{"id":9205,"date":"2022-06-16T04:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=9205"},"modified":"2022-06-16T08:57:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:57:00","slug":"venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

Venezuela, officially the\u00a0Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a\u00a0continental<\/a>\u00a0landmass and many\u00a0islands and islets<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Caribbean Sea<\/a>. It has a territorial extension of 916,445\u00a0km2<\/sup>\u00a0(353,841 sq mi), and the population of Venezuela was estimated at 28 million in 2019.<\/sup>\u00a0The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of\u00a0Caracas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by\u00a0Colombia<\/a>,\u00a0Brazil<\/a>\u00a0on the south,\u00a0Trinidad and Tobago<\/a>\u00a0to the north-east and on the east by\u00a0Guyana<\/a>. The Venezuelan government maintains a claim against Guyana to\u00a0Guayana Esequiba<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Venezuela is a\u00a0federal<\/a>\u00a0presidential republic<\/a>\u00a0consisting of\u00a023 states<\/a>, the\u00a0Capital District<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0federal dependencies<\/a>\u00a0covering Venezuela’s offshore islands. Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America;<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north and in the capital.<\/p>\n

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Caracas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The territory of Venezuela was\u00a0colonized by Spain<\/a>\u00a0in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American territories to\u00a0declare independence<\/a>\u00a0from the Spanish and to form part, as a department, of the first federal Republic of Colombia (historiographically known as\u00a0Gran Colombia<\/a>). It separated as a full sovereign country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional\u00a0military dictators<\/a>\u00a0until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments, as an exception where most of the region was ruled by military dictatorships, and the period was characterized by economic prosperity. Economic shocks in the\u00a01980s<\/a>\u00a0and 1990s led to major political crises and widespread social unrest, including the deadly\u00a0Caracazo<\/a>\u00a0riots of 1989,\u00a0two attempted coups in 1992<\/a>, and the\u00a0impeachment of a President<\/a>\u00a0for embezzlement of public funds charges in 1993. The collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the\u00a01998 Venezuelan presidential election<\/a>, the catalyst for the\u00a0Bolivarian Revolution<\/a>, which began with a\u00a01999 Constituent Assembly<\/a>, where a new\u00a0Constitution of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0was imposed. The government\u00a0populist<\/a>\u00a0social welfare<\/a> policies were bolstered by soaring oil prices,\u00a0temporarily increasing social spending,<\/sup>\u00a0and reducing\u00a0economic inequality<\/a>\u00a0and poverty in the early years of the regime.<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a02013 Venezuelan presidential election<\/a>\u00a0was widely disputed leading to\u00a0widespread protest<\/a>, which triggered another nationwide\u00a0crisis<\/a> that continues to this day.<\/p>\n

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Venezuela on the Globe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Venezuela is a\u00a0developing country<\/a>\u00a0and ranks 113th on the\u00a0Human Development Index<\/a>. It has the world’s\u00a0largest known oil reserves<\/a>\u00a0and has been one of the world’s leading\u00a0exporters of oil<\/a>. Previously, the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and\u00a0cocoa<\/a>, but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The excesses and poor policies of the incumbent government led to the collapse of Venezuela’s entire economy.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The country struggles with record\u00a0hyperinflation<\/a>,\u00a0shortages of basic goods<\/a>,<\/sup> unemployment,\u00a0poverty,<\/sup>\u00a0disease, high child mortality,\u00a0malnutrition<\/a>, severe crime and corruption. These factors have precipitated the\u00a0Venezuelan migrant crisis<\/a>\u00a0where more than three million people have fled the country.<\/sup>\u00a0By 2017, Venezuela was declared to be in\u00a0default<\/a>\u00a0regarding debt payments by\u00a0credit rating agencies<\/a>.\u00a0The crisis in Venezuela has contributed to a rapidly deteriorating\u00a0human rights situation<\/a>, including increased abuses such as torture, arbitrary imprisonment, extrajudicial killings and attacks on human rights advocates. Venezuela is a charter member of the UN,\u00a0OAS<\/a>,\u00a0UNASUR<\/a>,\u00a0ALBA<\/a>,\u00a0Mercosur<\/a>,\u00a0LAIA<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0OEI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

Pre-Columbian history:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Evidence exists of human habitation in the area now known as Venezuela from about 15,000 years ago.\u00a0Leaf<\/a>-shaped tools from this period, together with chopping and\u00a0plano-convex<\/a>\u00a0scraping implements, have been found exposed on the high riverine terraces of the Rio Pedregal in western Venezuela.<\/sup>\u00a0Late Pleistocene<\/a>\u00a0hunting artifacts, including spear tips, have been found at a similar series of sites in northwestern Venezuela known as “El Jobo”; according to\u00a0radiocarbon dating<\/a>, these date from 13,000 to 7,000 BC.<\/p>\n

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Cult image\u00a0sculpted in ceramic,\u00a0Los Roques Archipelago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
It is not known how many people lived in Venezuela before the Spanish conquest; it has been estimated at around one million.<\/sup>\u00a0In addition to indigenous peoples known today, the population included historical groups such as the\u00a0Kalina<\/a>\u00a0(Caribs),\u00a0Auak\u00e9<\/a>,\u00a0Caquetio<\/a>,\u00a0Mariche<\/a>, and\u00a0Timoto\u2013Cuicas<\/a>. The Timoto\u2013Cuica culture was the most complex society in Pre-Columbian Venezuela, with pre-planned permanent villages, surrounded by irrigated, terraced fields. They also stored water in tanks.<\/sup>\u00a0Their houses were made primarily of stone and wood with thatched roofs. They were peaceful, for the most part, and depended on growing crops. Regional crops included potatoes and\u00a0ullucos<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0They left behind works of art, particularly anthropomorphic ceramics, but no major monuments. They spun vegetable fibers to weave into textiles and mats for housing. They are credited with having invented the\u00a0arepa<\/a>, a staple in\u00a0Venezuelan cuisine<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Petroglyph\u00a0in the\u00a0Waraira Repano National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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After the conquest, the population dropped markedly, mainly through the spread of new infectious diseases from Europe. Two main north\u2013south axes of pre-Columbian population were present, who cultivated maize in the west and\u00a0manioc<\/a>\u00a0in the east.<\/sup>\u00a0Large parts of the\u00a0llanos<\/i>\u00a0were cultivated through a combination of\u00a0slash and burn<\/a> and permanent settled agriculture.<\/p>\n

Colonization<\/span><\/h3>\n
In 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas,\u00a0Christopher Columbus<\/a>\u00a0sailed near the Orinoco Delta and landed in the\u00a0Gulf of Paria<\/a>.[39]<\/a><\/sup> Amazed by the great offshore current of freshwater which deflected his course eastward, Columbus expressed in a letter to Isabella and Ferdinand that he must have reached Heaven on Earth (terrestrial paradise).<\/div>\n
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Spain’s colonization of mainland Venezuela started in 1522, establishing its first permanent South American settlement in the present-day city of <\/span>Cuman\u00e1<\/a>. In the 16th century, Venezuela was contracted as a concession by the King of Spain to the German\u00a0<\/span>Welser<\/a>\u00a0banking family (<\/span>Klein-Venedig<\/a>, 1528\u20131546). Native\u00a0<\/span>caciques<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(leaders) such as\u00a0<\/span>Guaicaipuro<\/a>\u00a0(<\/span>c.<\/abbr>\u20091530\u20131568) and\u00a0<\/span>Tamanaco<\/a>\u00a0(died 1573) attempted to resist Spanish incursions, but the newcomers ultimately subdued them; Tamanaco was put to death by order of Caracas’ founder,\u00a0<\/span>Diego de Losada<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the 16th century, during the Spanish colonization, indigenous peoples such as many of the\u00a0Mariches<\/a>, themselves descendants of the Kalina, converted to\u00a0Roman Catholicism<\/a>. Some of the resisting tribes or leaders are commemorated in place names, including Caracas,\u00a0Chacao<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Los Teques<\/a>. The early colonial settlements focused on the northern coast,<\/sup>\u00a0but in the mid-18th century, the Spanish pushed farther inland along the\u00a0Orinoco River<\/a>. Here, the\u00a0Ye’kuana<\/a> (then known as the Makiritare) organized serious resistance in 1775 and 1776.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The German\u00a0Welser\u00a0Armada exploring Venezuela.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Spain’s eastern Venezuelan settlements were incorporated into\u00a0New Andalusia Province<\/a>. Administered by the\u00a0Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo<\/a>\u00a0from the early 16th century, most of Venezuela became part of the\u00a0Viceroyalty of New Granada<\/a>\u00a0in the early 18th century, and was then reorganized as an autonomous\u00a0Captaincy General<\/a>\u00a0starting in 1777. The town of Caracas, founded in the central coastal region in 1567, was well-placed to become a key location, being near the coastal port of\u00a0La Guaira<\/a>\u00a0whilst itself being located in a valley in a mountain range, providing defensive strength against\u00a0pirates<\/a> and a more fertile and healthy climate.<\/p>\n

Independence and 19th century:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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After a series of unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela, under the leadership of <\/span>Francisco de Miranda<\/a>, a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the\u00a0<\/span>American Revolution<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>French Revolution<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>declared independence<\/a>\u00a0as the\u00a0<\/span>First Republic of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0on 5 July 1811.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0This began the\u00a0<\/span>Venezuelan War of Independence<\/a>. A devastating\u00a0<\/span>earthquake that struck Caracas in 1812<\/a>, together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan\u00a0<\/span>llaneros<\/a><\/i>, helped bring down the republic.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar<\/a>, new leader of the independentist forces, launched his\u00a0<\/span>Admirable Campaign<\/a>\u00a0in 1813 from\u00a0<\/span>New Granada<\/a>, retaking most of the territory and being proclaimed as\u00a0<\/span>El Libertador<\/i>\u00a0(“The Liberator”). A\u00a0<\/span>second Venezuelan republic<\/a>\u00a0was proclaimed on 7 August 1813, but lasted only a few months before being crushed at the hands of\u00a0<\/span>royalist<\/a>\u00a0caudillo\u00a0<\/span>Jos\u00e9 Tom\u00e1s Boves<\/a> and his personal army of llaneros.<\/span><\/div>\n
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El Libertador, Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The end of the\u00a0French invasion<\/a>\u00a0of homeland Spain in 1814 allowed the preparation of a large expeditionary force to the American provinces under general\u00a0Pablo Morillo<\/a>, with the goal to regain the lost territory in Venezuela and New Granada. As the war reached a stalemate on 1817, Bol\u00edvar reestablished the\u00a0Third Republic of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0on the territory still controlled by the patriots, mainly in the\u00a0Guayana<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Llanos<\/a>\u00a0regions. This republic was short-lived as only two years later, during the\u00a0Congress of Angostura<\/a>\u00a0of 1819, the union of Venezuela with New Granada was decreed to form the Republic of Colombia (historiographically\u00a0Republic of Gran Colombia<\/a>). The war continued for some years, until full victory and\u00a0sovereignty<\/a>\u00a0was attained after Bol\u00edvar, aided by\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Antonio P\u00e1ez<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Antonio Jos\u00e9 de Sucre<\/a>, won the\u00a0Battle of Carabobo<\/a>\u00a0on 24 June 1821.<\/sup>\u00a0On 24 July 1823,\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Prudencio Padilla<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Rafael Urdaneta<\/a>\u00a0helped seal Venezuelan independence with their victory in the\u00a0Battle of Lake Maracaibo<\/a>. New Granada’s congress gave Bol\u00edvar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several countries and founded the Republic of Colombia (Gran Colombia<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Revolution of 19 April 1810, the beginning of Venezuela’s independence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sucre, who won many battles for Bol\u00edvar, went on to liberate\u00a0Ecuador<\/a>\u00a0and later become the second president of\u00a0Bolivia<\/a>. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by P\u00e1ez allowed the proclamation of a newly independent Venezuela; P\u00e1ez became the first president of the new\u00a0State of Venezuela<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Between one-quarter and one-third of Venezuela’s population was lost during these two decades of warfare (including perhaps one-half of the\u00a0white<\/a>\u00a0population),<\/sup> which by 1830, was estimated at 800,000.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Slavery<\/a>\u00a0in Venezuela was abolished in 1854.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Much of Venezuela’s 19th-century history was characterized by political turmoil and dictatorial rule, including the Independence leader Jos\u00e9 Antonio P\u00e1ez, who gained the presidency three times and served a total of 11 years between 1830 and 1863. This culminated in the\u00a0<\/span>Federal War<\/a>\u00a0(1859\u20131863), a civil war in which hundreds of thousands died in a country with a population of not much more than a million people. In the latter half of the century,\u00a0<\/span>Antonio Guzm\u00e1n Blanco<\/a>, another\u00a0<\/span>caudillo<\/i>, served a total of 13 years between 1870 and 1887, with three other presidents interspersed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The signing of Venezuela’s independence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In 1895, a longstanding dispute with Great Britain about the territory of Guayana Esequiba, which Britain claimed as part of\u00a0British Guiana<\/a>\u00a0and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory, erupted into the\u00a0Venezuela Crisis of 1895<\/a>. The dispute became a diplomatic crisis when Venezuela’s lobbyist,\u00a0William L. Scruggs<\/a>, sought to argue that British behavior over the issue violated the United States’\u00a0Monroe Doctrine<\/a>\u00a0of 1823, and used his influence in Washington, D.C., to pursue the matter. Then, U.S. president\u00a0Grover Cleveland<\/a>\u00a0adopted a broad interpretation of the doctrine that did not just simply forbid new European colonies, but declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere.[53]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Britain ultimately accepted arbitration, but in negotiations over its terms was able to persuade the U.S. on many of the details. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the issue and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.[54]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In 1899,\u00a0Cipriano Castro<\/a>, assisted by his friend\u00a0Juan Vicente G\u00f3mez<\/a>, seized power in Caracas, marching an army from his base in the Andean state of\u00a0T\u00e1chira<\/a>. Castro defaulted on Venezuela’s considerable foreign debts and declined to pay compensation to foreigners caught up in Venezuela’s civil wars. This led to the\u00a0Venezuela Crisis of 1902\u20131903<\/a>, in which Britain, Germany and Italy imposed a naval blockade of several months before international arbitration at the new\u00a0Permanent Court of Arbitration<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0The Hague<\/a>\u00a0was agreed. In 1908,\u00a0another dispute<\/a>\u00a0broke out with the Netherlands, which was resolved when Castro left for medical treatment in Germany and was promptly overthrown by Juan Vicente G\u00f3mez (1908\u20131935).<\/p>\n

20th century:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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The discovery of massive\u00a0oil deposits<\/a>\u00a0in Lake Maracaibo during World War I<\/sup>\u00a0proved to be pivotal for Venezuela and transformed the basis of its economy from a heavy dependence on agricultural exports. It prompted an economic boom that lasted into the 1980s; by 1935, Venezuela’s per capita gross domestic product was Latin America’s highest.<\/sup>\u00a0G\u00f3mez benefited handsomely from this, as corruption thrived, but at the same time, the new source of income helped him centralize the Venezuelan state and develop its authority.<\/p>\n

He remained the most powerful man in Venezuela until his death in 1935, although at times he ceded the presidency to others. The\u00a0gomecista<\/i>\u00a0dictatorship (1935\u20131945) system largely continued under\u00a0Eleazar L\u00f3pez Contreras<\/a>, but from 1941, under\u00a0Isa\u00edas Medina Angarita<\/a>, was relaxed. Angarita granted a range of reforms, including the legalization of all political parties. After\u00a0World War II<\/a>, immigration from Southern Europe (mainly from Spain,\u00a0Italy<\/a>, Portugal, and France) and poorer Latin American countries markedly diversified Venezuelan society.<\/p>\n

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R\u00f3mulo Betancourt\u00a0(president 1945\u20131948 \/ 1959\u20131964)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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In 1945, a civilian-military coup overthrew Medina Angarita and ushered in <\/span>a three-year period of democratic rule<\/a>\u00a0(1945\u20131948) under the mass membership party\u00a0<\/span>Democratic Action<\/a>, initially under\u00a0<\/span>R\u00f3mulo Betancourt<\/a>, until\u00a0<\/span>R\u00f3mulo Gallegos<\/a>\u00a0won the\u00a0<\/span>1947 Venezuelan presidential election<\/a>\u00a0(generally believed to be the first free and fair elections in Venezuela).<\/span><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0Gallegos governed until overthrown by a military junta led by the triumvirate Luis Felipe Llovera P\u00e1ez,\u00a0<\/span>Marcos P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez<\/a>, and Gallegos’ Defense Minister,\u00a0<\/span>Carlos Delgado Chalbaud<\/a>, in the\u00a0<\/span>1948 Venezuelan\u00a0coup d’\u00e9tat<\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The most powerful man in the military\u00a0junta<\/i>\u00a0(1948\u20131958) was P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez (though Chalbaud was its titular president) and was suspected of being behind the death in office of Chalbaud, who died in a bungled kidnapping in 1950. When the junta unexpectedly lost the\u00a0election it held in 1952<\/a>, it ignored the results and P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez was installed as president, where he remained until 1958. The expansion of the Venezuelan economy in this period was based on the indebtedness of the Venezuelan nation and that was one of the causes of the economic crisis in Venezuela in the 1960s,<\/sup>\u00a0in which important projects such as the Urban Center El Recreo de Marcel Brauer on Avenida Casanova in\u00a0Sabana Grande<\/a> district were paralyzed.<\/p>\n

During the years of P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez’s administration, the State intervened in areas of the economy that were traditionally carried out by private companies. The P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez government was characterized by its state capitalism and not by liberal capitalism. It was an antecedent of the populist and paternalistic economic regime of the later democratic regimes.<\/sup> The national private entrepreneurship increasingly had less space to grow and prosper. The State was the great capitalist in the Venezuela of P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez and was the largest national shareholder of major hotel chains such as Sheraton.<\/p>\n

In the government of\u00a0P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez<\/a>, Venezuela’s debt grew more than 25 times and went from 175 million to more than 4,500\u00a0million bolivares in just 5 years (approximately 15\u00a0billion dollars in 2018). The malaise over the debts of Venezuela reached the barracks and the national business. P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez responded that: “there is no debt, but commitments”. The Finance Minister failed to convince P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez to order the cancellation of debts.<\/sup>\u00a0As of 14 January 1958, the Venezuelan business community decided to divorce itself completely from the regime, nine days before the collapse of the government.<\/sup> The military dictator P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez was forced out on 23 January 1958. In an effort to consolidate a young democracy, the three major political parties (Acci\u00f3n Democr\u00e1tica<\/a>\u00a0(AD),\u00a0COPEI<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Uni\u00f3n Republicana Democr\u00e1tica<\/a>\u00a0(URD), with the notable exception of the\u00a0Communist Party of Venezuela<\/a>) signed the\u00a0Puntofijo Pact<\/a>\u00a0power-sharing agreement. The two first parties would dominate the political landscape for four decades.<\/p>\n

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Table where the\u00a0Puntofijo Pact\u00a0was signed on 31 October 1958<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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During the presidencies of <\/span>R\u00f3mulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello<\/a>\u00a0(1959\u20131964, his second time) and\u00a0<\/span>Ra\u00fal Leoni<\/a>\u00a0Otero (1964\u20131969) in the 1960s, substantial guerilla movements occurred, including the\u00a0<\/span>Armed Forces of National Liberation<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>Revolutionary Left Movement<\/a>, which had split from AD in 1960. Most of these movements laid down their arms under\u00a0<\/span>Rafael Caldera<\/a>‘s first presidency (1969\u20131974); Caldera had won the\u00a0<\/span>1968 election<\/a>\u00a0for COPEI, being the first time a party other than Democratic Action took the presidency through a democratic election. The new democratic order had its antagonists. Betancourt suffered an attack planned by the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1960, and the leftists excluded from the Pact initiated an armed insurgency by organizing themselves in the Armed Forces of National Liberation, sponsored by the Communist Party and Fidel Castro. In 1962 they tried to destabilize the military corps, with failed revolts in Car\u00fapano and Puerto Cabello. At the same time, Betancourt promoted a foreign policy, the\u00a0<\/span>Betancourt Doctrine<\/a>, in which he only recognized elected governments by popular vote.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As a result of the debt that Marcos P\u00e9rez Jim\u00e9nez had left, an economic adjustment program was necessary in Venezuela. The Economic Recovery Plan of 1960 was formulated by Tom\u00e1s Enrique Carrillo Batalla. The construction industry was revitalized through the “rediscount” of the Central Bank of Venezuela. The Economic Recovery Plan fulfilled its objectives and in 1964, Venezuela was able to return to an anchored exchange rate, with free purchase and sale of foreign currency. This system lasted until the\u00a0Venezuelan Black Friday of 1983<\/a>, although the model was already running out at the end of the seventies. The consolidation of the democratic system and the dissipation of fears of political radicalization of the country contributed to normalize the demand for foreign currency, stabilizing the parallel exchange rate.<\/p>\n

For much of the period between 1950 and 1973, the Venezuelan economy was characterized by its stability and sustained strength, factors that contributed decisively to being able to maintain a fixed exchange rate without major inconveniences. In the period of\u00a0Carlos Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez<\/a>\u00a0(1974\u20131979, his first time as president), as a result of the Arab-Israeli war (the\u00a0Yom Kippur War<\/a>), the average price of a barrel of oil went from 3.71 to 10.53 dollars and continued to rise to exceed 29 dollars in 1981.<\/sup>\u00a0The income of the public sector went from 18,960 million bolivars in 1973 to 45.564\u00a0million in 1974. The economic bonanza also had the characteristics of an economic bubble, but Venezuelans remember the “Ta barato, dame dos”.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The increased inflow of funds to savings and loan entities and mortgage banks allowed an increase in the mortgage loan portfolio, which also tripled. In general, Venezuela was a prosperous country in the governments of R\u00f3mulo Betancourt (1945\u00a0\u2013\u00a0c.<\/abbr>\u20091948; 1959\u20131964), Rafael Caldera (1969\u20131974; 1994\u00a0\u2013\u00a0c.<\/abbr>\u20091999) and Carlos Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez (1974\u20131979; 1989\u00a0\u2013\u00a0c.<\/abbr>\u20091993). In 1975 the iron industry was nationalized and the following year the oil industry, creating Petr\u00f3leos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). Both Caldera and P\u00e9rez partially broke with the\u00a0Betancourt Doctrine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Sabana Grande district, Caracas (1954)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The election in 1973<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Carlos Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez<\/a>\u00a0coincided with an\u00a0oil crisis<\/a>, in which Venezuela’s income exploded as\u00a0oil prices<\/a> soared; oil industries were nationalized in 1976. This led to massive increases in public spending, but also increases in external debts, which continued into the 1980s when the collapse of oil prices during the 1980s crippled the Venezuelan economy. As the government started to devalue the currency in February 1983 to face its financial obligations, Venezuelans’ real standards of living fell dramatically. A number of failed economic policies and increasing corruption in government led to rising poverty and crime, worsening social indicators, and increased political instability.<\/p>\n

During the presidency of\u00a0Luis Herrera Campins<\/a>\u00a0(1979\u20131984), important infrastructure works were completed, such as the\u00a0Parque Central Complex<\/a>\u00a0(which became the largest housing complex and the tallest towers in Latin America), Teresa Carre\u00f1o Cultural Complex (the largest cultural center in South America at that time), the Br\u00edgido Iriarte Stadium and the United Nations Park. Most of these works had been previously planned.<\/sup> Until the mid-eighties, the Venezuelan economy showed a very positive behavior, characterized by the absence of internal or external imbalances, high economic growth, largely due to the sustained and very high gross fixed investment of those years, 10 under unemployment and great price stability. This translated into sustained increases in the average real wage and an improvement in the condition of life.<\/p>\n

The bolivar was devalued in February 1983, unleashing a strong economic crisis, which hit investments in the most important financial centers of the Venezuelan capital, such as <\/span>Sabana Grande<\/a>. In the government of\u00a0<\/span>Jaime Lusinchi<\/a>\u00a0(1984\u20131989), an attempt was made to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the measures failed. After a long period of accelerated economic expansion that lasts for six decades (value of the stock of homes by families), an extreme higher value is reached towards 1982. From this historical value begins then a systematic fall that mounts to 26 hundred up to 2006, and that configures a genuine unique experience in contemporary economic life.<\/span><\/sup> However, the economic deactivation of the country had begun to show its first signs in 1978.<\/span><\/p>\n

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President Carlos Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was impeached on corruption charges in 1993.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the 1980s, the Presidential Commission for State Reform (COPRE) emerged as a mechanism of political innovation. Venezuela was preparing for the decentralization of its political system and the diversification of its economy, reducing the large size of the State. The COPRE operated as an innovation mechanism, also by incorporating issues into the political agenda that were generally excluded from public deliberation by the main actors of the Venezuelan democratic system. The most discussed topics were incorporated into the public agenda: decentralization, political participation, municipalization, judicial order reforms and the role of the State in a new economic strategy. Unfortunately, the social reality of the country made the changes difficult to apply.<\/p>\n

Economic crises in the 1980s and 1990s led to a political crisis in which hundreds died in the\u00a0Caracazo<\/a><\/i>\u00a0riots of 1989 during the presidency of Carlos Andres P\u00e9rez (1989\u20131993, his second time),\u00a0two attempted coups d’\u00e9tat in 1992 (February and November)<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Hugo Ch\u00e1vez<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0and the impeachment of President Carlos Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez (re-elected in 1988) for corruption in 1993 and the interim presidency of\u00a0Ram\u00f3n Jos\u00e9 Vel\u00e1squez<\/a>\u00a0(1993\u20131994). Coup leader Hugo Ch\u00e1vez\u00a0was pardoned in March 1994<\/a>\u00a0by president Rafael Caldera (1994\u20131999, his second time), with a clean slate and his political rights reinstated. This let him later get the presidency continuously from 1999 until his death in 2013, winning the elections of 1998, 2000, 2006 and 2012 and the presidential referendum of 2004, with the only exception in 2002 of\u00a0Pedro Carmona Estanga<\/a>\u00a0as a\u00a0two-day de facto government<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Diosdado Cabello Rond\u00f3n<\/a>\u00a0as a few-hours interim president.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Bolivarian government: 1999\u2013present:<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Bolivarian Revolution refers to a\u00a0left-wing populism<\/a>\u00a0social movement<\/a>\u00a0and political process in Venezuela led by Venezuelan president\u00a0Hugo Ch\u00e1vez<\/a>, who founded the\u00a0Fifth Republic Movement<\/a>\u00a0in 1997 and the\u00a0United Socialist Party of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0in 2007. The “Bolivarian Revolution” is named after\u00a0Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar<\/a>, an early 19th-century Venezuelan and Latin American revolutionary leader, prominent in the\u00a0Spanish American wars of independence<\/a>\u00a0in achieving the independence of most of northern South America from Spanish rule. According to Ch\u00e1vez and other supporters, the “Bolivarian Revolution” seeks to build a mass movement to implement\u00a0Bolivarianism<\/a>\u2014popular democracy<\/a>, economic independence, equitable distribution of revenues, and an end to political corruption\u2014in Venezuela. They interpret Bol\u00edvar’s ideas from a\u00a0populist<\/a>\u00a0perspective, using\u00a0socialist<\/a>\u00a0rhetoric.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Hugo Ch\u00e1vez: 1999\u20132013:<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Ch\u00e1vez with fellow South American presidents N\u00e9stor Kirchner of Argentina and Lula da Silva of Brazil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A collapse in confidence in the existing parties led to Ch\u00e1vez being elected president in 1998 and the subsequent launch of a “Bolivarian Revolution”, beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela. Ch\u00e1vez also initiated\u00a0Bolivarian missions<\/a>, programs aimed at helping the poor.<\/p>\n

In April 2002, Ch\u00e1vez was briefly ousted from power in the\u00a02002 Venezuelan coup d’\u00e9tat attempt<\/a>\u00a0following popular demonstrations by his opponents,<\/sup> but he returned to power after two days as a result of demonstrations by poor Ch\u00e1vez supporters in Caracas and actions by the military.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez also remained in power after an all-out national strike that lasted\u00a0from December 2002 to February 2003<\/a>, including a strike\/lockout in the state oil company\u00a0PDVSA<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The strike produced severe economic dislocation, with the country’s GDP falling 27% during the first four months of 2003, and costing the oil industry $13.3\u00a0billion.<\/sup> Capital flight before and during the strike led to the re-imposition of currency controls (which had been abolished in 1989), managed by the\u00a0CADIVI<\/a> agency. In the subsequent decade, the government was forced into several currency devaluations.\u00a0These devaluations have done little to improve the situation of the Venezuelan people who rely on imported products or locally produced products that depend on imported inputs while dollar-denominated oil sales account for the vast majority of Venezuela’s exports.<\/sup>\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez survived several further political tests, including an\u00a0August 2004 recall referendum<\/a>. He was elected for another term\u00a0in December 2006<\/a>\u00a0and re-elected for a third term in October 2012. However, he was never sworn in for his third period, due to medical complications. Ch\u00e1vez died on 5 March 2013 after a nearly two-year fight with cancer.<\/sup> The presidential election that took place on Sunday, 14 April 2013, was the first since Ch\u00e1vez took office in 1999 in which his name did not appear on the ballot.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Nicol\u00e1s Maduro: 2013\u2013present:<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0with Brazilian President\u00a0Dilma Rousseff\u00a0at the 48th\u00a0Mercosur\u00a0Summit in Brazil in 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Poverty and inflation began to increase into the 2010s.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> was elected in 2013 after the death of Chavez. Chavez picked Maduro as his successor and appointed him vice president in 2013. Maduro was elected president in a shortened election in 2013 following Chavez’s death.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Nicol\u00e1s Maduro has been the\u00a0president of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0since 14 April 2013, when he won the\u00a0second presidential election after Ch\u00e1vez’s death<\/a>, with 50.61% of the votes against the opposition’s candidate\u00a0Henrique Capriles Radonski<\/a>, who had 49.12% of the votes. The\u00a0Democratic Unity Roundtable<\/a> contested his election as fraud and as a violation of the constitution. An audit of 56% of the vote showed no discrepancies, and the\u00a0Supreme Court of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0ruled that under Venezuela’s Constitution, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was the legitimate president and was invested as such by the Venezuelan\u00a0National Assembly<\/a> (Asamblea Nacional). Opposition leaders and some international media consider the government of Maduro to be a dictatorship. Since February 2014, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have protested over high levels of criminal violence, corruption, hyperinflation, and chronic scarcity of basic goods due to policies of the federal government.\u00a0Demonstrations and riots have resulted in over 40 fatalities in the unrest between Chavistas and opposition protesters<\/sup>\u00a0and opposition leaders, including\u00a0Leopoldo L\u00f3pez<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Antonio Ledezma<\/a> were arrested. Human rights groups condemned the arrest of Leopoldo L\u00f3pez.\u00a0In the\u00a02015 Venezuelan parliamentary election<\/a>, the opposition gained a majority.<\/p>\n

Venezuela devalued its currency in February 2013 due to rising shortages in the country,\u00a0which included those of<\/a> milk, flour, and other necessities. This led to an increase in malnutrition, especially among children.\u00a0Venezuela’s economy had become strongly dependent on the exportation of oil, with crude accounting for 86% of exports,<\/sup>\u00a0and a high price per barrel to support social programs. Beginning in 2014 the\u00a0price of oil<\/a>\u00a0plummeted from over $100\/bbl to $40\/bbl a year and a half later. This placed pressure on the Venezuelan economy, which was no longer able to afford vast social programs. To counter the decrease in oil prices, the Venezuelan Government began taking more money from\u00a0PDVSA<\/a>, the state oil company, to meet budgets, resulting in a lack of reinvestment in fields and employees. Venezuela’s oil production decreased from its height of nearly 3 to 1\u00a0million\u00a0barrels<\/a>\u00a0(480 to 160\u00a0thousand\u00a0cubic metres<\/a>) per day.\u00a0In 2014, Venezuela entered an\u00a0economic recession<\/a>. In 2015, Venezuela had the world’s highest inflation rate with the rate surpassing 100%, which was the highest in the country’s history. In 2017,\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>‘s administration imposed more\u00a0economic sanctions<\/a>\u00a0against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company\u00a0PDVSA<\/a> and Venezuelan officials. Economic problems, as well as crime and corruption, were some of the main causes of the\u00a02014\u2013present Venezuelan protests<\/a>.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0Since 2015 nearly 2 million people have\u00a0fled Venezuela<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In January 2016, President Maduro decreed an “economic emergency”, revealing the extent of the crisis and expanding his powers.<\/sup>\u00a0In July 2016, Colombian border crossings were temporarily opened to allow Venezuelans to purchase food and basic household and health items in Colombia.<\/sup>\u00a0In September 2016, a study published in the Spanish-language\u00a0Diario Las Am\u00e9ricas<\/a><\/i><\/sup>\u00a0indicated that 15% of Venezuelans are eating “food waste<\/a>\u00a0discarded by commercial establishments”.<\/p>\n

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Maduro was\u00a0inaugurated\u00a0for a\u00a0contested\u00a0and controversial second term on 10 January 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Close to 200 riots had occurred in Venezuelan prisons by October 2016, according to Una Ventana a la Libertad, an advocacy group for better prison conditions. The father of an inmate at T\u00e1chira Detention Center in Caracas alleged that his son was cannibalized by other inmates during a month-long riot, a claim corroborated by an anonymous police source but denied by the Minister of Correctional Affairs.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In 2017, Venezuela experienced\u00a0a constitutional crisis in the country<\/a>. In March 2017, opposition leaders branded President Nicolas Maduro a dictator after the Maduro-aligned Supreme Tribunal, which had been overturning most National Assembly decisions since the opposition took control of the body, took over the functions of the assembly, pushing a lengthy political standoff to new heights.<\/sup> The Supreme Court backed down and reversed its decision on 1 April 2017.\u00a0A month later, President Maduro announced the\u00a02017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election<\/a>\u00a0and on 30 August 2017, the\u00a02017 Constituent National Assembly<\/a> was elected into office and quickly stripped the National Assembly of its powers.<\/p>\n

In December 2017, President Maduro declared that leading opposition parties would be barred from taking part in following year’s presidential vote after they boycotted mayoral polls.<\/p>\n

Maduro won the\u00a02018 election<\/a>\u00a0with 67.8% of the vote. The result was challenged by countries including\u00a0Argentina<\/a>,\u00a0Chile<\/a>,\u00a0Colombia<\/a>,\u00a0Brazil<\/a>,\u00a0Canada<\/a>,\u00a0Germany<\/a>,\u00a0France<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0United States<\/a>\u00a0who deemed it fraudulent and moved to recognize\u00a0Juan Guaid\u00f3<\/a> as president. Other countries including\u00a0Cuba<\/a>,\u00a0China<\/a>,\u00a0Russia<\/a>,\u00a0Turkey<\/a>, and\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0continued to recognize Maduro as president,<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0although China, facing financial pressure over its position, reportedly began hedging its position by decreasing loans given, cancelling joint ventures, and signaling willingness to work with all parties.<\/sup> A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman denied the reports, describing them as “false information”.<\/p>\n

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Juan Guaid\u00f3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In January 2019 the Permanent Council of the\u00a0Organization of American States<\/a>\u00a0(OAS) approved a resolution “to not recognize the legitimacy of Nicolas Maduro’s new term as of the 10th of January of 2019,”<\/sup>\u00a0while the\u00a0United Nations General Assembly<\/a>\u00a0formally recognized the Maduro government as the only legitimate representative of Venezuela at the United Nations<\/sup>\u00a0and in October 2019, Venezuela was elected to the\u00a0United Nations Human Rights Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In August 2019, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose a total economic embargo against Venezuela.<\/sup> In March 2020, the Trump administration indicted Maduro and several Venezuelan officials on charges of drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

In June 2020, a report by the US organisation\u00a0Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights<\/a>\u00a0documented enforced disappearances in Venezuela that occurred in the years 2018 and 2019. During the period, 724 enforced disappearances of\u00a0political detainees<\/a> were reported. The report stated that Venezuelan security forces subjected victims, who had been disappeared, to illegal interrogation processes accompanied by torture and cruel or inhuman treatment. The report stated that the Venezuelan government strategically used enforced disappearances to silence political opponents and other critical voices it deemed a threat.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Geography:<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Topographic map of Venezuela<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Venezuela is located in the north of South America; geologically, its mainland rests on the <\/span>South American Plate<\/a>. It has a total area of 916,445\u00a0km<\/span>2<\/sup>\u00a0(353,841\u00a0sq\u00a0mi) and a land area of 882,050\u00a0km<\/span>2<\/sup>\u00a0(340,560\u00a0sq\u00a0mi), making Venezuela the\u00a0<\/span>33rd largest country in the world<\/a>. <\/span>Shaped roughly like a triangle, the country has a 2,800\u00a0km (1,700\u00a0mi) coastline in the north, which includes numerous islands in the Caribbean and the northeast borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Most observers describe Venezuela in terms of four fairly well defined\u00a0<\/span>topographical<\/a>\u00a0regions: the\u00a0<\/span>Maracaibo lowlands<\/a>\u00a0in the northwest, the northern mountains extending in a broad east\u2013west arc from the Colombian border along the northern Caribbean coast, the wide plains in central Venezuela, and the\u00a0<\/span>Guiana Highlands<\/a>\u00a0in the southeast.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The northern mountains are the extreme northeastern extensions of South America’s Andes mountain range.\u00a0Pico Bol\u00edvar<\/a>, the nation’s highest point at 4,979\u00a0m (16,335\u00a0ft), lies in this region. To the south, the dissected\u00a0Guiana Highlands<\/a>\u00a0contain the northern fringes of the Amazon Basin and\u00a0Angel Falls<\/a>, the world’s highest waterfall, as well as\u00a0tepuis<\/a><\/i>, large table-like mountains. The country’s center is characterized by the\u00a0llanos<\/i>, which are extensive plains that stretch from the Colombian border in the far west to the Orinoco River\u00a0delta<\/a>\u00a0in the east. The Orinoco, with its rich\u00a0alluvial soils<\/a>, binds the largest and most important\u00a0river system<\/a>\u00a0of the country; it originates in one of the largest\u00a0watersheds<\/a>\u00a0in Latin America. The\u00a0Caron\u00ed<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Apure<\/a>\u00a0are other major rivers.<\/p>\n

Venezuela borders\u00a0Colombia<\/a>\u00a0to the west,\u00a0Guyana<\/a>\u00a0to the east, and\u00a0Brazil<\/a>\u00a0to the south. Caribbean islands such as\u00a0Trinidad and Tobago<\/a>,\u00a0Grenada<\/a>,\u00a0Cura\u00e7ao<\/a>,\u00a0Aruba<\/a>, and the\u00a0Leeward Antilles<\/a>\u00a0lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela has territorial disputes with Guyana, formerly United Kingdom, largely concerning the\u00a0Essequibo area<\/a>\u00a0and with Colombia concerning the\u00a0Gulf of Venezuela<\/a>. In 1895, after years of diplomatic attempts to solve the border dispute, the dispute over the Essequibo River border flared up. It was submitted to a “neutral” commission (composed of British, American, and Russian representatives and without a direct Venezuelan representative), which in 1899 decided mostly against Venezuela’s claim.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Venezuela’s most significant natural resources are petroleum and natural gas, iron ore, gold, and other minerals. It also has large areas of\u00a0arable land<\/a>\u00a0and water.<\/p>\n

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View of the tepuis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Economy:<\/h2>\n
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Venezuela has a market-based <\/span>mixed economy<\/a> dominated by the petroleum sector,<\/span> which accounts for roughly a third of GDP, around 80% of exports, and more than half of government revenues. Per capita GDP for 2016 was estimated to be US$15,100, ranking 109th in the world. <\/span>Venezuela has the\u00a0<\/span>least expensive petrol<\/a> in the world because the consumer price of petrol is heavily subsidized. The private sector controls two-thirds of Venezuela’s economy.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The\u00a0Central Bank of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0is responsible for developing\u00a0monetary policy<\/a>\u00a0for the\u00a0Venezuelan bol\u00edvar<\/a>\u00a0which is used as currency. The president of the Central Bank of Venezuela serves as the country’s representative in the\u00a0International Monetary Fund<\/a>. The U.S.-based conservative think tank\u00a0The Heritage Foundation<\/a>, cited in\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/i>, claims Venezuela has the weakest property rights in the world, scoring only 5.0 on a scale of 100; expropriation without compensation is not uncommon.<\/p>\n

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Manufacturing contributed 17% of GDP in 2006. Venezuela manufactures and exports heavy industry products such as steel, aluminum\u00a0and cement, with production concentrated around Ciudad Guayana<\/a>, near the\u00a0<\/span>Guri Dam<\/a>, one of the largest in the world and the provider of about three-quarters of Venezuela’s electricity. Other notable manufacturing includes\u00a0<\/span>electronics<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>automobiles<\/a>, as well as beverages, and\u00a0<\/span>foodstuffs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Agriculture in Venezuela<\/a> accounts for approximately 3% of GDP, 10% of the labor force, and at least a quarter of Venezuela’s land area. The country is not self-sufficient in most areas of agriculture. In 2012, total food consumption was over 26 million metric tons, a 94.8% increase from 2003.<\/span><\/sup><\/div>\n
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Since the discovery of oil in the early 20th century, Venezuela has been one of the world’s leading exporters of oil, and it is a founding member of\u00a0OPEC<\/a>. Previously an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The 1980s oil glut led to an external debt crisis and a long-running economic crisis, which saw inflation peak at 100% in 1996 and poverty rates rise to 66% in 1995<\/sup> as (by 1998) per capita GDP fell to the same level as 1963, down a third from its 1978 peak.\u00a0<\/sup>The 1990s also saw Venezuela experience a\u00a0major banking crisis in 1994<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Venezuela exports, 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The recovery of oil prices after 2001 boosted the Venezuelan economy and facilitated social spending. With social programs such as the\u00a0Bolivarian Missions<\/a>, Venezuela initially made progress in social development in the 2000s, particularly in areas such as health, education, and poverty. Many of the social policies pursued by Ch\u00e1vez and his administration were jump-started by the\u00a0Millennium Development Goals<\/a>, eight goals that Venezuela and 188 other nations agreed to in September 2000.<\/sup> The sustainability of the Bolivarian Missions has been questioned due to the Bolivarian state’s overspending on public works and because the Ch\u00e1vez government did not save funds for future economic hardships like other OPEC nations; with economic issues and poverty rising as a result of their policies in the 2010s.\u00a0In 2003 the government of Hugo Ch\u00e1vez implemented currency controls after capital flight led to a devaluation of the currency. This led to the development of a parallel market of dollars in the subsequent years. The fallout of the\u00a02008 global financial crisis<\/a> saw a renewed economic downturn. Despite controversial data shared by the Venezuelan government showing that the country had halved malnutrition following one of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, shortages of staple goods began to occur in Venezuela and malnutrition began to increase.<\/p>\n

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L\u00edder Mall, one of the main shopping centers in Caracas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In early 2013, Venezuela devalued its currency due to growing shortages in the country. The shortages included, and still include, necessities such as toilet paper, milk, and flour. Fears rose so high due to the toilet paper shortage that the government occupied a toilet paper factory, and continued further plans to nationalize other industrial aspects like food distribution.<\/sup> Venezuela’s bond ratings have also decreased multiple times in 2013 due to decisions by the president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. One of his decisions was to force stores and their warehouses to sell all of their products, which led to even more shortages in the future.\u00a0In 2016, consumer prices in Venezuela increased 800% and the economy declined by 18.6%, entering an\u00a0economic depression<\/a>.<\/sup><\/sup> Venezuela’s outlook was deemed negative by most bond-rating services in 2017. For 2018 an inflation rate of 1,000,000 percent was projected, putting Venezuela in a similar situation to that in Germany in 1923 or Zimbabwe in the late 2000s.<\/p>\n

Transportation:<\/h2>\n
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Caracas Metro\u00a0in Los Jardines Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Venezuela is connected to the world primarily via air (<\/span>Venezuela’s airports<\/a>\u00a0include the\u00a0<\/span>Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar International Airport<\/a>\u00a0in Maiquet\u00eda, near Caracas and\u00a0<\/span>La Chinita International Airport<\/a>\u00a0near\u00a0<\/span>Maracaibo<\/a>) and sea (with major sea ports at La Guaira, Maracaibo and\u00a0<\/span>Puerto Cabello<\/a>). In the south and east the Amazon rainforest region has limited cross-border transport; in the west, there is a mountainous border of over 2,213 kilometres (1,375\u00a0mi) shared with Colombia. The\u00a0<\/span>Orinoco<\/a>\u00a0River is navigable by oceangoing vessels up to 400 kilometres (250\u00a0mi) inland, and connects the major industrial city of Ciudad Guayana to the Atlantic Ocean.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Venezuela has a limited\u00a0national railway system<\/a>, which has no active rail connections to other countries. The government of Hugo Ch\u00e1vez tried to invest in expanding it, but Venezuela’s rail project is on hold due to Venezuela not being able to pay the $7.5 billion\u00a0and owing\u00a0China Railway<\/a> nearly $500 million. Several major cities have metro systems; the Caracas Metro has been operating since 1983. The\u00a0Maracaibo Metro<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Valencia Metro<\/a> were opened more recently. Venezuela has a road network of nearly 100,000 kilometers (62,000\u00a0mi) in length, placing the country\u00a0around 45th in the world<\/a>;<\/sup>\u00a0around a third of roads are paved.<\/p>\n

Flag of Venezuela:<\/h2>\n

The current eight stars\u00a0flag of\u00a0Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0was introduced in 2006. The basic design includes a horizontal\u00a0tricolor<\/a>\u00a0of yellow, blue, and red, dating to the original flag introduced in 1811, in the\u00a0Venezuelan War of Independence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Further modifications have involved including a set of stars, multiple changes to the placement and number of stars and inclusion of an optional\u00a0coat of arms<\/a>\u00a0at the upper-left corner. Along with\u00a0Afghanistan<\/a>,\u00a0Bolivia<\/a>,\u00a0Costa Rica<\/a>,\u00a0Dominican Republic<\/a>,\u00a0Ecuador<\/a>,\u00a0El Salvador<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Haiti<\/a>\u00a0it is one of only eight national flags in the world which has a depiction of its flag within the flag itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Flag of Venezuela<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/sup>The flag is essentially the one designed by <\/span>Francisco de Miranda<\/a>\u00a0for his unsuccessful 1806 expedition to liberate Venezuela and later adopted by the National Congress of 1811. It consisted of three equal horizontal stripes of yellow, blue and red. Miranda’s flag is also the inspiration for the flags of\u00a0<\/span>Colombia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Ecuador<\/a>. The flag of the short-lived\u00a0<\/span>Republic of Spanish Haiti<\/a>\u00a0was also based on\u00a0<\/span>Miranda’s tricolor<\/a>\u00a0and resembles the current Venezuelan flag. This original design was first flown on March 12, 1806, at\u00a0<\/span>Jacmel<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Haiti<\/a>, as Miranda’s expedition prepared to make the final leg of its voyage to Venezuela. The flag was first flown over Venezuelan soil at\u00a0<\/span>La Vela de Coro<\/a>, on August 3. Until August 3, 2006,\u00a0<\/span>Flag Day<\/a>\u00a0was celebrated in Venezuela on March 12. Since 2006 it has been celebrated on August 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

The symbolism traditionally ascribed to the colors is that the yellow band stands for the wealth of the\u00a0land<\/a>, the red for courage, and the blue for the independence from Spain, or “golden” America separated from bloody Spain by the deep blue sea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The current eight stars flag of Venezuela was introduced in 2006. The basic design includes a horizontal tricolor of yellow, blue, and red, dating to the original flag introduced in 1811, in the Venezuelan War of Independence.<\/p>\n

Further modifications have involved including a set of stars, multiple changes to the placement and number of stars and inclusion of an optional coat of arms at the upper-left corner. Along with Afghanistan, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Haiti it is one of only eight national flags in the world which has a depiction of its flag within the flag itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[66,32,59,5,6,7,18,28,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9714,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205\/revisions\/9714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}