Venezuela 1998

Venezuela Capital

In 1998, Venezuela was a country in transition. The nation had been struggling with political and economic instability during the 1990s and its population was living in poverty. The government at the time was led by President Rafael Caldera and it had implemented a series of reforms in order to address the country’s economic crisis. These reforms included privatization of state-owned industries, liberalization of trade laws, and devaluation of the currency. Despite these efforts, unemployment levels remained high and inflation rates continued to rise.

The Venezuelan economy relied heavily on its oil industry which accounted for over half of its exports. This dependence on oil made it vulnerable to fluctuations in global prices and caused serious economic problems when prices dropped dramatically in 1998. Additionally, Venezuela had also been dealing with corruption within its government which negatively impacted foreign investment levels into the country. See dentistrymyth for Venezuela in the year of 2015.

In order to address some of these issues, President Caldera had sought out foreign aid from international organizations such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) as well as other countries like Mexico and Colombia in order to help stabilize their economy. Additionally, he had also taken steps to improve infrastructure throughout the country by introducing reforms such as improved access to healthcare, education, and sanitation services for many citizens living in poverty. Despite these efforts, there were still many challenges that needed to be addressed within Venezuela in 1998 such as poverty levels and human rights violations.

Yearbook 1998

Venezuela. According to Countryaah, the capital of Venezuela is Caracas. Military officer Hugo Chávez, candidate for Polo Patriótico, a left-wing alliance with the Movement of Movimiento V República (MVR), won the presidential election on December 6 after leading the polls since March. Chávez, who staged a coup attempt in 1992 and is very unpopular among businessmen and office colleagues, said he would like to continue the previous government’s policies broadly, even though he advocated increased investment in social reforms, financed through improved tax burdens.

Chávez’s victory was favored by an increasingly bleak economic scenario that seemed to confirm his designation of the “mono-product economy” as the root of Venezuela’s social problems. Oil, the country’s traditionally leading export commodity, accounts for 80% of export revenue, 24% of GDP and 50% of government revenue. The constantly falling oil prices thus shattered the government’s plans for 1998, forcing it to gradually lower its economic targets. On the other hand, the minimum wage was increased by 33% on May 1, which led to redundancies and increased unemployment.

The election also marked a continued distrust and erosion of the traditional bipartisan system with Acción Democrática (AD) and the Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente (COPEI), which dominated Venezuela since 1958. The main candidates stood as independent, although some of the candidates those during the course of the election movement allied themselves with the established parties.

  • Abbreviationfinder: What does VZS stand for in geography? Here, this 3 letter acronym refers to the country of Venezuela.

Country data

Area: 912,050 km2 (world ranking: 32)

Population: 31,977,000

Population density: 35 per km2 (as of 2017, world ranking: 44)

Capital: Caracas

Official languages: Spanish, 31 regional languages

Gross domestic product: 210.1 billion US $; Real growth: -14.0%

Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): n / a

Currency: 1 Bolívar Fuerte (Bs.F.) = 100 Céntimos

Embassy

Schillstr. 10, 10785 Berlin
Telephone 030 8322400,
Fax 030 83224020
www.botschaft-venezuela.de

Government
Head of State and Government: Nicolás Maduro MorosDelcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez, Exterior: Jorge Arreaza Montserrat

National Day: 5.7.

Administrative structure
23 federal states, federal capital district and federal territory

State and form of government
Constitution of 1999
Presidential Federal Republic
Parliament: National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) with 167 members (3 seats reserved for indigenous people), election every 5 years
Direct election of the head of state. every 6 years of
age 18 and over

Population: Venezuelans, last census 2011: 27,227,930 residents
75-80% European-African-indigenous, 15-20% of European, 3-5% of African descent, 1.5% indigenous

cities (with population)
(As of 2017) Maracaibo 2,198,200, Caracas 2,084,500 inh. (A 3.6 million), Valencia 1,557,000, Barquisimeto 1,070,600, Ciudad Guayana 865,200, Maturín 496,900, Maracay 457,200, Barcelona 441,800, Petare 436,500, Ciudad Bolívar 411,600, Turmero 373,000, Cumaná 372,400

Religions: 96% Catholics, 2% Protestants (as of 2006)

Languages: Spanish; 31 indigenous languages: Goajiro, Guaraúno, Carina and others. Employed

By economic sector: Agriculture. 10%, industry 23%, business 67% (2017)

Unemployment (in% of all labor force): 2017: 7.7%

Inflation rate (in%): 2017: 1087.5%

Foreign trade: import: 10.5 billion US$ (2017); Export: 31.6 billion US $ (2017)

 

2002. United States, Citizenship and Foreign Oil Companies Retire President

At the beginning of 2002, the President announced a series of steps to stimulate the economy, including land reform that gives the state the right to expropriate land; in addition, a reform of the oil legislation that puts taxes on taxes that companies that utilize state oil sources must pay.

Chávez took steps in April to get the state control over the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). It is formally in the hands of the state, but really in the pockets of the foreign extractive companies. Chávez replaced part of the management of the company and inserted his own management. On April 9, it triggered a “strike” among the leaders of the company, culminating 3 days later with major demonstrations. Business, landlords, foreign oil companies, the United States and parts of the middle layers wanted to get rid of Chávez and with the help of the military conducted a coup attempt against him. The bourgeoisie had almost total control over the media and used this control to whip up a violent mood against Chávez. He was deposed, flown to a small island off the coast, and instead April 12, the president of the employers’ union, Pedro Carmona as President. He immediately dissolved parliament, vacated the Supreme Court, put the Constitution out of force and declared that new presidential elections would be held within a year and parliamentary elections in December. All during the slogan of wanting to “reorganize the public institutions”. At the same time figures emerged about the losses during the previous day’s demonstrations: 15 killed and 350 wounded, according to. fire department. At the same time, the street fighting between supporters and opponents of Chávez continued, despite the new government’s attempt to bring the situation under control. On April 14 at midnight, troops loyal to the deposed president entered the Miraflores presidential palace, awaiting the execution of another operation that flew Chávez back from his exile and reinstated him in the presidential post.

The US’s only objection to the coup on April 12 was to have Deputy Foreign Minister Otto Reich call Carmona to ask him not to dissolve parliament – the Foreign Ministry announced later. The US first “condemned” the coup when Chávez was reinstated. The British newspaper The Guardian could tell that a year before April 12, the US intelligence had studied the possibilities of deposing Chávez and that North American warships located along Venezuela’s coast in the morning of the coup day jammed Caracas communications. Washington’s stance on democracy sparked fears throughout Latin America that a new wave of coups could be on the continent.

Venezuela Capital