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HISTORY
Discovered at the end of the 15th century by Christopher Columbus, Venezuela was first called “Little Venice” (hence “Venezuela”) because of the resemblance of the native stilt houses on the edges of Lake of Maracaibo to the Venetian dwellings of the time. Thereafter
Venezuela was a Spanish colony for over three centuries until the independence
movements sweeping the Americas encouraged Venezuela to initiate its struggle
for independence from Spain in 1810. During
the years of Spanish rule, Venezuela did not attain the importance of the major
viceroyalties centered elsewhere on the continent. Accordingly,
during this period the population of Venezuela remained comparatively small with
an economy based on a few agricultural crops and a minimum of commercial
activities. Following
the victorious struggle for independence under the leadership of Simón Bolívar,
Venezuela became part of the historical confederation known as the Gran Colombia
between 1820 and 1830. In the
latter year Venezuela withdrew from the confederation forming the present
Republic of Venezuela. The
reminder of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th
century was filled by internecine warfare, which actually had the effect of
decreasing the total population during this century.
The
economy in this period was based on exports of cocoa, coffee and sugar, plus
cattle raising and commercial activity. It
was only with the long, twenty seven year dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez
(1908-1935) that the country was finally under a central government.
It was also under Gómez that the economy experienced a dramatic change
and the modern Venezuela economy began to emerge. In
the early years of the 20th Century, oil became the economy’s basic
commodity as well as a strong stimulus to development. The
oil and mining industries became the largest contributors to the gross national
product and the main sources of foreign exchange.
Manufacturing and a more diversified agricultural output have also become
significant as economic development has allowed for these sectors’ increased
share of the economy. The
first concessions were granted in the 1910’s with the first substantial
quantities of oil being exported in the early 1920’s. By
1982, petroleum exports accounted for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, which is
still the case at present. The
Gómez dictatorship was followed by three more governments and early attempts at
democratization resulting, in 1948, in the first direct popular election of the
Venezuelan president Rómulo Gallegos. The
Gallegos government was short-lived and overthrown later that year by a military
coup. This led to the dictatorial
regime of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, until 1958, when his government was toppled by
a popular clamor for a democratic system. In
elections held later that year the Social Democrat (AD) party candidate, Rómulo
Betancourt, was elected. It was during Betancourt’s administration that
programs to stimulate industrialization and the first efforts for development
planning were initiated. His
administration enacted far reaching programs of agrarian reform and of
improvement of the standards of living, particularly in the fields of health and
education, that were to become the basis for the transformation of Venezuela. Betancourt’s most important contribution, however, was to consolidate
the foundations of democracy in Venezuela.
Since Betancourt’s election, and up to the present, Venezuela’s
political process has been stable and all successive administrations have been
the product of free and democratic elections. The Betancourt government was followed by the administration of Raúl
Leoni, also a social democrat, until 1968 when the Christian Democrat (Copei
party) Rafael Caldera was elected to office.
In 1974 the government shifted back to the AD party with the inauguration
of Carlos Andrés Pérez, who in turn was succeeded in 1979 by the Copei
candidate Luis Herrera Campíns. In
1983 the Social Democrats again returned to office and Jaime Lusinchi was
elected President for the period 1984-1989. In
1989, Carlos Andrés Pérez was again sworn into office.
His term expired in 1994. Rafael
Caldera, won the 1994-1999 elections supported by a coalition of 17 political
parties. Hugo
Chávez was inaugurated on February 2, 1999.
His Presidential mandate was reconfirmed through elections that took
place on July 30, 2000 for a period of six years. Venezuela
has now enjoyed almost 50 years of free democratic government.
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