Venezuela Travel 2015
Venezuela Travel 2015
Venezuela officially the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (
Spanish:
República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a federal republic located on the northern coast of
South America. It is bordered by
Colombia on the west,
Brazil on the south, and
Guyana on the east. Venezuela's territory covers around
916,445 km2 (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population around 33,221,865. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the
Andes Mountains in the west to the
Amazon Basin rain-forest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and
Caribbean coast in the center and the
Orinoco River Delta in the east.
The territory currently known as Venezuela was colonized by
Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American colonies to declare independence, which was not securely established until 1821, when Venezuela was a department of the federal republic of
Gran Colombia. It gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the
19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional caudillos (military strongmen) until the mid-20th century. Since
1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. Economic shocks in the
1980s and
1990s led to several political crises, including the deadly Caracazo riots of
1989, two attempted coups in
1992, and the impeachment of
President Carlos Andrés Pérez for embezzlement of public funds in
1993. A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the
1998 election of former coup-involved career officer
Hugo Chávez and the launch of the
Bolivarian Revolution, beginning with a
1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new
Constitution of Venezuela.
Venezuela is a federal presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the
Capital District (covering
Caracas), and federal dependencies (covering Venezuela's offshore islands). Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the
Essequibo River, a 159,500-square-kilometre (61,583 sq mi) tract dubbed
Guayana Esequiba or the
Zona en Reclamación (the "zone being reclaimed").[6] Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in
Latin America;[7][8] the vast majority of
Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital, Caracas, which is also the largest city in Venezuela.
Since the discovery of oil in the early
20th century, Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves and has been one of the world's leading exporters of oil.
Previously an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The
1980s oil glut led to an external debt crisis and a long-running economic crisis, in which inflation peaked at
100% in
1996 and poverty rates rose to 66% in
1995[9] as (by
1998) per capita
GDP fell to the same level as
1963, down a third from its 1978 peak.[10]
The recovery of oil prices in the early
2000s gave Venezuela oil fund not seen since the 1980s.[11] The
Venezuelan government then initiated populist/revisionist policies that initially boosted the
Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, significantly reducing economic inequality and poverty.[11][12][13][14] Such populist policies were questioned since their initiation and the over dependence on oil funds led to overspending on social programs while strict government polices, which were initially supposed to prevent capital flight, created difficulties for Venezuela's import-reliant businesses.[15][11][16][17] Venezuela under Hugo Chávez then suffered "one of the worst cases of
Dutch Disease in the world" due to the Bolivarian government's large dependence on oil sales.[18][19]
Poverty and inflation began to increase into the 2010s.[20] Venezuela devalued its currency in
February 2013 due to the rising shortages in the country[21] with shortages in Venezuela including milk, flour, and other necessities and malnutrition then increasing, especially among children
.[22][23] In 2014, Venezuela entered an economic recession.[24] In 2015, Venezuela had the world's highest inflation rate with the rate surpassing 100%, becoming the highest in the country's history.[25] Economic problems, as well as crime and corruption, were some of the main causes of the
2014–15 Venezuelan protests.