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Venezuela "The imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the US president has no limits“ ~ Hugo Chavez. By Laura Henderson. Capital ~ Caracas Population: 25,375,281 (July 2005 est.) National Language ~ Spanish
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Venezuela"The imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the US president has no limits“ ~ Hugo Chavez By Laura Henderson
Capital ~ Caracas Population:25,375,281 (July 2005 est.) National Language ~ Spanish Ethnic Groups ~ Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African, indigenous people Religions ~ 96% Roman Catholic, 2% Protestant, 2% other Government type ~ federal republic President ~ Hugo Chavez Economy ~ roughly 1/3 of GDP, around 80% of export earnings, over half of government operating revenues relies on petroleum Internet users:1,274,400 (2002) Telephones - mobile cellular:6,463,600 (2002) Quick Facts You Should Know
Background • “Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Ecuador). For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen, who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms. Democratically elected governments have held sway since 1959. Current concerns include: a weakening of democratic institutions, political polarization, a politicized military, drug-related violence along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations that are endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples.”*(Central Intelligence Agency, 2006)
Government andPolitics • Venezuela has a federal republic, which is a state in which the powers of the central government are restricted and in which the component parts (states, colonies, or provinces) retain a degree of self-government; ultimate sovereign power rests with the voters who chose their governmental representatives.The president Hugo Chavez has been in office since February 3, 1999.In April 2002 there was an unsuccessful coup to try and remove Chavez. It was closely linked to the United States. More than a 100 people died in events before and after the coup. To this day the relations between President Chavez and President Bush are hostile as can be seen by this quote by Chavez, "Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George Bush".
International Relations • The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States met with Rep. Bernie Sanders to announce a price break on heating oil for Vermont’s poor. Nearly 3 million gallons of oil will come from Venezuela, which supplies much of the oil we use in the northeast. This is a similar program that has been offered to other New England states after oil prices skyrocketed after Hurricane Katrina. These price breaks are going to be offered to other states in the Northeast. The contribution is worth $2 million. • President Bush has refused to allow Spain’s CASA aircraft company from using U.S technology to build aircraft that they would sell to Venezuela. Because of this embargo on U.S. technology Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez has issued a 30 day ultimatum for Spain to find alternate technology or else he will buy the aircraft somewhere else. • Venezuela says that the United States is wasting its taxpayers money by boosting commercials that are against Venezuela's president Chavez. President Bush’s 2007 budget proposal has called for increased spending on broadcasts of international and U.S interests in Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan. Venezuela and the United States are not on the best of terms right now and since Venezuela is the 5th largest supplier of oil in the world and we import it is becoming interesting to watch the two presidents spat with one another.
More On International Relations • Rafael Ramirez, the energy minister said Wednesday February 8, 2006that "very soon" Venezuela will export a total of 300,000 barrels of oil per day to China, as part of an expansion of the contract it signed last year with China National Petroleum Corporation. The two countries have been working out a deal for the past few months on the issue and initially their agreement called for Venezuela to ship 100,000 barrels of crude per day to the Asian nation and another 60,000 barrels of oil derivatives. President Hugo Chavez visited China at the end of 2004 to sign a series of energy and trade agreements, and recently said he would consider returning to the Asian country to negotiate a possible purchase of military aircraft. • “Colombian Foreign Affairs minister Carolina Barco Wednesday said in Dominican Republic that Colombian ties with Venezuela are "excellent" and based on "a honest dialogue," Efe reported. Barco, who is paying an official visit to Dominican Republic, stated that Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez "have never had trouble to address the difficulties" facing the two countries. "Anytime we have bumped into problems over the border in connection with rebel groups, we have addressed this issue straight away," she said in a TV interview. "Our relations are based on the search of projects benefiting the two countries and on honest talks to deal with our problems," the diplomat ensured. Colombia-Venezuela relations have been seriously disturbed by the presence of Colombian guerrillas over their 2,000-km common border.” (Daily News, 2006)
Culture • Venezuela won its first Caribbean Series championship since 1989 by rallying for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Dominican Republic 5-4 in Valencia, Venezuela. • Venezuela will be participating in The World Baseball Classical along with 15 other teams representing countries from all over the globe. This is the first year the International Baseball Federation has sanctioned this event and the games will be played at different stadiums in Japan, Puerto Rico, the United States and feature the best players in the world. The bracket-style formatted tournament will start in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, March 3 2006.
Work Cited • Bennet, Clay. Venezuela Coup. <http://www.claybennett.com/pages/venezuela_coup.html>. • The Chicago Tribune. Blanco’s Double Sends Venezuela to Series title. 8 February, 2006. <http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cs-0602080248feb08,1,424172.story?coll=cs-baseball-print>. • CIA, The World Fact Book: Venezuela. 10 January, 2006. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ve.html>. • Coutsoukis, Photius. Venezuela. 8 September, 2000. <http://www.geographic.org/maps/new1/venuela_maps.html>. • Diario El Universal C.A. BARCO LABELS VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA RELATIONS AS "EXCELLENT”. 8, Febuary, 2006. <http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/02/08/en_pol_art_08A668739.shtml>. • MLB.com.World Baseball Classic home and visiting team designations set. 8 February, 2006. <http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060208&content_id=1308597&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb>. • United Press International, Inc. Venezuela gives Spain arms deal deadline.8 February, 2006. <http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060208-104602-8636r>. • VHeadline.com Reporters. Venezuela-Vermont: 2.5 million gallons heating oil to low-income community. 7 February, 2006. www.vheadline.com/ readnews.asp?id=32547. • Vulliamy, Ed. Venezuela coup linked to Bush team. 21 April, 2002. <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,688071,00.html>.