Venezuela is a rustic of placing herbal good looks, starting from the snow-capped Andean peaks within the west, during the Amazonian jungles within the south, to the beaches of the north. it’s also some of the such a lot highly urbanised international locations in Latin America.
The u . s . has a few of the global’s biggest proven oil deposits in addition as massive quantities of coal, iron ore, bauxite and gold. But many Venezuelans live in poverty, steadily in shanty towns, some of which sprawl over the hillsides around the capital, Caracas.
Former president Hugo Chavez , who died in 2013, styled himself a champion of the poor right through his 14 years in place of business, pouring billions of bucks of Venezuela’s oil wealth into social programmes.
the government of his successor, Nicolas Maduro, has needed to fight with plummeting oil costs amid an economic challenge characterized by way of shortages of fundamental items and soaring inflation.
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INFORMATION
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Nicolas Maduro assumed the position of appearing president on the death of Hugo Chavez in March 2013, and was declared winner of the presidential elections held the following month.
He was named as vice-president in October 2010 by way of Chavez, who subsequently named him as his preferred successor.
Mr Maduro was once elected through a margin of lower than 2% over his competition opponent, Henrique Capriles, casting doubt on his skill to maintain unity throughout the left-wing ruling alliance assembled through Chavez.
Mr Maduro’s first 12 months in place of business additionally posed tricky economic demanding situations, with inflation emerging to over 50% a 12 months – one in every of the top rates within the world.
the new president reacted by means of having Congress vote to to furnish him different powers for a 12 months, and used them to place curbs on prices and company profits.
Below President Maduro, Venezuela’s members of the family with the U.s. have long past from unhealthy to worse. Venezuela has accused US diplomats of espionage and destabilising the country, whilst the united states has taken the weird step of declaring a ‘nationwide emergency’ over Venezuela’s affect on nationwide security.
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MEDIA
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Venezuela’s many non-public broadcasters perform along state-run radio and TV.
State telecom firm Cantv operates a multichannel TV platform by means of the Venesat 1 satellite tv for pc. Digital terrestrial TV is being rolled out.
Former President Chavez was once accused of creating an intimidating local weather for journalists, even as some personal media had been accused of being involved within the competition movement towards him.
Officials have used prison channels to close down opposition TELEVISION and radio networks, says Newshounds Without Borderlines. Under President Chavez, dozens of TELEVISION and radio stations had their licences revoked.
Globovision, the sole ultimate competition TV station, used to be sold in 2013. the brand new owners said the network’s editorial line might change.
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TIMELINE
Some key dates in Venezuela’s history:
1810 – Venezuelans take advantage of Napoleon’s invasion of Spain to declare independence.
Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption A statue of Latin American hero Simon Bolivar adorns certainly one of the main avenues of valuable Caracas.
1829-30 – Venezuela secedes from Gran Colombia.
1870-88 – Ruler Antonio Guzman Blanco draws foreign investment, modernises infrastructure and develops agriculture and education.
1902 – Venezuela fails to repay loans. Ports blockaded through British, Italian and German warships.
1908-35 – Dictator Juan Vicente Gomez governs at time while Venezuela turns into global’s greatest oil exporter.
1945 – Civilian govt established after a long time of military rule.
1948 – President Romulo Gallegos, Venezuela’s first democratically-elected chief, overthrown inside of eight months in military coup led by way of Marcos Perez Jimenez.
Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Rallies for and in opposition to President Hugo Chavez were a standard characteristic of his time in administrative center.
1964 – Venezuela’s first presidential handover from one civilian to another happens while Raul Leoni is elected president.
1973 – Venezuela advantages from oil boom and its forex peaks in opposition to the us greenback; oil and metal industries nationalised.
1983-EIGHTY FOUR – Fall in global oil costs generates unrest and cuts in welfare spending.
1989 – Carlos Andres Perez elected president amid economic melancholy, launches austerity programme with IMF mortgage. Riots, martial regulation and common strike apply, with masses killed in street violence.
1998 – Hugo Chavez elected president amid disenchantment with based parties, launches ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ that brings in new constitution, socialist and populist economic and social insurance policies funded by way of high oil costs, and increasingly vocal anti-US international policy.
2013 – President Chavez dies at age 58 after a fight with cancer. Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez’s chosen successor, is elected president by way of a slender margin.
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