The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela By Chris and Minos

General Capital: Caracas Population: 27 million (40 th ) National language: Spanish Area: 916,445km2 (33 rd ) 93% of all literate.

Cultures and People Indigenous peoples 92 percent are Roman Catholic. Many native Venezuelans still feel repressed by the ‘white’ Spanish, despite having independence The biggest Venezuelan festivals are: San Juan, and native celebrations.

History of the Economy Economy really began when: Venezuela = main oil exporter to Only rich oligarchs & foreign oil firms benefited on oil. 1978, Economic crisis! 1992, Inflation, dept, and Corruption. 1999, Chavez promises to stabilize economy with socialist ideals.

Government Venezuela is a federal republic Has a president, vice-president, and a parliament (known as a National Assembly) Two political blocs: United Socialist Party, and social democratic A New Era Foreign relations: Close with Latin American countries (especially Cuba), shaky with US

Key Political Events 1830: Became an official autonomous nation : Unstably, a series of dictators overthrew one after another. 1947: Leftist gov’t came into power 1970’s: Made many relations with communist Russia 1992: Failed coup by Chavez (more info next slide) 1999: Chavez becomes president legally 2000, 2002: Riot over Chavez’s leftist policies 2005, 2006: Chavez named one of Time’s 100 most influential people

Hugo Chavez Current President (from 1998) Socialist Critic of globalization and American foreign policy Philosophy: Bolivarism Foreign policy: Strong Latin American ties Economic policy: Socialism

SOURCES We didn’t copy & paste we just read from these websites: enezuela.html