All about Venezuela 2013
CATEGORIZED TOPICS ABOUT VENEZUELA
by Alberto Yagi
Copyright 2014 Alberto Yagi
PART I Introduction
Climate and geography
Brief history part 1
Brief history part 2
Brief history part 3
Venezuela’s language
Part II Culture and Tradition
Venezuelan culture
Traditional music
Religion
Holidays
Festivals
Popular sports
PART III Society
Primary and Secondary Education
Higher Education
Health Services
Television and movies
Recreation
Part IV Demographics
Indigenous groups
Migrations
Marriage and divorce
Life expectancy and causes of death
Landlines and cellphones
Internet access
Public transport
Privately owned cars
PART V Government
State Structure
The Military
The Police
Political Parties
Legal System and Laws
Foreign Relations
PART VI Economy
Trade Balance
Real-Estate
Oil and Mining Industry
Agriculture and Livestock
The Tourism Industry
Other Industries
PART VII Public Infrastructure
Electricity and Water Supply
Public Hygiene and Waste Management
Subway Systems
Road Network
Railway Network
Ports and Airports
Hydroelectric dams and Water Reservoirs
Affordable Housing
Works Cited
Disclaimer
Venezuela is diverse in climate and geography despite its relatively small size. Such diversity is divided in four main climatic and geographic areas. First, there is the Andean area at the west and northwestern corner of the country. The second area is the coastal area along the north. The third area is a wider strip along the center that is mostly grassland. The fourth area is a strip along the southern side and it is mostly rainforest.
Most of the population lives in the first two areas in its three geographical parts: the Maracaibo lowlands, the Andean range, and an extension of smaller mountains and valleys from the Andean range to Caracas. Climatically, the Maracaibo lowlands and the mountains and valleys are monsoon-like and temperatures vary a lot depending on the elevation. On the other hand, the Andean region is humid and rainy.
The third area is made of plains, prairies, and savannas. This area is flat, its climate is monsoon-like, and it hosts most of the country’s agriculture. It is also famous for hosting the Orinoco River. This area becomes extremely humid and hot during the rainy season as the vegetation absorbs a lot of humidity and temperatures are high given the low elevation.
The fourth area is the rainforest area of Amazon and Bolivar States. The weather is humid and rainy without dryness, which means that it rains year round. This area hosts Venezuela’s most famous natural landmarks: El Salto Angel, which is the highest waterfall on the planet, and Los Tepuys that are flat top mountains only found in Venezuela.
Furthermore, Venezuela has a dry season and a rainy season. These two seasons are felt mainly in the monsoon-like areas. The rainy season is from May to October and the dry season is from November to April. Other areas are hot or cold year-round.
Finally, Venezuela is not regularly affected by natural phenomenon such as tornadoes, tidal waves, volcanoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, or earthquakes. For instance, the last devastating earthquake was a 5.5 in Richter scale in 1985 in the capital city while the one before that was in 1850. Apart from these two devastating earthquakes, there are small tremors throughout the year.
The last flood was caused by flooding rains in the coastal area of Vargas in December 1998. These flooding rains are usually caused by hurricanes passing through the Caribbean. Furthermore, there are virtually no places in Venezuela below sea level. However, the Venezuelan savannah gets naturally flooded during the rainy season when only the cattle’s heads can be seen. Such floods are common and natural and are in isolated places, so they are no cause for alarm or headlines. On the other hand, droughts do occur during the dry season. But even though they might be strong droughts, the vegetation quickly recovers with sporadic tropical rains.
Finally, there is no threat from volcanoes or tornados in Venezuela since there are not even inactive volcanoes, nor does the geography allow the formation of tornadoes. Furthermore, the risk of tidal waves is minimum since the Venezuelan coasts are along the Caribbean Sea, which has virtually no tidal waves in its record.
Although Venezuela has almost 200 years of independence, its history goes further back. In rough terms, Venezuela spent three centuries in colonial rule and two centuries as an independent country. Furthermore, it took Venezuela some 30 years to gain independence.
At first, the territory now known as Venezuela was inhabited by several indigenous groups. These groups were different from one another and they were not united politically or economically. It is said that these groups go back around 1,000 years.
In the late fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus visited what is now Venezuela. However, it was not until a few years later that Amerigo Vespucci saw the place and gave it the name of Venezuela for the similarity he saw between it and Little Venice.
The Spanish colony established itself early in the sixteenth century and used Venezuela to extract pearls. However, when pearls became scarce, Venezuela was used for slave raiding. This created hostility from the indigenous people toward the Spanish.
Independence movements began within the richest segment of society that also had access to information and quality education. This segment thought that the colony was being neglected and that it was an opportunity to take control over it whilst taking advantage of Spain’s troubles at home. However, this group could not recruit enough troops.
Independence battles started to occur shortly before 1811 when Venezuela became independent for little over a year. There was then a second wave of independence battles. Simon Bolivar, Venezuela’s most important national hero, coordinated most of these battles.
Venezuela finally became independent from Spain with the combined effort of military chiefs leading independence battles for the establishment of La Gran Colombia. La Gran Colombia was mainly on the territory of present day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. Furthermore, Venezuela became independent from La Gran Colombia when the latter was dissolved in 1830.
Politically, Venezuela was a country of military strongmen from 1830 to 1959. They fought for power and changed political institutions in their favor. The first military strongman belonged to a conservative party and was head of state for around 17 years. He had to step down in 1848 as a liberal movement fought the conservatives all around Venezuela. This led to a civil war called the Federal War that lasted until 1863 with the liberal’s victory.
Given Venezuela’s geographical location and colonial history, it also developed ties with European nations and the United States of America. However, for not being able to pay its debts, Venezuela was blockaded by British, Italian, and German battleships at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Venezuela changed radically in 1914 when petroleum was discovered in Maracaibo. From that moment on, Venezuela was able to produce wealth like never before. Social changes also emerged and the population became just a little less concerned about their race in comparison to colonial times. Foreign relations also improved quickly.
Juan Vicente Gomez was Venezuela's president when oil was discovered. During Gomez’ administration, many opposition leaders left Venezuela and thought it safe to return only after his death in 1935. Their return initiated democratic movements in Venezuela while the income from oil exports allowed the modernization of the country.
However, the two presidents after Gomez were from his own political party and Gomez was a pre-oil boom president. This led to greater social and political pressure for a modern state and a modern country. Eventually, Gomez’s old opposition sided with the military and carried out a coup d'état. They established a military junta in 1945 that held the first “honest” presidential election in Venezuela two years later with Romulo Gallegos elected president.
Then again, there was another coup d’état led by Delgado Chalbaud. He created a triumvirate along with Perez Jimenez and Luis Llovera -the three of whom were from the military. However, Delgado Chalbaud was assassinated and this led to the famous presidential period of Perez Jimenez.
Perez Jimenez is one of the best-known ex-presidents in the country. He became famous for promoting European immigration mainly from Italy, Portugal, and Spain. He also became famous for investing heavily on infrastructure to the point where most of the large public infrastructure today was built during his mere six-year period.
After Perez Jimenez left Venezuela amid political instability, there was an interim government formed by his highest-ranking military Admiral Wolfgang Larrazabal.
During the interim government, the three leading political parties signed the Punto Fijo Pact. Accion Democratica (AD), COPEI, and Union Republicana Democratica (URD) were the signors of the pact. This pact was made for the three parties to share the power over the state through popular elections whose results they shall respect. It also marked the beginning of democracy.
The 1958 presidential election was held making AD the winner with almost 50% of the votes. Ironically, AD’s candidate was who tried to establish Venezuela’s democracy in the first place through the 1945 coup d'état.
The tripartite status-quo lasted until Union Republicana Democratica left the Punto Fijo Pact before the next 1962 presidential election. This happened although URD (headed by Wolfgang Larrazabal) obtained 35% of the votes in the 1958 election. Therefore, Venezuela’s democratic period between then and 1999 was led by two leading political parties: AD and COPEI. In that period, AD sponsored five elected presidents while COPEI sponsored three.
In 1989, Carlos Andres from AD was elected for second time. He introduced free-market reforms in Venezuela under the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund. He did so despite being against such reforms during his presidential campaign in order to gain popular votes. Consequently, there were massive riots known as the Caracazo.
In February 1992, lieutenant colonel Hugo Chavez led a coup d'état against Carlos Andres. However, he failed and was imprisoned. Then again, his attempted coup brought him into the public spotlight.
In 1993, Carlos Andres was impeached and a presidential election was held almost ten months later in which Rafael Caldera from the opposing COPEI party won with 30% of the votes. Rafael Caldera, in office for second time, released Hugo Chavez from jail along with other coup plotters.
However, Rafael Caldera became president as Venezuela’s banking sector went into crisis and the economy started to crumble. Therefore, when the 1998 presidential election came by, former lieutenant colonel and coup plotter, Hugo Chavez won with 56% of the votes. He managed to win by presenting himself as an alternative to the bipartite system and without directly alluding to leftist politics. However, Hugo Chavez implemented leftist and protectionist measures with his Bolivarian Revolution until he died from cancer in March 5, 2013.
The official language of Venezuela is Spanish. Nevertheless, Venezuelans’ Spanish is different in expressions, vocabulary, and accent from other Spanish speaking countries.
There are also several accents in Venezuela. Venezuelans born in the capital city seem to have a neutral accent as its musicality and intonation is lesser than that of other regions. On the other hand, Maracaibo, Margarita, and Los Andes are famous for their distinct accents. In any case, people take others’ accent to know their regional background –whether national or foreign.
Moreover, despite the classist society that derived from colonial times, Venezuela has incorporated some elements of egalitarianism in their communication. In practice, this has resulted in an informal and indirect way of communicating amongst people who know each other. However, there is still no uniform way of communicating and Venezuelans usually accommodate their language a lot, depending on the situation.
Finally, to avoid misunderstandings or confrontations, many Venezuelans ignore politically incorrect comments that might arise from the different ways of thinking or communicating.
Because of the vast immigration the country has had, it is difficult to define the one and only Venezuelan culture to which there would only be slight regional or socio-economic variations.
Venezuela has received European immigrants mainly from Spain, Italy, and Portugal; Arabic immigrants both Catholic and Muslim; and immigrants from other Latin American countries. However, one thing all these nationals have in common is the Latin aspect of their lives. Therefore, Venezuela could be described as a country with Latin influence from several parts of the world.
There are two main types of traditional Venezuelan music. The first is Venezuela’s own joropo and gaitas and the second is from foreign influence.
Joropo music originally came from the Spanish colonists' festivals in Venezuela. Gradually, the local version of one Andalusian festival changed into what is now known as the country’s traditional joropo music. Furthermore, there are two fundamental styles of joropo. One is romantic while the other is patriotic.
As original Venezuelan music, there is also the gaita. This is a musical rhythm from Zulia State that became a Venezuelan standard during Christmas holiday celebrations. These gaitas are characterized by rhythmic and sometimes danceable melodies and Christmas related lyrics.
There are various versions as to the origin of the gaita although it is said that it became widely popular since the 50s. Furthermore, television channels, shopping malls, schools, and local governments sponsor, perform, or broadcast these gaitas for the enjoyment of the public. Some cities even have inter-school gaita festivals that start as early as November every year.
From foreign influence, merengue was popular in Venezuela in the first half of the twentieth century. Although it is originally from Dominican Republic, some say that the Venezuelan version is quite different thanks to the many Venezuelan artists who wrote their own versions. Similarly, salsa came from the Caribbean in the 60s although it had less local versions.
Finally, it must be noted that Mexican and Colombian music are also widely popular. Music from United States and Britain also became famous and their melodies were even imitated although the social message did not translate.
Venezuela is a predominantly Catholic society to the point that national holidays are based on Catholic holidays. Furthermore, all religions and cults are tolerated legally and socially.
Venezuela’s mainstream religion started when the Spanish colonists converted part of the indigenous population into Catholic. Catholicism also became the first institutionalized religion in Venezuela although it did not have a relevant force over government after the nation’s independence. Over time, Venezuelans continued practicing Catholic traditions and the church expanded through religious schools that offered higher standards.
Currently, although there are no official statistics, Venezuela’s mainstream Catholic religion is followed by around 85% of the population. Other common religions are Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish religions. These groups are also establishing institutions like temples, schools, and clubs thanks to their growing population and organization. Finally, smaller religions or cults also exist to a lesser extent.
It is also said that an undeterminable number of families converted into Catholics upon arriving to Venezuela because of the Spanish Inquisition.
By the Labor Law and the National Holidays Law, there are 16 national holidays in 2013:
1. January 1 (New Year)
2. February 11 (Carnival)
3. February 12 (Carnival)
4. March 24 (Palm Sunday)
5. March 28 (Maundy Thursday)
6. March 29 (Good Friday)
7. March 30 (Easter Day)
8. April 19 (Declaration of Independence)
9. May 1 (Worker’s Day)
10. June 24 (Battle of Carabobo)
11. July 5 (Independence Day)
12. July 24 (Simon Bolivar’s Birthday)
13. October 12 (Indigenous Resistance´s Day)
14. December 24 (Christmas Eve)
15. December 25 (Christmas Day)
16. December 31 (New Year’s Eve)
Furthermore, additional public holidays usually obey religious traditions and occur at a state level. For example, La Divina Pastora, which is Barquisimeto’s religious patron, is commemorated every June 14. This commemoration is considered a local public holiday even though the Venezuelan state structure does not include religious elements.
In any case, different sectors of society also have their own holidays. Some include university professors’ day, schoolteachers’ day, students’ day, secretaries’ day, and so on. Mothers’ day, fathers’ day and children’s day, unlike the previous ones, are always celebrated on a Sunday.
Venezuela also has bank holidays. Bank holidays are usually on Mondays and they are decided by the Venezuelan Bankers Association. In 2012, there were 17 bank holidays, out of which eight were exclusively bank holidays while the rest coincided with a national holiday. So far, however, 2013 will have only three bank holidays without counting national holidays.
Because Venezuela is a predominantly Catholic country, most festivals are based on the Catholic religion. Some festivals are universally Catholic while others are based on local Catholic patrons. Furthermore, some patrons are commemorated both on the anniversary of their appearance as well as in other moments of the year. On the other hand, non-religious festivals are a rather recent occurrence.
Universally Catholic festivals celebrated in Venezuela include:
The Parade of Baby Jesus
The day of Epiphany
Carnival
Easter
Wake of the Maypole
All Saints’ and All Souls’ day
Day of the Holy Innocents (with its local variation)
There are several locally religious festivals most of which are based on different region’s patron. Some of the most famous are after:
San Sebastian in Tachira State
La Divina Pastora in Barquisimeto
Santa Ines in Cumana
Virgen de la Candelaria in Merida State
San Juan de Curiepe in Miranda State
Virgen la Asuncion in Margarita Island
Virgen del Coromoto for Venezuela
Virgen del Rosario in Maracaibo
Finally, there are regular publicly or privately sponsored festivals that are oriented toward culture or industry:
Fiesta de la Voz de Oro in Barquisimeto
Feria del Sol in Merida
Fiesta del Joropo in Apure State
Feria del Orinoco in Ciudad Bolivar
Feria de las Flores in Monagas
Feria Internacional del Turismo Venezuela
Feria Internacional de Barquisimeto
Feria Agro-industrial de Valencia
Fiesta del Mono
The majority of Venezuelans follow baseball or soccer. Actually, baseball receives more attention from Venezuelans for their national teams while soccer receives more attention for its international representation of Venezuela in the world cup.
Furthermore, Venezuelans are such baseball followers that nearly everybody follows one baseball team or another. In fact, there is a basic rivalry between Leones de Caracas from Caracas and Los Navegantes de Magallanes from Valencia as they are the two most popular teams in the country.
However, upon looking closely, the audience for soccer and baseball is different in Venezuela. First, soccer was introduced by the British while baseball was introduced by the Americans. Consequently, people who follow any of these two sports expand their knowledge from local teams and matches to teams and matches in America or Europe.
For example, many people with European ancestry find a connection to their ancestor’s homeland through soccer by casually asking each other what Spanish, Italian, or British soccer team they go for. Moreover, they usually go for teams from several countries for the football players. On the other hand, people with no European ancestry tend to follow the Major League Baseball from the United States.
In any case, it is surprising to see how involved people can be with their favorite sport. In fact, some people talk in detail about American baseball teams. However, there is a big reason for this. Historically, there have been around 300 Venezuelan born baseball players in the Major League. Currently, around 100 of them are still playing for American baseball teams making Venezuela one of the largest exporters of baseball players to the United States. There is also the case of an increasingly betting-oriented culture towards sports, with baseball a popular choice.
When it comes to international participation, however, the best players are selected from each sport to represent Venezuela in regional or international matches. However, soccer seems to receive most of the attention from Venezuelans during the World Cup in which it is identified by the burgundy color and the team is called “the burgundy”. Ironically, however, the celebration in Caracas when Brazil won the 2002 World Cup was as if Venezuela had won.
Venezuelans start their compulsory education at the age of five with a year of pre-school education and goes on for six more years as primary school. High school, which can be five to six years is not considered compulsory education although it is essential to study in higher education.
The entire educational process can be either in public or in private schools. Furthermore, parents can take their kids to schools in any location regardless of their domicile.
However, schools usually have more than forty students per classroom, which overpasses the legal upper limit of students per classroom. (Editores Orientales, 2012) This has deteriorated the quality of schools in Venezuela because classrooms are attended by a single teacher. This has also led some public schools to operate on morning and afternoon shifts to accommodate the demand.
Another aspect of Venezuelan schools is that they only teach 180 days of five hours each per year although in practice this number is reduced by political events, teacher’s absence, and infrastructure problems. (Noticias el Universal, 2008)
Schools are also sensitive to protests and bad weather, leading most of them not to open during such events. However, it must be noted that schools are not generally equipped to take care of children overnight in case of emergencies and children do not always live near their school.
Back in the late 70s, it was decided that schools would start activities at seven in the morning throughout the country. It is speculated that that decision was to enable schoolteachers to have a second job in the afternoon, forcing children to wake up unnecessarily early. Furthermore, schoolteachers in Venezuela are paid by the hour. Such salary arrangements have been criticized for not providing teachers with a stable income, for not covering out-of-class work, and for making teachers and professors work at different institutes at the time to obtain employment benefits from different institutions.
Venezuela’s higher education is essentially divided into pre-grade and post-grade. There are also two recently created programs to incorporate a greater number of people to higher education. These two programs are called the National Formation Program and the Mision Sucre.
The complete pre-grade is five years the completion of which yields the title of Licenciado. There is also a three-year option that yields the title of Tecnico Superior Universitario or TSU. Moreover, in order for TSU graduates to continue to post-grade studies, they must pass the necessary subjects to obtain a Licenciado title first.
Post-grade studies in Venezuela follow much the same terminology as the American system. However, post-grade students in Venezuela were only 5% of the higher education population of 2,109,000 in 2008. (MPPEU)
Furthermore, by 2012, there were 159 private and 44 public universities. Out of the 159 private universities, 38 were universities as such and the rest were technical institutes. Within the public university system, there are five types of institutions: autonomous universities (5), experimental universities (19), technical university institutes (14), university institutes (1), and colleges (5). (OPSU)
However, there were four times as many students in public universities in 2008 after a drastic growth from 2000 where public university students tripled and private university students doubled. (MPPEU)
To enter or graduate from a higher education institution people must register themselves at the Ministry of Higher Education by consigning their high school diplomas if they are graduated and high school scores so far. In early 2013, nearly 580.000 people did so, out of which 55% were studying the fifth and last year of high school, 35% were high school graduates, and 10% were already studying at a university. Furthermore, 86% of those registered opted for a place in a public university. (Chavez, 2013)
The first phase of this process is online and those who opt for a place in a public university have to select three to six choices in their account in the OPSU, or Oficina de Planificacion del Sector Universitario, web site. They choose: 1) the type of study including the two new programs, 2) the type of institution that depends on the type of study, 3) the specific institution, 4) the location of the institution’s nucleus and finally, 5) the career as such. Upon doing so, the website will show the places currently available and the points necessary to qualify from the previous process.
The criterion for the selection of candidates is automated. Furthermore, during an enrollment process in 2012, (there is only one per year) 424,000 people opted for places in public universities. However, there were only 146,000 places in the same process, which means that approximately 35% of those who opted for a place could get one. (Editores Orientales, 2012)
Entry to private universities, on the other hand, sometimes requires candidates to pass an internal selection exam depending on the university’s standards. Most technical university institutes, however, do not require candidates to pass an internal selection exam. Prices also vary a lot although technical university institutes are usually affordable with most of them pricing their semesters at one, two, and up to three times the minimum monthly salary.
In any case, 40% of 2,500,000 people between 20 and 24; and 21% of 2,300,00 people between 25 and 29 were studying at a formal academic institution in 2011. (INE, 2011) (INE, 2011)
Currently, there are two ways to get access to health services in Venezuela. First, there is the public system that includes hospitals, ambulatories, social security hospitals and pharmacies, and a variety of health modules. The other option is the private health system, which is quite comprehensive and accessible with the adequate private health insurance.
The public health system, however, receives more demand than it can normally attend. This is attributed to the lack of growth of the public health system despite a considerable growth in people who need it. Furthermore, public hospitals are generally understaffed or underequipped, meaning that virtually none of the few hospitals are operating at their maximum capacity. Lastly, it is suspected that corruption in the purchase of supplies leave most hospitals undersupplied and understaffed despite possibly receiving all the money from the central government.
Because the public health sector is deteriorated and insufficient, private insurance policies are common especially amongst employees of formal companies and state entities. Those whose employers don’t offer a private insurance must pay high prices in relation to minimum salary and high prices even though there are some “affordable” insurance plans in the market. However, one economic alternative is a new “pre-paid” health service which is limited to Caracas, the capital city and some of its immediately surrounding towns.
Furthermore, in order to control inflation in the private health sector, the government established maximum prices for their services in 2012.
In any case, this overall tendency of government control has led around 7,000 doctors to leave the country over the last decade (Noticias el Universal, 2012). The government has therefore been tackling the shortage of doctors through a new academic option called Comprehensive Community Medicine.
Medicine supply has also become quite controversial in recent years. Because most medicines are imported through a highly restricted currency market, the government decided to fix the prices of the most essential medicines to prevent their prices from increasing too much. However, this resulted in a diminished availability of such medicines as the currency control office operates too slowly.
Finally, Venezuela does not have enough hospital beds or physicians. Statistically, there were only 1.1 hospital beds for every 1,000 people as of 2009. Moreover, in 2001 the physician density was 1.94 physicians for every 1,000 people. (CIA, 2013)
Radio Caracas de Television (RCTV), Venevision, and Venezolana de Television (VTV) are the oldest and most popular television channels in Venezuela. The first two are privately run and they produce the majority of Venezuela’s entertainment programs. However, RCTV's permission to broadcast by air was not renewed in 2007. On the other hand, Venezolana de Television is the main state-run television channel along with the recently created TELESUR.
Apart from standard cooking, astrology, lottery, sports, and reality shows, most of the entertainment-oriented programs produced in Venezuela are soap operas, game shows and a few comedy sketches and hidden camera comedy programs. Sitcoms are not produced in Venezuela despite the past popularity of Mexican sitcoms.
Soap operas in Venezuela are so popular that they are transmitted for a few hours after midday and at night and many of them were from Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico until a recently enacted law that curbs the amount of broadcast time for soap operas and bans the ones with possibly negative or violent content.
Furthermore, there are hardly any locally produced television programs based on groups of people such as teenagers, families, sports teams, lawyers, doctors, nurses, or police officers, although such programs from the United States and other English speaking country are dubbed to Spanish and broadcasted by air given their acceptance or popularity. The absence of local programs of similar concepts causes a vacuum of behavioral cues for the general population and the lack of representation of Venezuelans from different backgrounds on television.
Locally produced movies are few in comparison to those imported from the United States. To exemplify, local movies accounted for around 2% of cinema ticket sales between 2002 and 2003. (INE, 2003)
However, unlike local television programs, movies are mostly terror movies that reflect the underground society and other delinquent tendencies. Hence, local movies tend to be about kidnappings, hostage situations, extortions, life tragedies, drug addictions, prostitution, gang wars, and guerilla activities. These topics tend to limit their audience, as they are only appropriate for adults; limiting profits along the way.
Recreational options in main cities are usually few. That is to say that: go-carts, water-parks, theme-parks, amusement-parks, casinos, spas, mini-golf, golf-ranges, golf-courts, shooting ranges, bowling alleys, paintball arenas, arcades, karaoke, tennis courts, swimming pools, roller coasters, bungee-jumping, parachuting, sky-diving, horse-back-riding, road-biking, off-road-biking, sight-seeing, hunting, fishing, etc. are inexistent, nearly inexistent, illegal, or highly expensive.
It seems that the main options in most cities are restaurants, cinemas, theaters, and shopping. However, nearly all these options can be quite expensive. A basic restaurant meal in Caracas can cost around 5% of a minimum salary while any fancy restaurant can cost much more than that. Furthermore, shopping in Venezuela is usually expensive as the majority of the goods are imported from Venezuela’s low value currency. However, cinema ticket prices are usually reasonable making them an option for many people.
Most restaurants, cinemas, theaters, shopping malls, and even rock bars and discotheques are usually packed on weekends after payday, which is every fortnight. This becomes easily evident by seeing the amount of traffic at night during those days. In fact, people sometimes start partying from Thursday night which is also locally known as “little Friday”.
However, when the city does not suffice, another big recreational option for many Venezuelans is the beach. Because most of the population lives near the coasts, beach homes have become quite popular amongst those who can buy one. Furthermore, these beach homes are usually in or near small coastal towns. However, although the recreational apartments, townhouses, and houses are quite well built, the towns associated to them are usually underdeveloped. These towns usually lack paved roads, convenience stores, banks, ATMs, cellphone coverage, fast food restaurants, health services, pharmacies, places to walk, and appropriate security and hygiene.
People who do not have recreational homes usually drive to the coast for one-day trips or for short weekends at lodges or hotels. Furthermore, some beach hotels offer full day packages. Similarly, there are some stretches of beach that promote better security, cleanliness, and comforts and where visitors have to pay to gain access.
Finally, some people have shares at beach clubs or marinas. However, these clubs usually offer more shares than rooms and it can be complicated to secure a room or invite a non-member in high season.
When Spanish colonists settled in Venezuela, they encountered a variety of indigenous groups. Some of these groups were aggressive and the colonists had to either exterminate them or force them into the southern wilderness of the country. Others were used as slaves or converted into Catholics. Furthermore, diseases brought from Europe also reduced the indigenous population as in other places in Latin America. However, unlike other places, there was crossbreeding between indigenous people and colonists in colonial Venezuela.
Furthermore, there is an estimated of three-quarters of a million indigenous people in Venezuela amongst 40 different groups. (Tillett, 2012)
The largest group is the Wayuu. Their population is more than half of the total indigenous population in Venezuela. They live mainly in Zulia State near the Colombian border and most of them are bilingual and integrated to the modern economy. Other indigenous groups live mainly in the Amazon Jungle and along the Orinoco River. (INE, 2013)
Some of these groups’ customs and languages are in danger of becoming extinct given the intrusion of modern society mainly through mining and commercial activities. However, some of them like the Yanomami retain their customs and language thanks to their seclusion in the Amazon jungle.
Nowadays, these groups have three seats in the Venezuelan National Assembly. This has allowed them to have voice and vote in government. This also led the government to assist these groups by demarcating their territory and providing them with better infrastructure.
However, despite the alliance that the indigenous groups and the government created, there are complaints that the indigenous population has not been properly attended. First, the indigenous groups claim to be harassed in the interest of profitable mining activities on their territory. The cause of this is that the indigenous population’s territory is not always demarcated promptly or adequately; and even if it were, their territory is not always respected. Another complaint is lack of infrastructure and sanitation. Few of these groups have access to clean water, which causes many diseases amongst them. (CIDCM, 2006)
Like other countries in the Americas, Venezuela was originally a colony and then a center of immigration. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, colonizers came from Britain, France, Holland, Portugal, and Spain. Venezuela was part of the Spanish colony for around 300 years.
It was not until the oil boom that there were three other major immigration periods. The first was after the First World War when war-torn Europeans chose Venezuela as it was a promisingly prosperous country open to immigration. The second was during ex-president Perez Jimenez’s administration as he promoted immigration specifically from Latin Europe. And the third was during the first decades of democracy in which Venezuela became a prosperous country that attracted immigrants from other South American countries.
Venezuelan emigration has not been a relevant subject until recently. This started when second or third generation Europeans obtained European nationalities and emigrated for better living standards in their ancestor’s homeland. Other people managed to emigrate to the United States where they seem to concentrate in Miami and in Texas. However, a common problem that Venezuelan emigrants face is that their academic qualifications here are not always enough to maintain their status abroad.
Finally, there is an interesting local migration phenomenon whereby possibly the majority of people living in Caracas might have either been born outside Caracas or had parents or grandparents born outside Caracas. However, there are no exact statistics on this.
People in Venezuela have generally been free to marry without their parent’s intervention in the selection process, as there is no tradition of planned marriages. However, it is considered a custom to “ask the girl’s father for her hand” as it is said locally. This is because weddings are usually carried out in a traditional Catholic way where the families of bride and groom come together. Furthermore, couples tend to be together more than a year before marrying in Venezuela.
Because of tradition, most couples do not live together until they get married. Furthermore, getting married also requires financial prosperity or help for the newlyweds to move into their own home as there currently is a housing deficit. Otherwise, newlyweds live with their family or relatives.
Typical marriages follow the Catholic ceremony and couples hire the church for themselves or go to collective weddings. After the religious ceremony, there is usually a caravan to a hotel, events house, or somebody’s home where they hold a party. Wedding parties are usually paid for by the bride’s family and the newlyweds also receive wedding gifts. The newlyweds also go on a honeymoon that is usually paid by the groom.
In any case, the Catholic ceremony does not have a legal basis. In order for a wedding to have a legal basis, the couple must go to a local government office to register their wedding. This is usually done around the date of the ceremony and honeymoon.
The last statistics from 2003 indicate that the age group when most people marry was between 20 and 24 for women and 25 to 29 for men. For non-single people that was between 35 and 39 for women and 40 and 44 for men. Twelve thousand five hundred girls married below the age of 20 although only 643 were definitely underage given statistical imperfections, and 3,800 boys married below 20 although only 22 were absolutely minors given the same statistical imperfections. Besides, 91% of the marriages were between single people. Similarly, 88% of marriages were with no children on either side. Furthermore, marriages were around double the average in December and half the average in January. Finally, from 1993 to 2003 marriages have dropped from 100,000 in 1993 to 75,000 in 2003 with an average of 86,000 marriages in that 10-year period. (INE, 2001) (INE, 2003)
The latest statistics from 2003 also indicate that the median duration of marriages before divorce is around ten years. Seventy-percent of divorces were legally carried for the couple living more than five years separately (Civil Code article 185-A). However, little over half of the divorce processes took less than ten months while a few took two years or more. There were minors in 66% of the divorces. Separately, the mother had custody over minors in 96% of the divorces. However, from 1994 to 2003 divorces have averaged 17,500 per year with a slight tendency to increase. (INE, 2001) (INE, 2003)
Upon looking closely at the population pyramid from 2003, one will notice that the population growth has been slowing down. There are two factors behind this. First, the number of children per mother has gone down from 3.29 in 1992 to 2.72 in 2003. Secondly, there is a considerable number of people who die under the age of 50 as reflected in 2003 statistics. (INE, 2001) (INE, 2003)
In 2003, 45% of deaths amongst men were below the age of 50; making the moment between 20 and 24 years the most likely for men to die for other than natural causes. In case of women, 30% of deaths were below the age of 50; with a steady increase in the probability of dying toward age extremes. Moreover, the median age in Venezuela was around 26 years. (INE, 2003)
In 1995 and 1996, the first cause of death in Venezuela was cardiovascular complications followed by cancer and accidents of any type (INE, 2001). Cardiovascular complications are usually associated with unbalanced diets and sedentary lifestyles. In fact, Venezuelans’ average body mass index is 26.32 and it is globally in the 8th place (BBC News, 2012). Furthermore, although some people are more genetically prone to cancer than others, cancer is usually associated with unhealthy or stressful lifestyles, which is common in Venezuela.
In case of suicides, the majority of them occur amongst single people with the main cause being family problems. In 2003, 75% of suicides occurred amongst people below the age of 50 with the age group between 15 and 29 being the most vulnerable. Nearly half of all suicides occurred in the victim’s home by means of hanging. Other methods included guns and poisons accounting for 25 and 10% of suicides respectively. (INE, 2003)
The usual funeral procedure is to call an ambulance to take the deceased to a morgue where a coroner will determine the cause of death. After that, there is a funeral service at a municipal or private funeral home. At the funeral home, relatives of the deceased may choose between cremating and burying. After the funeral service, relatives usually stay up all night. Then, there is a procession to a public or private cemetery. A tombstone is added to the cemetery and the deceased is buried unless they were cremated.
The only formal landline provider in Venezuela is Compañia Anonima Nacional de Telefonos or CANTV. This company was created through a government concession in 1930 and it was operated by a British company. It was then nationalized in 1953; privatized in 1991; and nationalized again in 2007. It has spent a total of 39 years as a private company and 44 years and counting as a public company. In any case, CANTV has had the monopoly over landlines ever since it was created. (Zaidman)
CANTV is the only formal landline provider as cellphone providers offer wireless landline terminals that have landline codes and similar prices. These wireless landline terminals are not included in the total landline statistics that indicate that in 2003 12% of the population were landline subscribers. However, this figure increased to 25% by 2012. (CONATEL, 2012)
Cellphone service in Venezuela started in 1988. It was initially provided by CANTV although its cellphone branch is now known as Movilnet, which is also the only state-run cellphone provider in Venezuela. A 20 to 40 year concession for a competing cellphone company was granted in 1992 to a company now known as Movistar. (Zaidman)
Currently, these two cellphone providers hold 50% and 33% of the market share respectively. The remaining 17% belongs to Digitel, which was founded in 1995. (Market Reaserch.com, 2012)
Each of the three cell phone providers has its own dialing code. Therefore, people must change their entire cellphone number when changing provider.
Cellphones can also be pre-paid or post-paid. The pre-paid system requires people to buy cards with secret codes for cellphone credit or to transfer cellphone credit from another cellphone or computer. Post-paid clients usually pay less although they need an appropriate credit card and some paperwork to have the post-paid service.
In any case, cellphone lines are now much more common than landlines. In fact, cellphone subscribers grew from 5 to 105% of the population in 15 years. (CONATEL, 2012)
At first, internet was considered a luxury. Only companies had access to internet as the service was new and only companies could afford it. Ordinary people needed to have landlines in order to connect to the internet via dial-up, which was slow and occupied the phone line. In fact, only 2.5% of the 274,000 internet subscribers in 2000 had broadband. (CONATEL, 2012)
Eventually, CANTV started providing broadband to some residential users. Cable television providers also started to offer broadband through their existing cable network. Now, CANTV and cable television providers are amongst the 43 broadband internet providers in the country. (CONATEL, 2012)
Internet demographics grew drastically with the introduction of wireless internet since 2009, when 33% of the population had access to internet. Since then, wireless broadband internet subscribers tripled while wired broadband internet subscribers grew at a much lesser rate. By 2012, 60% of all 3,500,000 broadband internet subscribers connected wirelessly, although it is not clear if such statistics include connections via smart-phones. (CONATEL, 2011) (CONATEL, 2012)
However, because cellphone service providers' 3G platforms don't have enough coverage and capacity, speed and usage caps are limited and prices are higher than wired and unlimited usage broadband connections.
Currently, all three cellphone providers with 3G internet have been decreasing their usage caps or increasing prices to accommodate more demand while not having increased their coverage, speed, or capacity.
Furthermore, none of the cellphone providers offers unlimited access to internet unrestrictedly.
In general, although it is estimated that more than half of the population has access to internet, internet technology in Venezuela does not yet have the coverage, stability, capacity, or speed that most other Latin American countries have. In fact, Venezuelan internet speed is ranked at 157th from 176 countries (Robertson, 2012). This has led to a limited use of high definition uses that require a lot of speed and unlimited capacity.
Furthermore, the government has promoted internet use by means of free internet cafes called Infocentros. Some of these are mobile and connected to the internet by a state-run satellite to attend secluded areas. Incidentally, there is also a reasonable number of privately owned internet cafes in most Venezuelan towns and cities. However, with the emergence of smartphones, these internet cafes are less and less common.
Finally, there has been no official internet censorship in Venezuela as of mid-2013.
The main characteristic about public busses in Venezuela is that only a minority of them are operated by the state. In Venezuela, the state has historically given concessions to bus drivers’ associations.
However, there are no strict quality standards for the service. This has resulted in highly polluting busses and uncomfortable rides. Furthermore, practically all busses are over eight years old, with no air-condition, and have fabric seats that are considered unhygienic in non-air-conditioned spaces. In some places, busses do not always pick up students as they pay less by law although bus drivers receive subsidy to cover student discounts. Finally, there is no capacity for disabled people.
On the other hand, the state runs three types of bus services that offer better quality. These three systems charge around 1.5 Bolivars for a bus fare. That is less than half than concession-operated busses which now charge more than 5 Bolivars for the same route.
First, there is the MetroBus, which only exists in the few cities that have subway systems like Caracas, Los Teques, Valencia, and Maracaibo. MetroBus systems only feed the subway system to a certain extent.
Secondly, there are dedicated lanes for special busses. These are BusCaracas, Tromerca, and Transbarca; located in Caracas, Merida, and Barquisimeto respectively. These systems represent modern solutions to public transport although they have only recently been implemented in Venezuela. However, only Tromerca has a comprehensive system with 13km while BusCaracas only covers 5.2km and Transbarca is still under construction. (MPPTT, 2012)
Finally, there is a bus service called SITSSA that operates mostly Chinese Yutong busses. These new bus routes are put into effect according to the need in each state or municipality for better public transport.
When Venezuela became an oil exporting country, society started to Americanize itself. This was seen in urban layouts designed to accommodate cars rather than pedestrians. Furthermore, in 2003, 70% of 3,028,000 vehicles were passenger cars, 18% were cargo, 7.5% were motorbikes, and only 1% were busses. (INE, 2003)
Moreover, despite there being a large market, assembling cars locally is considered risky business given economic regulations and changeable laws. However, importing cars is not so easy under the current currency controls and port inefficiency either. Hence, there are large waiting lists in most car dealers and people cannot decide on the model or color so easily. In fact, the variety of car models in Venezuela is basic, and newly released cars are not immediately available in Venezuela either.
To counter the car shortage, the government made available Chinese and Iranian car imports by prioritizing them at the currency control office and at the ports and by subsidizing them as well. However, demand is so high that there are still waiting lists for these cars, some of which are starting to be assembled locally.
This shortage of new cars led used cars to become more expensive as used cars could be bought and sold more quickly and easily. As a result, people invest their money on cars or buy and sell cars for a profit until a new law came out whereby cars could not be immediately sold by their owners.
Spare parts for cars are also expensive and difficult to find in Venezuela. Furthermore, most workshops are independent and not authorized while authorized workshops are few and expensive. This scenario leads many people to consider spare part availability and price and car reparability as important variables when buying a car. Furthermore, cars damage quickly in Venezuela as most streets and roads are in bad condition. Unauthorized mechanics are not all up to date with the latest technology and techniques either.
Finally, although the gasoline has been for a long time, and possibly still is the cheapest in the world, the quality of the gasoline in recent years has been questionable. In addition, a general lack of attention toward keeping car exhaust filters clean has led to notable levels of air pollution although there has been virtually no public interest to quantify or tackle it.
The current state structure is based on the 1999 constitution. Historically, the constitution was written in 1811 and again in 1830. Additionally, there have been around eight other constitutions created by de facto leaders. Now, however, Venezuela’s state structure is indeed quite different since the 1999 constitution and its reforms came into effect.
Currently, the constitution obliges the Venezuelan state to involve itself directly in the improvement of the country, which has led to nationalizations and price controls. It also obliged the state to decree many new organic laws that did not previously exists.
Furthermore, the current constitution states that the Venezuelan state is divided into five branches: the original executive, legislative, and judicial branches; and the new electoral, and citizen’s branches. However, leaders of the judicial, electoral, and citizen’s branches are ultimately selected or approved by the National Assembly and subject to the preference of the political party with more seats at the time of selection.
Amongst all five branches, the executive branch is by far the largest one. It is made up by the president’s office, the vice president’s office, a recently created Council of Ministers, and around 25 ministries at present. It is also in charge of the armed forces through the Defense Ministry. It is important to note that the number of ministries increased drastically as ex-president Hugo Chavez’ administration tackled a variety of national problems.
The legislative branch is made by a single National Assembly that has 165 popularly elected seats. The main attribution of the legislative branch is to pass new laws although it can also call for referendums to approve changes in the constitution as well as it can give special powers to the president for him to write new laws. Furthermore, the National Assembly has other obligations. Amongst them, it has to approve the government budget, the president’s absence for over five days, any military action, and the appointment of the leaders of the other branches except for the executive branch. On the other hand, the National Assembly can also impeach nearly any government official except the president.
The judicial branch is led by the Supreme Court. It is composed by magistrates who are selected by the National Assembly. Its main function is to make sure that all of the government’s acts are legal. Furthermore, the judicial branch extends itself towards all other courts and law enforcement bodies in the country.
The electoral branch is in charge of holding elections and it was only recently designated as a branch of its own. Moreover, its members have to be approved by the National Assembly. Currently, the elections are carried out digitally, enabling people to know the results on the same day or shortly after midnight.
Finally, the citizen’s branch is made up by The Moral Republican Council. This branch’s obligations are similar to the Supreme Court’s obligations, as they are to prevent, investigate, and punish illegal public acts. It is made by a comptroller who supervises entire government spending, a public defender to oversee the functioning of the judicial branch, and an attorney general who supervises compliance with the law. Once again, the leaders of the citizen’s branch are also selected by the National Assembly.
The Venezuelan military is administered by the Ministry of Defense and has four main bodies: the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the National Guard. It also has its own intelligence agency called DIM or Direccion de Inteligencia Militar and a military police.
The Venezuelan Military also has military primary schools and high schools, as well as academies and universities for military careers. Interestingly, civilians can study civil careers at one of the army’s universities called Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Fuerzas Armadas.
The military also has a state-run military supply company since 1975 called CAVIM. It produces mainly ammunition and explosives although it has a few firearms in its catalogue as well. It also participates in the assembly of a locally designed tactical vehicle called Tiuna.
Historically, however, the military institution has changed in several ways. Before the advent of democracy in the mid twentieth century, Venezuela was governed by military strongmen, the last of whom was Perez Jimenez. Most of these military strongmen led oppressive governments after which public opinion on the military changed and the successive governments gave the military less importance or involvement in government matters.
Furthermore, the Venezuelan military has historically depended on foreign hardware, as the country does not have a military industry capable of series production. Consequently, Venezuela’s choice of weapons is affected by its international political standing. In practical terms, this led the Venezuelan government to buy American and Western European military hardware during most of the second half of the last century given Venezuela’s strong ties with the United States and Western European countries.
However, that was the scenario until the end of the last century when Hugo Chavez was elected president. Hugo Chavez was a leftist who came from the military institution and changed Venezuela’s political standing. Consequently, Venezuela had to turn to military equipment not affected by the United States’ 2006 military equipment embargo on Venezuela. Now, Venezuela relies on Russian and Chinese military equipment for its modernization.
Ex-president Hugo Chavez’ administration also increased the involvement of the military in civil matters. This could be exemplified with their standard uniform being changed from camouflaged to single-colored. Now, the military assists secluded communities with transport logistics and supports the police in holiday seasons and dangerous areas.
Finally, soldiers can vote and nobody is legally obliged to serve in the military.
Until recently, Venezuela only had municipal and state police forces, as it had not been until December 2009 that a national police force was put into effect.
Before the national police, every municipal and state police chose their own uniform. Now, however, uniforms are standard and municipal police agents wear light green, state police agents wear light blue, and national police agents wear beige. Moreover, police agents always carry a gun and wear bulletproof vests under or above their shirt.
The Bolivarian National Police is directed by the Ministry of Interior and Justice and it supports municipal and state police forces by attending subways, railways, roads, banks, public institutions, and dangerous neighborhoods. The national police also engages in special operatives to combat or prevent crime in specific areas or moments and to forfeit and destroy illegally possessed guns from the public. The national police also has a tactical squad and riot control.
Furthermore, Venezuela has a national investigative police agency famously known for its original name: PTJ, which stands for Technical Judicial Police. Now, it is called CICPC or Criminal Penal and Scientific Investigation Body. Its main function is to investigate crimes, apprehend criminals, and collect victim and eyewitness reports. The investigative police also has a tactical squad. However, the CICPC, which functions nation-wide, has around 8,000 agents but it is understaffed by around 6,000 agents. (Cadena Capriles, 2013)
Previously known as DISIP, SEBIM is considered national intelligence. It investigates serious threats to the country such as terrorist or guerilla groups, organized crime, cyber-crime, high profile kidnappings, high profile extortions, hostage situations, bomb threats, and drug and human trafficking. SEBIM also engages in bomb defusing, border patrol, espionage and counter espionage, and participates in defining national security policies. It is said that SEBIM’s commando is the most sophisticated, well trained, and well-equipped commando in Venezuela.
In Venezuela, it is rather simple to form a political party. Not to mention it is a constitutional right. Moreover, there are no quotas to divide the seats in the National Assembly equally amongst political parties.
Furthermore, upon looking at the current political distribution of seats in the National Assembly, we will see that slightly more than half of them belong to the PSUV or the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which ex-president Hugo Chavez created. There are also around three seats for Patria Para Todos, which usually backs the PSUV. Finally, all the rest of the seats belong to the opposition. However, this opposition is not united enough as to be identified by a single party. In fact, the opposition is currently a coalition of opposing parties to the current president who is from the socialist party.
However, in order to unite the current opposition, the Democratic Unity Table abbreviated as MUD in the local language) was created. The MUD’s main responsibility is to represent the opposition, to filter its candidates, and to define their policies. The MUD has also led efforts to unite all opposing political parties into one.
Furthermore, although environmental parties are becoming popular in some parts of the world, this has not yet been seen in Venezuela. This is so because although there is a small environmental party in Venezuela, the environmental subject has not received a lot of attention, despite widespread environmental damage.
Finally, Venezuela has had friction between employers and employees for many decades in both private and public sectors. In fact, those who work for companies in large groups usually form unions or syndicates that often make the news. Furthermore, Venezuela is one of the countries with the largest number of labor conflicts in the world with an estimate of 3000 labor conflicts in 2012 (ACN, 2012). Then again, the current socialist party is the one in charge of protecting the interest of the working class although they also promote leftist measures. Hence, there are no non-ideologically-oriented labor parties in Venezuela.
Venezuela’s legal system is based on the code law. In practical terms, this means that judges only have to compare the reality with the law to reach a verdict. Moreover, Venezuela’s state is based on the 1999 constitution with 350 articles. Under the constitution, there are organic laws, implementation rules, resolutions, decrees, and official gazettes.
However, the language of the constitution is not always solid. For instance, Article 230 says that the president can be reelected without mentioning how many times and without using the word “indefinitely” either. Article 231 has been interpreted to allow a (reelected) president to take oath at any date although it does not explicitly say so. Article 302 says that the government reserves itself certain economic activities and shall promote manufacturing without specifying if through nationalization, price control, subsidy, or tax schematics. In contrast, Article 303 mentions the name of a company that the state is entitled to, while Article 307 mentions a specific kind of tax. Therefore, some parts of the constitution are specific while others are not.
Furthermore, the constitution orders the creation of ministries and organic laws. Currently there are over 25 ministries and around 50 organic laws. However, many of these organic laws contemplate the creation of state agencies to enforce the law instead of having existing agencies enforce it or to simply provide judges with a more ample range of action. This has led to an impressive expansion of the state. However, such a large state also becomes more vulnerable to corruption and embezzlement given the practical impossibility of supervising all of its operations.
In Venezuela, Courts are divided in several levels. The highest-level court is the Supreme Court followed by Superior Judicial District Courts, Courts of First Instance, Municipal Courts, and Peace Courts. Overlapping attributions are elevated to higher courts whenever there is a greater difficulty.
Furthermore, given the political structure of the country, all courts can be considered national courts. This means that states do not have their own courts, as the law is the same throughout the country. However, municipalities and states can issue ordinances concerning their jurisdiction.
Finally, Venezuela is not generally a litigious society. This is partly because Venezuelans are tolerant to odd social behavior while there are no universally observed standards for social behavior either. Furthermore, lawsuits can be expensive to carry out since courts cannot always move fast enough given their small capacity. However, whenever business or labor issues are involved, people do take problems to court.
Venezuela’s foreign relations have changed a lot since colonial times. During the colonial times, foreign relations were officially under Spanish control. In any case, independence movements established contact with Spain’s enemies at the time to try to gain support for the independence. However, transport and communication was slow back then and foreign relations were difficult to coordinate. Such difficulties also led to the disintegration of La Gran Colombia and a certain isolation of Venezuela during the first half of its independence.
Then again, Venezuela’s modernization could not happen without foreign assistance. Britain and the United States managed to establish their presence in Venezuela whilst providing technical expertise on different areas while other countries traded with Venezuela.
In the early twentieth century, Venezuela’s international standing completely changed with the discovery of petroleum. British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell were amongst the first foreign petroleum companies in Venezuela. Gradually, Venezuela became an attractive destination for large multi-national companies as the government gave concessions to foreign companies with capacities that Venezuela did not have.
In any case, throughout the second half of the last century, Venezuela was a standard player in the international arena. Venezuela favored ties with countries such as the United States and Western European countries while gradually establishing diplomatic relations with many other countries. Venezuela also joined the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the World Trade Organization, the G77, and many other such groups. Furthermore, anti-drug-enforcement cooperation was ample at the time with American, British, Dutch, and French authorities.
However, this scenario changed with ex-president’s Hugo Chavez’ administration. Because Hugo Chavez was a leftist, he became a strong critic of American foreign policy and most countries that have political ties with the United States. This happened to such degree that the United States established a military equipment embargo on Venezuela. Ironically, however, commercial ties did remain largely unaffected until the numerous nationalizations in 2007, right after ex-president Hugo Chavez was reelected for a third term. Furthermore, the 2007 nationalizations increased the risk for private investments, which led Venezuela to lose even more its appeal from foreign investors.
Therefore, 2007 marked the year when Venezuela turned to China and Russia, their allies, and their political ways. This turn in foreign policy was actively pursued with vociferous opposition to the United States.
Ex-president Hugo Chavez also supported leftist countries in the region by providing them with petroleum below market prices. Furthermore, rightist governments in the region were quickly rejected and diplomatic ties sometimes even severed.
Finally, Venezuela is in the process of becoming a complete member of the MERCOSUR. Venezuela also has some partial preferential agreements with neighboring countries. (OAS, 2013)
A free trade agreement with MERCOSUR, however, would allow Venezuelan trade to increase with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and other countries. It might also lead to the gradual lifting of Venezuela’s protectionist policies in favor of a free market.
Venezuela is famous for being an oil-exporting country. However, like other developing and at the same time oil-exporting countries, Venezuela has had some difficulty to diversify or expand its local industry. This is so because more than 90% of the foreign currency has come mainly through the oil industry, which has stolen attention away from other potential industries. Furthermore, the exporting nature of the oil industry means that it is practically immune to local economic and social problems.
The main economic problem Venezuela faces is the excessive growth of the country’s money supply while the main social problem is a general preference by investors and the market toward imported goods. If these two problems were addressed by limiting money creation, by revising the labor law, and by improving infrastructure, there would be more incentive for foreign and local investors to produce chemical products, processed foods, textiles, papers, plastics, and medicines locally. Metallic, electronic, and mechanical products, on the other hand, are currently much cheaper to import.
However, despite low local production, Venezuela’s average balance of payments has recently been a positive figure. In fact, it averaged 17,500,000,000 Dollars between 1998 and 2001 (INE, 2001). In any case, a few factors such as high oil prices, a sufficiently small population, cheap imports, and currency market controls have permitted the trade surplus. However, government controls are a questionable practice as they always have exploitable loopholes that are sometimes more profitable than real production.
Moreover, without a free market with its own internal regulatory forces, it would be unlikely to see balanced growth in Venezuela. This means that although the balance of payments might indicate a strong economy, much of the positive signs were artificially induced and disruptive to the local economy and currency market’s equilibrium.
However, freeing the currency market completely might be disastrous. The main reason for this is that there has always been a high demand for hard currency because it loses its value much more slowly than the local currency. Additionally, restrictions over the purchase of low-priced currency have made such currency a way to make easy money by reselling them in the black market. Now however, there is a new exchange system that is somewhat more free although it has a minimum purchase limit of 1000 dollars (a tall order for most ordinary Venezuelans), it requires applicants to guess the exchange rate with a narrow margin of error, and not all applications are materialized. There are also no complete statistics on this system.
It must also be noted that currency controls in Venezuela have usually limited the amount of foreign currency that could be bought, while at the same time freezing the exchange rate. Sometimes there have also been bureaucratic requirements and restrictions.
Until recently, for instance, Venezuelans who wanted to study higher education abroad had to select their career according to the recently dissolved exchange control commission’s list of careers applicable for official dollars. Not to mention that not all applications were approved. Besides, only some credit card holders had access to 400 dollars per year for internet purchases at low official rates. All these controls have led the trade balance to look good; a parallel currency market many times the official value; and people investing in hard currency rather than in local production.
Venezuelans generally prefer to buy their own home. In fact, between 1996 and 2003, the general tendency was that 75% of homes were paid, 5% were being paid, and 10% were rented. Furthermore, construction companies prefer to build two or three bedroom homes to the point that in 2003, 61% of homes had two or three bedrooms and only 30% had one bedroom. (INE, 2003)
However, many people claim that prices are out of reach when it comes to buying a home. This is specially so in Caracas where demand is the highest. In fact, homes in towns surrounding Caracas used to be affordable although their prices have grown well beyond inflation levels given their increased demand despite being an hour or more away from Caracas.
Furthermore, the majority of apartments in and around Caracas are well above two million bolivars when a minimum salary is around 4000 bolivars per month. Few of these apartments are in pedestrian friendly areas; making the practical cost of living much higher. Besides, although there are no down-payment requirements for home purchase loans, these loans rarely cover the complete price of most regular apartments in urban areas.
On the other hand, renting a home is possibly more difficult because of diminished offers. In the last few years, the laws regarding home renting changed in favor of the tenant. This led to a steep decrease in the apartments available for rent and nearly paralyzed the market. Now, there are guidelines to adjust the price of the rent. These guidelines are not always observed in practice, though. In any case, the monthly rent for an apartment in Caracas is usually over twenty thousand bolivars per month if you can find one. More common prices are over sixty thousand bolivars per month. However, these price adjustments take away the business element in renting and reduce the open availability of apartments for rent.
Because Venezuela’s economy largely depends on its oil exports, there is vast attention placed on the oil industry. Likewise, the mining industry has also been relevant in Venezuela given the large mineral deposits in the country.
However, since both mining and oil industries were nationalized, it is not possible for companies to operate in these fields completely on their own by just paying royalties. In fact, the mining industry’s structure is made of many subsidiaries while the oil industry’s structure is that of joint ventures with foreign companies.
Historically, however, when oil was first discovered, Venezuela gave concessions to foreign oil companies to extract and refine oil in Venezuela. Oil was nationalized in the 70s’, and the first Venezuelan state company for the oil sector was born. Now, PDVSA, or Petroleos de Venezuela, is in charge of exploring and extracting while PEQUIVEN is in charge of refining and PDV Marina is in charge of transporting.
Furthermore, business was doing so well that the Venezuelan state bought an American oil company called CITGO by 1990 (CITGO, 2013). Now, CITGO has refineries and gas stations and Venezuela still owns CITGO despite not so good diplomatic ties with the United States.
The nationalization of the oil industry that occurred during ex-president Hugo Chavez’ administration took the form of larger government stakes with foreign oil companies through PDVSA (BBC Mundo, 2007). Then again, foreign companies are encouraged to invest and operate with PDVSA holding stakes in all their operations.
Finally, when it comes to oil revenue, oil prices have been high enough in recent years to allow the government to borrow money for infrastructure projects with oil as a form of payment or guarantee. Hence, the oil money that comes in is usually more than estimated during the drafting of the national budget in terms of price per barrel but not in terms of number of barrels because a fraction of Venezuela’s oil production is tied up in debts.
The mining industry, on the other hand, has been mainly focused on coal, bauxite, iron ore, and gold. These minerals were extracted mostly by private companies that gained concession rights. However, there was little control over many of these operations and environmental damage and lack of interest toward affected local communities and indigenous groups are still common problems. Furthermore, because Venezuelan industry is rather basic, most of what the mining industry has historically done is to export raw material.
Now, with the nationalization of the entire mining industry that started a few years ago, the mining industry is in the hands of the Ministry of Mining and Petroleum through its mining company Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana or CVG. CVG gradually absorbed all the large mining companies. Currently, CVG has around fifteen subsidiaries that extract and process mainly bauxite, iron, and coal. This is part of the government’s effort to improve the local industry through state-run companies.
Finally, private companies are allowed to operate especially in capital or technology intensive areas such as gold mining although CVG has to hold some of the stake.
Initially, Venezuela was an agricultural country that specialized in tropical fruits and roots. Coffee and cocoa beans were also harvested in small amounts. However, with the oil boom and the advent of democracy, many Venezuelans left the rural areas to live in cities. This led authorities to focus more attention into developing urban areas instead.
Furthermore, the rural areas of the country have not been significantly attended in terms of agricultural infrastructure for a long time. In fact, the last major improvement in agricultural infrastructure was when Perez Jimenez’ six-year government installed most of the irrigation systems slightly over 50 years ago. Nowadays, however, agricultural infrastructure is insufficient or inadequate to increase overall production or to reduce costs.
Access to rural areas by road or railway also has to improve. Currently, transport costs are considerably high for many farmers who work in secluded areas. Roads do not always reach enough places as to revive their agriculture nor are they always adequate for large trucks.
Furthermore, there is a plan to restore and build railway lines, which is also expected to boost agricultural production. However, these railway projects are costly for the way they are done in Venezuela and their progress is not fast enough to be considered a short or medium term solution.
A few years ago, however, the government placed more attention on agriculture. Financially, this took the form of loans instead of subsidy. However, what was really promoted was to hand over land to small groups of people. This led to a fragmentation of rural land ownership that makes mass farming more difficult to coordinate.
Furthermore, the price of some basic agricultural goods became fixed to avoid price hikes despite fluctuations in production costs and harvests. Such price regulations led to a decreased production of foods with regulated prices in favor of foods without regulated prices.
However, these measures combined with a difficulty in importing supplies and the nationalization of some agricultural companies have actually decreased overall production.
Now, some agricultural produce has to be imported to meet local demand. Moreover, a much similar situation is happening with livestock where local meats go to restaurants and butcheries while supermarkets are supplied with imported meat, which is not always of the highest quality or properly handled.
Moreover, Venezuela has not placed much attention into the food processing industry beyond the main processed products of refined sugar, corn flour, and a few other products. However, this lack of interest toward processed food even reflects itself in the traditional farming methods and livestock raising most people in the industry prefer.
Finally, fertilizers and insecticides have only recently been promoted since these are made locally while methods for mass farming have not yet been promoted.
The current scenario in the tourism industry is that of many small lodges in small towns or secluded areas and few four and five star hotels. In 2002, there were 1492 non-classified hotels, many of which can be taken as lodges. On the other hand, there were 466 classified hotels, out of which only 11.5% were four and five star hotels. (INE, 2003)
Furthermore, Venezuelans who can afford to go on vacation usually take up a package or go to their recreational beach homes or beach clubs instead of going to lodges. This is so because the first three options provide some security as to the quality of the experience while lodges are gradually going out of fashion.
In any case, Venezuela has never really focused its effort on the tourism industry. This is partly because a good tourism industry would require a stable enough economy to attract foreign investors willing to construct large number of hotels in single areas as to catapult them into the international vocabulary of tourism.
However, such massification of tourism is only viable in places like Tucacas and Higuerote that attract local tourism, or Margarita that attracts international tourism.
On the other hand, an organized and well-promoted lodge networks are more appropriate to exploit tourism in small towns or in the wilderness.
In fact, most small towns in Venezuela would also benefit from the improved infrastructure for tourism and the money and cultural exchange such tourism can bring to them.
However, because most of these small towns are in secluded areas, such projects would fail unless the lodges can secure a steady flow of weekend guests throughout the year even if the guests were from nearby places. This can only be attained by lowering prices and by building a comprehensive network of paved roads.
Finally, tourism in main cities has not been adequately exploited. Tourism in main cities would require improving public infrastructure, public hygiene, and public transportation as much as creating recreational options and tourist attractions. Without such improvements, it will not be possible to increase the overall attractiveness of the main cities and the country to foreign tourists. Furthermore, there would need to be a considerable increase in the number of four and five star hotels since most of them are usually at almost full capacity year round.
After Venezuela’s oil boom, it was understood that the country had the tangible possibility to become an industrialized nation. However, it was not until the 60s that Venezuela counted on enough public infrastructure and political and economic stability to set up factories. Little by little, more and more factories were set up covering a wide range of products. However, some products that Venezuela has never had sufficient capacity to produce were mechanical products, non-retail chemical products, medicines, diverse plastic products, vehicles, and electronics.
Historically, however, the government has gotten involved in the economy to the point in which the relation between it and the private industry became corrupted. Furthermore, such involvement was so direct that most Venezuelans now see it as a normal state of affairs. Such involvement was mostly in the form of not-transparent suppliers to the state, different forms of help from the state, and not always transparent assigning of foreign currency.
Consequently, given the control and importance of the state in business and its socialist tendencies, many companies were recently nationalized, some products’ prices’ were fixed, and imports became slower and more complicated given overall inefficiency and corruption. This combination of factors has led to an overall decline in production.
But even before this happened, producing in Venezuela was considered slightly risky or expensive because salaries were high and constantly increasing, and the labor law made it difficult for companies to freely fire employees. Secondly, because of the rapid expansion of the money supply, price hikes made it difficult for small producers to predict their budget or to operate smoothly. Thirdly, most supplies necessary for production have to be imported and a constantly devaluating currency with controls most of the time and inefficient ports have made such imports slow and complicated.
In any case, Venezuela does have several industrial areas. Most of these areas tend to be diversified and even advanced along the coastal region where most of the population is located. Industrial areas in the rest of the country are smaller, less diversified, and somewhat more specialized according to the resources in their area. In any case, all regions in Venezuela seem to have a basic foods and drinks industry.
Furthermore, there is an automobile assembly industry that saw its most recent peak in production in 2007 with 172,400 cars amongst seven automakers (that was 35% of the 492,000 cars sold in the same year). However, car production has been falling since 2007 as a result of import restrictions. In fact, only 120,000 cars were sold in 2011 out of which 80% were assembled locally. (Noticias el Universal, 2011) (Noticias el Universal, 2012)
However, an expansion in the car industry and a change from assembly to complete manufacturing could have allowed Venezuela to gain experience in casting metal and putting together its own tools, machines, and vehicles.
Finally, less government involvement and intervention in industry generally improves conditions for investors and equilibrates the national economy through normal market forces. On the other hand, a labor law that allows companies to freely fire employees usually leads to more productivity and better quality work. Finally, indirect government involvement in the economy through subsidies, tax-cuts, tax-holidays, and non-productive-land-tax promote investment and competition.
Because most of Venezuela’s population lives in urban areas, it has been possible for the electricity and water supply network to keep up with the urban population growth. However, this is especially so with the electricity because its generation and distribution require less effort and is less subject to climatic conditions than the water supply. Consequently, some homes are more likely to have electricity but no water than the other way around.
As of 2002, virtually all the population had access to electricity whether paid or not. Production was around 90,000GWh out of which around 70% was consumed. Imports and exports accounted for less than 1%. Moreover, although 88.5% of the subscribers were residential, almost half of the electricity was consumed by around 20,000 industrial subscribers. Finally, at the time of these statistics, 80% of the electricity was bought through public companies although currently, generation, transmission, distribution, and commercialization are centralized in the hands of CORPOELEC, the national public electricity utility company run by the Ministry of Electric Energy. (INE, 2003)
However, although installed capacity for electric generation has increased more than the population, increase in demand led to a recent electricity shortage that forced CORPOELEC, to increase installed capacity further more. In fact, as of 2013, there are several undergoing projects to install or rehabilitate thermoelectric and hydroelectric plants.
Water supply in Venezuela, on the other hand, has been a lot more challenging for a variety of reasons. First, there are few water reservoirs in the densely populated regions along the dry coasts. Secondly, installing the water supply network in some rural or secluded communities poses technical questions when they can be more economically supplied through cistern trucks. Finally, virtually all water availability depends on natural factors.
However, there have been efforts in recent years to supply poorer communities with water. This is through the recently created Technical Water Tables. This is a formal mechanism for communities to work with their local water supplier (which is not centralized as the electricity supply is) to improve the quality of the service and to increase awareness on water supply and conservation.
Finally, water is not always filtered from the source at all places or at all times. However, even if it were filtered, most pipes are not adequate to keep the water clean. Therefore, it is advisable not to drink directly from the faucet.
First, it must be considered that Venezuela is a heterogeneous and developing country. The implication of this is a lack of a sense of belonging that reflects itself through the deterioration of public spaces. Furthermore, amongst all the public work there is to be done, public hygiene is not treated as a priority.
However, public hygiene is not only a problem of the individual who litters. Despite people’s best intentions, local authorities do not place enough trash bins, nor collect garbage efficiently, nor do they properly designate and condition large enough waste containers on the streets. Consequently, people litter virtually anywhere at the widespread absence of trash bins.
Then again, litter is not the only public hygiene problem most of the country faces. Because there is insufficient and inadequate cleaning of public areas, litter might be swept away, but chemical and organic fluid spills often remain. This has led to bad smells and darkening of the streets in most places.
Moreover, even if local authorities had the ability to hire enough people and to incorporate the latest technology in public hygiene, the erratic design of many streets would hinder most efforts. Most streets and sidewalks are still the way they originally were. In practical terms, this means that most of them are too narrow, lifted by roots, poorly made or finished, and not uniform nor flat. This makes the cleaning process a lot more difficult.
Furthermore, service alleys are not common in Venezuela. This forces most commercial operations to dispose their waste in large waste containers on public transit areas. In most cases, these containers do not suffice and overfill quickly even when waste collection is done on time, leaving no choice other than dumping waste around the containers. Street dogs (which are vaccinated and sterilized by municipal authorities but not taken to dog hounds and only sacrificed when absolutely necessary) and rodents scavenge the waste leaving a greater mess whenever there is food amongst the waste.
Waste management in Venezuela can be managed by private companies that obtain concessions from municipalities. However, some municipalities have their own trucks that cover the whole municipality or back the private operation whenever or wherever necessary. On the other hand, landfills are usually operated by the state.
Finally, the national average of waste per person per day was at 0.5 kilos ten years ago (INE, 2003). However, this does not include debris, which people are supposed to deliver to debris landfills. However, in practice, many people keep the debris or dump them on the streets or non-attended areas.
The subway systems in Venezuela are operated by the Ministry of Surface Transport. The largest subway system is the Caracas Metro, followed by other three systems. The three other systems are the Valencia Metro, Maracaibo Metro, and Los Teques Metro. These were inaugurated not long ago and are not yet halfway complete as the government diverts the limited availability of money and construction material to affordable housing.
The Caracas Metro currently serves around two million people daily in the capital city and it was inaugurated in 1983 although it only had eight stations at the time. It currently has 47 stations and ten more are being built. All these 47 stations are in fundamentally three different lines. The main line stretches east to west for around 25km while the other two head south amongst valleys. Furthermore, the Caracas Metro is connected to Los Teques Metro, a railway network, two or three urban cable car systems, a short elevated track, and around 44 MetroBus lines. It will soon be connected to a new subway line under construction to an adjacent town at the east of the city. (Metro de Caracas, 2012)
Valencia Metro will have two lines that will cover the length and width of the city. There will be nineteen stations along the length that goes north to south and twelve stations along its width that is a quarter way up the length from the southern tip of the length. As for mid-2013, there were only seven stations in operation at the southern part of the length of the line. However, upon completion, the northern tip of the line will connect to a railway network that will reach Caracas. (Metro de Valencia)
Maracaibo Metro will have two lines one after the other that form an inverted “C”. As for mid-2013, there were six out of seventeen stations in operation from the southwest corner of the city.
Los Teques Metro requires the construction of seven stations out of which three are operative. This metro system is in a town southwest from Caracas and it was mainly intended to relieve road traffic to and from Caracas. In the future, Los Teques Metro might be extended to form a “U” to connect the two Caracas Metro lines that head south. Furthermore, there have been public infrastructure improvements to local communities thanks to the construction of Los Teques Metro. (Metro Los Teques)
Because most Venezuelan cities have existed for a long time, they were connected through rudimentary roads. However, in the mid twentieth century, under Perez Jimenez’ dictatorship, most roads were modernized or built from scratch to the standards we are familiar with today. However, by the year 2003, only 36.5% of 95,600km of roads were paved. (INE, 2003)
A few notable improvements to the road network include a highway between Caracas and Higuerote, a road that bypasses Barquisimeto, a distributer and road from Caracas to the small adjacent town of El Junquito, and a replacement bridge between Caracas and La Guaira. Otherwise, there have been virtually no other new roads in half a century.
Furthermore, the layout of Venezuelan roads is quite old and lacks the modern design elements that prevent traffic congestion. This is so as practically all roads cross the cities or towns they go through, with the notable and recent exception of Barquisimeto. This means that cross country drivers have to enter each city or town on their way. Furthermore, people from those cities and towns usually rely on those same roads to get around locally as well, thus increasing traffic congestion.
Having road segments that bypass cities and loop roads around cities can improve the road network significantly. Bypass segments allow an increase in transport speed and a significant decrease in traffic in the cities and towns. Having loop roads around cities and large towns also help decongest traffic. Furthermore, projects such as these can boost local economies by providing jobs whilst modernizing public infrastructure and increasing living standards at the same time.
Another design element that must be pointed out is that not all rural areas have adequate access to paved roads for heavy cargo. This adds agricultural production costs since harvests in secluded areas have to be transported in several parts and segments because of poor roads.
The maintenance of roads has also been an issue. Road maintenance has declined significantly ever since pay tolls were partially abolished in early 2008. Since then, the maintenance of roads is in the hands of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing instead of local authorities. However, this change in government operational structure has not had a favorable impact on the maintenance of most roads in Venezuela.
In the past, Venezuela had a few railway tracks between main cities and ports. However, these short tracks did not integrate the entire country and were abandoned in favor of roads. In this sense, Venezuela has never had a comprehensive railway network.
However, railway networks are superbly important for the economy of any country. They provide economic and reliable means of mass transportation. In this sense, a comprehensive railway network can revive depressed rural areas by turning them into feasible agricultural areas and reduce the transport cost of locally made and imported goods.
Furthermore, connecting the many parts of Venezuela is not easy given its terrain. Most of the population lives in urban areas along the coast and amongst mountains and valleys. To lay down a comprehensive railway network there might require the construction of many tunnels, bridges, and elevated tracks.
Nowadays, the railway network is small and projects to expand them are somewhat limited. The National Railway Institute is in charge of all railway lines. These railway lines are currently divided into three: one operational, one under construction, and one under rehabilitation.
Currently, there are only 41km of operational railway tracks with four stations. This segment, however, is mostly used by commuters who live south from Caracas. (IFE, 2012)
Furthermore, there is a line under construction that will have 109km and nine stations. It will connect Puerto Cabello (the second largest seaport for imports in the country) to Valencia (the third largest city) and Maracay (an industrial zone). It will eventually reach Caracas by connecting to the currently operational railway line. However, this connection between Maracay and Caracas is still at a planning phase thus not included in the current 109km construction phase. (IFE, 2012)
Finally, there were around 175km of railway tracks that connected Puerto Cabello with Barquisimeto, which is the fourth largest city. However, these tracks were abandoned around fifteen years ago and there is a project to rehabilitate them. This line will have eight stations and it is expected to revive the many agricultural areas it will go through. (IFE, 2012)
Most ports and airports in Venezuela were built in the mid twentieth century. Furthermore, there has been little expansion in their capacity for over two decades. This has led to congestions mainly in seaports while airports are still able to accommodate most of the demand.
All Venezuelan ports and airports are administered by Bolipuertos and BAER respectively under the umbrella of the Ministry of Sea and Air Transport. These companies are also in charge of upgrading and expanding their facilities although such projects have less priority than housing, electrification, and railway projects at present. This is mainly thanks to the high standards and capacities to which most large airports in Venezuela were originally built although ports do require attention.
There are six main ports in Venezuela although most activity goes through three of them. Puerto de La Guaira and Puerto Cabello are mainly for imports and Puerto Guanta is mainly for oil exports. Puerto de La Guaira and Puerto Cabello combined have 56 commercial docking areas. They also have almost 60,000m2 storage area and some silos. However, not all docking areas and cranes are operational, nor do any of them have gantry cranes, thus limiting the size of ships that can be docked. This has led to delays throughout the last few years. Official numbers on operational docking areas and cranes are seldom publicized. However, December 2012 was notable precisely for delayed imports of toys and ingredients for traditional Christmas dishes.
On the other hand, Puerto Guanta is the export port in Venezuela par excellence. It is on the coast of Anzoategui state and it is the main export port for its vicinity to oil fields, refineries, and mining areas further south. Hence, most of the exports through this port are petroleum and mineral products.
There are around 30 airports in Venezuela. At least seven of these are international. However, the great majority of the 18,500 international take-offs registered in 2003 were from Maiquetia International Airport near Caracas followed by Santiago Mariño International Airport in Margarita. In 2003, most of the foreign flights came from Europe (45%), North America (30%), and South America (20%) accounting for approximately 337,000 tourists. (INE, 2003)
In any case, the majority of the air traffic in Venezuela accounts for domestic flights, which stood at 126,500 take-offs in 2003 (INE, 2003). It is good to note that international airports in Venezuela are small with some having two gates at the international section. Consequently, most designated international airports are widely used by domestic flights as well since they are located in or near main cities.
Venezuela is famous for having one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world: Guri dam. This dam supplies around 50% of the country’s electricity demand. Furthermore, a state policy to produce electricity from renewable sources -mainly hydroelectric- to leave fossil fuels for export has resulted in investments in other hydroelectric dams. However, recent increases in electricity demand have forced the government to produce electricity by any means necessary. Additionally, the electricity supply is the responsibility of the state under the current constitution.
In any case, Venezuela’s significant hydroelectric generation is along the Caroni River. On the Caroni River there are several hydroelectric dams (some of which are under construction or refurbishment). From upstream to downstream, they are Guri, Tocoma, Caruachi, and three Macagua dams. Guri dam is by far the largest dam in Venezuela with an output capacity of 10,000MW. Tocoma dam is 15Km downstream from Guri dam. It is in the final phases of construction and it will have a similar capacity of 2,160MW as Caruachi dam already has 60km downstream from Guri dam. There are three Macagua dams 90km downstream from Guri dam and 10km upstream from Orinoco River. They are 160, 450, and 400m in length respectively and are being refurbished. Furthermore, all these dams create a combined water reservoir capacity of nearly 120,000Hm3 even though 90% of that is attributed to Guri dam.
Then again, there are some other much smaller dams in Venezuela that serve electricity to their local communities. These are mainly in Tachira, Barinas, and Merida state. All these states are in the eastern part of the country where there are numerous valleys. The combined capacity of the three dams in Tachira state is 1,500MW. These also have a potential capacity to store 7,000Hm3 of water.
By 2012 there were 79 water reservoirs including 11 created by hydroelectric dams with a total normal capacity of 161,604Hm3. However, 83.5% of that capacity is attributed to Guri dam in the Amazon Region whose water reservoir is not classified as used for water supply or irrigation.
There are 52 reservoirs in the Andean-Costal Region where around 75% of the population lives. The combined capacity is 16,500Hm3. Nearly half of these reservoirs are mainly used for water supply. However, if we include the 16 other reservoirs that are used for water supply and irrigation we can calculate a normal capacity for water supply of around 10,500Hm3 or 81% of the 12,950Hm3 of normal capacity for water supply of all reservoirs calculated for Venezuela.
The prairie region has around 20% of the population and it has around 18% of the total normal capacity for water supply in reservoirs. Given the agricultural activity in this region, it also has around 72% of the total normal capacity for irrigation in the country.
The Amazon Region has eight reservoirs. Only half of them are designated for water supply or irrigation. These two uses account for 14Hm3 or 0.01% of the total 135,781Hm3 of water reservoirs in the region. Once again, Guri dam’s water reservoir makes up for 99.4% of the normal capacity in water reservoirs in the region and none of the hydroelectric dam’s water reservoirs are designated for water supply or irrigation. (MINAMB, 2007) (MINAMB, 2007) (MINAMB, 2007)
Since the late 80s’ economic problems, many families found it harder to gain access to good nutrition, education, and housing. Consequently, many people and families who could not afford homes in the normal market had to live in slums and rely on affordable housing projects.
The bad living conditions and overcrowding of the slums became evident after many families lost their homes during the late 2010 flooding rains. These flooding rains led the government to declare an emergency, to relocate many families, and to initiate La Gran Mision Vivienda.
This mission started by registering displaced people and other families living in slums who wanted to live in decent buildings. It turned out that there was a large housing “deficit” and so the government would have to build some two million homes in seven years’ time. (Mision Vivienda, 2006)
This affordable housing project led to many constructions in Caracas and in other parts of the country. Buildings were constructed using the traditional method Venezuelans are well acquainted to and other methods from other countries. However, because many of the construction material suppliers were nationalized and construction material prices frozen, private investment has not increased production in this area. This led to shortages of construction material that resulted in a black market of construction material and the paralysis or sluggishness of many public and private construction projects.
However, many poor families could manage to move into an apartment of their own. In Caracas, these affordable apartments cost far less than the normal market options. Furthermore, they can be paid in manageable fees, making them accessible to nearly anyone. However, one notable aspect of many of these affordable apartments located well inside cities is that they do not have parking spots. In any case, most Venezuelan cities are already overcrowded with cars and most such apartments are located near public transport routes.
Finally, the social importance of this project is quite high. However, it is not clear if the state will demolish the slums where the new apartment owners come from or if the slums will be allowed to remain with new tenants. Moreover, many of these slums are located on illegally occupied land, on steep hillsides vulnerable to landslides, or in extremely secluded areas with limited access to public services.
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This is a formal investigative work meant to be used as reference material. Sources of statistical information are mainly from official government sources and news publications most of which are in the “Works Cited” section at the end of this work. Please note that it is hard to get hold of the latest statistical information in Venezuela for which reason some of the statistics might seem out dated although change in Venezuela hasn’t been as drastic as to render them pointless for the objective of presenting general tendencies. Please note that this work is a self-published material. The author takes no responsibility over the use or misuse of the information in this eBook or any inaccuracies herein.