed coup led by Marcos
Peréz Jiménez, who was ousted himself in 1958. Since 1959, Venezuela has
been one of the most stable democracies in Latin America. Betancourt served
from 1959–1964, while Rafael Caldera Rodríguez, president from 1969 to 1974,
legalized the Communist Party and established diplomatic relations with
Moscow. Venezuela benefited from the oil boom of the early 1970s. In
1974, President Carlos Andrés Pérez took office, and in 1976 Venezuela
nationalized foreign-owned oil and steel companies, offering compensation.
Luis Herrera Campíns became president in 1978. Declining world oil prices
sent Venezuela's economy into a tailspin, increasing the country's foreign
debt. Pérez was reelected to a nonconsecutive term in 1988 and launched an
unpopular austerity program. Military officers staged two unsuccessful coup
attempts in 1992, while the following year Congress impeached Pérez on
corruption charges. President Rafael Caldera Rodríguez was elected in Dec.
1993 to face the 1994 collapse of half of the country's banking sector,
falling oil prices, foreign debt repayment, and inflation. In 1997, the
government announced an expansion of gold and diamond mining to reduce
reliance on oil. Leftist president Hugo Chavez took office in 1999,
pledging political and economic reforms to give the poor a greater share of
the country's oil wealth. A constituent assembly was formed to rewrite the
constitution in July 1999, followed by the creation of a constitutional
assembly made up of Chavez's allies that replaced the democratically elected
Congress. Chavez's assumption of greater power prompted charges that he is
establishing a left-wing dictatorship. Chavez was reelected to a
six-year term in July 2000. Troops were called in to quell serious protests
over the election in several cities. In 2000 Chavez visited other OPEC
countries, becoming the first foreign head of state to visit Iraq since the
1991 Gulf War. He is close to President Fidel Castro of Cuba, which receives
Venezuelan oil at reduced prices. In Dec. 2001, business and labor
organizations held a work stoppage to protest Chavez's increasingly
authoritarian government. In April 2002, tensions reached a boiling point as
workers reduced oil production to protest Chavez's policies. Following a
massive anti-Chavez demonstration during which 12 people were killed, a
coalition of business and military leaders forced Chavez from power. But
international criticism of the coup, especially in Latin America, and an
outpouring of support from the president's followers returned Chavez to
power just two days later. After the coup, Chavez remained highly popular
among the poor, despite the desperate state of the economy. Venezuelan labor
unions, business organizations, the media, and a good part of the military
remained substantially less enchanted. Beginning in early Dec. 2002,
a general strike was called by business and labor leaders. By Jan. 2003 it
had virtually brought the economy, including the oil industry, to a halt.
Strike leaders pledged to continue until Chavez resigned or agreed to early
elections. But in Feb. 2003, after nine weeks, the strikers conceded defeat.
In Aug. 2003, a petition with 3.2 million signatures was delivered to the
country's election commission, demanding a recall referendum on Chavez. The
Chavez government challenged the referendum process rigorously, and
petitions submitted in Sept. 2003 and Feb. 2004 were rejected as invalid.
The electoral board finally accepted a petition in June 2004 and scheduled
the referendum for August 15. Chavez, who had been shoring up his standing
with the Venezuelan poor during the delays, won the referendum with an
overwhelming 58% of the vote. The opposition alleged fraud, but
international observers confirmed that there had been no irregularities.
Chavez's hand was clearly strengthened, and by the spring of 2005, his
popularity rating reached 70%, due in large part to his social spending
programs. In Dec. 2005 parliamentary elections, Chávez's Fifth Republic
Movement won 114 of 167 seats, and the remaining seats were won by his
allies. The opposition boycotted the election, maintaining they could not
trust the pro-Chavez National Electoral Council. President Chávez won
reelection in Dec. 2006 with 63% of the vote. In early 2007, Chávez
took significant steps to further consolidate his power and move Venezuela
closer to becoming a socialist state. In January, he announced the
nationalization of major energy and telecommunications companies. Days
later, the National Assembly voted to allow Chávez to rule by decree for 18
months. In May, Chávez shut down the main opposition television station,
RCTV, which has been critical of the government. The National Assembly voted
in August to abolish presidential term limits. In November 2007, the
Colombian army captured FARC rebels who were carrying videos, photographs,
and letters of about 15 hostages, some who have been held in jungle camps by
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, for nearly ten years.
The Marxist-inspired FARC—the largest rebel group in Latin America—has been
waging guerilla wars against the Colombian government for 40 years. Hostages
included three American military contractors and Ingrid Betancourt, former
Colombian presidential candidate. Also in November, Uribe withdrew his
support of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s attempts to negotiate with the
FARC, escalating tension between the two countries. Chávez subsequently
withdrew the Venezuelan ambassador to Colombia. On December 3, 2007,
a referendum that was widely expected to pass was rejected by voters, 51% to
49%, following weeks of uncharacteristic public protests and campaigning
against the package put forward by Chávez. The proposed 69 amendments to the
constitution included abolishment of presidential term limits, removal of
the Central Bank's autonomy, which would have given Chávez new power to
build a socialist economy, and a few that enjoyed wide support, including
reducing the work day to six hours and offering pensions to street vendors
and housewives. “I will not withdraw even one comma of this proposal,
this proposal is still alive," Chávez said. "For me, this is not a defeat."
Chavez instituted a time change on December 9, 2007, which put
Venezuela a half-hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. The government claimed
it was a health measure to improve the lives of Venezuelans by exposing them
to more sunlight. Months of negotiations between Chavez and FARC
rebels over the release of three hostages came to an end on December 31,
2007, when the FARC refused to hand them over, saying the promised security
conditions had not been met. The failed mission is Chavez's second defeat in
the last month after the loss of his referendum. On January 10, 2008,
however, FARC rebels freed two hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzᬥz de
Perdomo, in Guaviare, in southern Colombia. Rojas, a Colombian politician
captured in 2002, and Perdomo, a Colombian law-maker captured in 2001, were
escorted out of the jungle by several guerillas. The release of the hostages
was a triumph for Chavez, who coordinated the operation. In March 2008,
Colombian forces crossed into Ecuadorean territory and killed FARC rebel
leader, Raúl Reyes, and 20 other rebels. In response, Venezuela and Ecuador
broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia and sent troops to the
Colombian borders, although both countries denied any ties to FARC. In an
attempt to help cool the diplomatic tension between the three countries, the
Organization of American States approved a resolution, which declared that
the Colombian raid into Ecuador was a violation of sovereignty. On March 6,
Nicaragua broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia to demonstrate unity
with President Rafael Correa of Ecuador.On March 7, 2008, during a summit
meeting in the Dominican Republic, the leaders of Colombia, Ecuador,
Venezuela, and Nicaragua ended their diplomatic dispute over Colombia's raid
into Ecaudor that occurred on March 1, 2008. In May 2008, as part of
his continued campaign to assume complete, authoritarian control over the
country, President Chávez implemented a new intelligence law and replaced
the country's old intelligence agencies, which include the DISIP secret
police and the DIM military intelligence agency, with two new self-governed
agencies called the General Intelligence Office and General
Counterintelligence office. The new intelligence law requires citizens to
assist the new agencies, or else be thrown in prison. Chávez claimed that
the new law was necessary to gaurantee "national security" in the face of
alleged intimidation and possible attacks from the United States. On June 7,
2008, Chávez reversed the new intelligence policies, acknowleding the
intense opposition and extensive criticism from the Venezuelan people.
See also Encyclopedia: Venezuela.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Venezuela
Information Please® Database, ©
2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. More on Venezuela from Infoplease:
- Venezuela - Venezuela Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, republic (2005 est. pop. ...
- Venezuela - World—Country Profiles U.S. Department of State Background Note Venezuela PEOPLE Venezuela is ...
- Venezuela - Map of Venezuela & articles on flags, geography, history, statistics, disasters current events, and international relations.
- Venezuela: Bibliography - Bibliography See I. Rouse and J. M. Cruxent, Venezuelan Archaeology (1963); G. Morón, A ...
- Venezuela: Government - Government Venezuela is governed under the 1999 constitution. The president is popularly elected ...
|
|
