MAIN INFORMATIONS
Capital(and largest city):Caracas
Official language: Spanish
Government Federal republic
- President Hugo Chávez Frías
- Vice President Jorge Rodríguez
Independence
- from Spain July 5, 1811
- from Gran Colombia November 21, 1831
- Recognised March 30, 1845
Area
- Total 916,445 km² (33rd)
353,841 sq mi
- Water (%) 0.3[4]
Population
- July 2007 estimate 27,483,200 (43rd)
- 2001 census 23,054,210
- Density 30 /km² (173th)
77 /sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2006 estimate
- Total $176.4 billion (47th)
- Per capita $6,900 (90th)
HDI (2004) 0.784 (medium) (72nd)
Currency: Venezuelan bolívar (VEB)
HISTORY
Human habitation of Venezuela is estimated to have commenced at least 15,000 years ago, from which period leaf-shaped flake tools, together with chopping and plano-convex scraping implements, have been found exposed on the high riverine terraces of the Rio Pedregal in western Venezuela.
In the 16th century, when the Spanish colonization of Venezuela began, indigenous peoples such as the Mariches, themselves descendants of the Caribs, were systematically killed. Indian caciques (leaders) such as Guaicaipuro and Tamanaco attempted to resist Spanish incursions, but were ultimately subdued; Tamanaco himself, by order of Caracas' founder Diego de Losada, was also put to death.
Venezuela was first colonized by Europeans in 1522, when it hosted the Spanish Empire's first permanent South American settlement in what is now Cumaná. Originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, most of Venezuela eventually became part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada; portions of eastern Venezuela were incorporated into New Andalusia. After a series of unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela—under the leadership of Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan marshal involved in the French Revolution—declared independence on 5 July 1811.
However, a devastating earthquake that struck Caracas in 1812, together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan llaneros, helped bring down the first Venezuelan republic.[9] A second Venezuelan republic, proclaimed on 7 August 1813, lasted several months before being crushed as well.
Sovereignty was only attained after Simón Bolívar, known as El Libertador ("The Liberator") and aided by José Antonio Páez and Antonio José de Sucre, won the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821. José Prudencio Padilla's victory in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo on 24 July 1823 helped seal Venezuelan independence.
New Granada's congress gave Bolívar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several countries and founded Gran Colombia. Sucre, who won many battles for Bolívar, succeeded him as leader after his death. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by Páez allowed the proclamation of a new Republic of Venezuela; Páez became its first president.
Much of Venezuela's nineteenth century history was characterized by political turmoil and dictatorial rule. During the first half of the 20th century, caudillos (military strongmen) continued to dominate, though they generally allowed for social reforms and promoted economic growth.
Following the death of Juan Vicente Gómez in 1935 and the demise of caudillismo (authoritarian rule), pro-democracy movements eventually forced the military to withdraw from direct involvement in national politics in 1958. Since that year, Venezuela has generally enjoyed an unbroken tradition of stable liberal democracy.
The discovery of massive oil deposits, totaling some 400 million barrels, during World War I prompted an economic boom that lasted into the 1980s; by 1935, Venezuela's per capita GDP was Latin America's highest, and globalization and heavy immigration from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere markedly diversified Venezuelan society.
The collapse of oil prices in the 1980s crippled the Venezuelan economy; together with rising poverty and worsening social indicators, this led to increasing political instability, resulting in three major coup attempts, two in 1992 and another in 2002.
The tenure of current president Hugo Chávez attracted no less controversy, as it accompanied a period of hightened polarization and radicalization in Venezuela that continues to persist. Venezuela continues to enact a program of wide-ranging socialist reforms while placing more emphasis on the nation's future as a part of a more integrated Latin America.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Government:
The Venezuelan president is elected by vote, with direct and universal suffrage, and functions as both head of state and head of government. The term of office is six years, and a president may be re-elected to a single consecutive term.
The president appoints the vice-president and decides the size and composition of the cabinet and makes appointments to it with the involvement of the legislature. The president can ask the legislature to reconsider portions of laws he finds objectionable, but a simple parliamentary majority can override these objections.
The unicameral Venezuelan parliament is the National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional. Its 167 deputies, of which three are reserved for indigenous people, serve five-year terms and may be re-elected for a maximum of two additional terms. They are elected by popular vote through a combination of party lists and single member constituencies.
The highest judicial body is the Supreme Tribunal of Justice or Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, whose magistrates are elected by parliament for a single twelve-year term. The National Electoral Council (Consejo Nacional Electoral, or CNE) is in charge of electoral processes; it is formed by five main directors elected by the National Assembly.
Politics:
There are currently two major blocs of political parties: the leftist Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) and its major allies For Social Democracy (PODEMOS), Fatherland for All (PPT), and the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV); and A New Era (UNT) together with its allied parties Project Venezuela, Justice First, and others. Independent parties include the Movement for Socialism (Venezuela), while Venezuela's major civil political NGO organization is Súmate.
Following the fall of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Venezuelan politics was dominated by the center-right Christian democratic COPEI and the center-left social democratic Democratic Action (AD) parties; this stable and democratic two-party system was formalized by the puntofijismo arrangement. However, this system has been sidelined following the initial 1998 election of current president Hugo Chávez.
The voting age in Venezuela is 18 and older. Voting is not compulsory. Chávez's political opposition, alleging electoral fraud, withdrew from and boycotted the 2005 parliamentary election; consequently, the MVR-led bloc secured all 167 seats in the National Assembly.
Furthermore, the MVR voted to dissolve itself in favor of joining the proposed United Socialist Party of Venezuela, while Chávez requested that MVR-allied parties merge themselves into it as well.
The National Assembly has twice voted to grant Chávez the ability rule by decree in several broadly defined areas, once in 2000 and again in 2007
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Throughout most of the 20th century, Venezuela maintained friendly relations with most Latin American and Western nations.
Since 1998, however, relations between Venezuela and the United States have progressively worsened, resulting in the latter imposing military sanctions. Correspondingly, ties to various leftist-led Latin American and Middle-Eastern countries have strengthened.
Venezuela stresses hemispheric integration via such proposals as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas trade proposal and the newly launched pan-Latin American television network teleSUR.
Venezuela was a prime mover behind the OAS's decision to adopt its Anti-Corruption Convention, and is actively working in the Mercosur trade bloc to push increased trade and energy integration.
Globally, it seeks a "multi-polar" world based on strengthened ties among Third World countries.
Venezuela's national armed forces include roughly 87,500 personnel spread through four service branches: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), the Air Force, and the Armed Forces of Cooperation (FAC), commonly known as the National Guard.
As of 2005, a further 100,000 soldiers were incorporated into a new fifth branch, known as the Armed Reserve; these troops bear more semblance to a militia than the older branches. The President of Venezuela is the commander-in-chief of the national armed forces.
ECONOMY
The petroleum sector dominates Venezuela's mixed economy, accounting for roughly a third of GDP, around 80% of exports, and more than half of government revenues.
The country's main petroleum deposits are located around and beneath Lake Maracaibo and the Gulf of Venezuela. The oil sector operates through the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), whose subsidiaries include the distributor CITGO. Other major exports are bauxite and aluminum, steel, petrochemicals, and agricultural produce. Venezuela's principal trading partners are the United States, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.[21]
Venezuela is also highly dependent on its agricultural sector. Sectors with major potential for export-led growth are production of both coffee and cocoa crops.
At one time, Venezuela ranked close to Colombia in coffee production, but in the 1960s and 1970s, as petroleum temporarily turned Venezuela into the richest country in South America, coffee was relegated to the economic back burner. Today, Venezuela produces less than 1% of the world's coffee, most of it consumed by the domestic market.
However, Venezuelan coffees are again entering the North American specialty markets. Venezuela's cocoa industry has decayed since the days of Spanish colonialism, when African slaves worked on cocoa estates. The focus of cocoa cultivation has long since moved to tropical West Africa.
In recent years, there has been an attempt to resuscitate this industry, as its rare variety of cacao, known as Chuao, is considered the finest and most aromatic in the world and is used in certain single-origin chocolates. The largest Venezuelan fine chocolate producer is El Rey, though some companies such as Savoy (Nestlé) also manufacture chocolate from Venezuelan cacao and export it to Europe.
Venezuela is one of the five founding members of OPEC, which was the initiative of Venezuelan politician Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo; it was proposed in 1960 as a response to low domestic and international oil prices.
Since 2005, Venezuela has also been a member of Mercosur, joining Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay; it has yet to gain voting rights. Venezuela is also a member of the South American Community of Nations (SACN).
As of 2007, unemployment in the 12.5 million-strong labor force was 8.4%; 37% of Venezuelans live in poverty.
