Economy of Venezuela: general information and development. Geographical location of Venezuela Geographical location of the country Venezuela
Related Venezuela
Prepared
Ilya Molchun
1 Welcome to Venezuela
Venezuela is located in the north of South America. In the west and south-west it borders with Colombia, in the south and south-east - with Brazil, in the east - with Guyana, in the north it is washed by the waters of the Caribbean Sea and in the northeast - the Atlantic Ocean. She owns about four dozen islands in the Caribbean. The largest of them is Margarita Island. In the northeast, narrow straits bristling with sharp rocks, even Columbus called the Serpent's Mouth and Dragon's Mouth, separate Venezuela from the largest of the Lesser Antilles - Trinidad. By the size of the territory (916.4 thousand sq. Km) Venezuela is larger than England, France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland taken together. Its population is 24.66 million people (2003).
Possessing vast natural resources, Venezuela has experienced significant economic growth over the past 30 years, and since the late 1980s and early 1990s it has begun to play an active role in the political life of Latin America. In terms of economic development and economic potential (2005 data) Venezuela ranks third in Latin America (after Brazil and Argentina).
According to the 1961 constitution, Venezuela is a federal republic. The head of state and government is the president, who is elected for a 5-year term. He is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. There is no vice president, and the temporarily absent president is replaced by a minister appointed by him. Legislative power is exercised by the National Congress, which consists of two chambers - the Senate (52 senators) and the Chamber of Deputies (207 deputies). Senators and deputies are elected for 5 years. All citizens who have reached the age of 18, with the exception of military personnel, enjoy the right to vote. The Constitution proclaims a number of democratic rights and freedoms, some of which, however, are curtailed by various reservations. The capital of the country is the city of Caracas. The state language is Spanish. Venezuela is a member of the UN, IMF, WHO, OPEC. Currency: State monetary unit - bolivar, is divided into 100 centimos. Cash tickets are issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 bolivars, as well as coins in denominations of 1, 2 and 5 bolivars. Time: Lagging behind Moscow by 7 hours. The Venezuelan army is about 90 thousand people. In 2006, Venezuela signed a contract with Russia to purchase helicopters, fighters and Kalashnikov assault rifles for its army.
2. Nature
Venezuela is called the land of mountains, plains and forests. It can be divided into four regions that differ in relief, climate and vegetation: the mountainous region of the Andes, the Maracaibo depression, Llanos (plains in the Apure and Orinoco river basins) and the Guiana plateau. Almost the entire west and north of the country is occupied by the Andes of Venezuela - the northeastern spur of the grandiose mountain range of the Andes of South America. The eastern Cordillera of Colombia, entering Venezuela, bifurcates into two ridges: the Sierra de Perija, along the ridge of which the border with Colombia passes, and the high double ridge of the Cordillera de Merida, which deviates to the northeast. Between these ridges lies the Maracaibo depression.
The central part of the Cordillera de Merida ridge is covered with eternal snow and glaciers, for which it is called the Sierra Nevada, that is, Snow. Here is the highest point of the country - Bolivar peak (5007 m). At the top of the peak is a bronze bust of this prominent Venezuelan independence fighter. To the northeast, the Cordillera de Merida ridge drops to 2000 m, bifurcates again and, taking a sublatitudinal direction, stretches east along the Caribbean coast. This is the Caribbean Andes, one of the most earthquake-prone areas in South America. The earthquake of 1812 was so strong that the city of Caracas was turned into a heap of ruins by the very first earthquake. Almost a quarter of its population - 10 thousand people - died in one minute. In 1900 it was destroyed again by an earthquake.
The lowland of Maracaibo, at the bottom of which the lake of the same name lies, is formed by the sediments of numerous mountain rivers and is very swampy in the southern part. The lake area is one of the richest oil fields in the world. The central part of Venezuela, between the Andes and the river. Orinoco in its middle and lower reaches, represents the vast Minina - Llanos, stretching 900 km in length and 300 km in width. Almost half of the entire territory of the country is occupied by the Guiana Plateau (Venezuelan Guayana) rising to the south of the lower Orinoco with a height of 100-800 m. In its central part there are isolated peaks and flat remnant heights - mesas or "table mountains", rising up to 2000 m and more. In the southern part of the plateau, they turn into sandstone - steep and flat-topped Ranges of Pakaraima, Parima and others. Along them is the watershed of the Orinoco and Amazonian basins and the border of Venezuela with Brazil.
At the junction of the borders of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana, one of the highest massifs of the plateau rises with the Roraima and Kukenam mountains, and to the north of it, in the area of the source of the river. Caroni, is one of the highest mountains of Venezuelan Guayana - Aprada Tepui (3100 m). It is very difficult to penetrate into this remote and poorly explored area: mountains cut by gorges and impenetrable virgin rainforests make it inaccessible. On the flat tops of the mesas, reaching 30-40 km in length and completely cut off from the whole world by cliffs up to 2000 m high, almost no people have been. It is here that the events described in the famous novel by A. Conan-Doyle "The Lost World" "take place". There is also one of the largest mesas - Auyan-Tepui, called by the Indians "Devil's Mountain".
Ever since the time of the conquistadors, there was a legend that somewhere in these places there is a huge waterfall, falling down "straight from the sky." For centuries this has been considered fiction. But in the early 1930s, American pilot Jimmy Angell, flying over the gloomy steep cliffs, against which his fragile plane looked like a dragonfly, saw a giant waterfall. A huge column of water, foam and steam, with a mighty roar, rushed down from somewhere behind the clouds, almost from the very top of the "Devil's Mountain".
A few years before World War II, Angell made another flight there. Choosing a flat clearing on the flat summit of Auyan-Tepui, he landed his little plane there. However, the green surface turned out to be deceiving: the plane's wheels got stuck in the swamp, and Angel barely managed to escape. Since then, this place and the waterfall itself have been called "Salto Angel" - the jump of an angel (a play on words: in English "angell", and in Spanish "angel" - an angel). Only in the 50s was it possible to establish that the height of this waterfall is 1054 m, that is, it is 21 times higher than Niagara.
2.1 Climate
Located in low latitudes, Venezuela has a hot subequatorial climate. The difference between the average temperatures of the coldest and warmest months does not exceed 5 °. In summer, the territory of the country is under the influence of humid equatorial air masses, and in winter - dry northeastern trade winds. Therefore, with the exception of a large part of the Guiana Highlands, which has abundant year-round rainfall, Venezuela is characterized by a dry season (October to March) and a wet period (April to September). In the mountainous Andes, the climate depends not only on the seasonality of precipitation, but also on the height, as well as on the location of the mountain slopes.
The Falcon-Lara plateau, the coastal strip and the islands of the Caribbean Sea are the most dry. This is the region of the highest air temperatures in the American tropics. The port of La Guaira, for example, where only 280 mm of annual precipitation falls, Venezuelans jokingly call the threshold of hell. In the area of the lake. Maracaibo has 6 times more precipitation (up to 1800 mm), and the average annual temperature (28 °) is the highest for Latin America. The poor "ventilation" of the swampy lowland surrounded on three sides by mountains leads to high relative humidity, which is very difficult for humans to tolerate, combined with exceptional heat.
2.2 Minerals
Venezuela possesses many mineral resources. It occupies one of the prominent places in the world in terms of oil reserves. Its reliable reserves in 1977 were determined at 2.5-2.6 billion tons, and in 2003 - at almost 3.5 billion tons. Oil deposits stretch across the entire northern part of the country. Three oil-bearing basins are distinguished: the Maracaibo basin (states of Zulia and Falcon) in the northwest; the states of Guarico, Monagas, Anzoategui, the Federal Territory of Delta Amakuro - in the central and eastern parts of Llanos; the state of Apure in the west of Llanos (there are also large reserves of natural gas). Recently, huge (estimated at 9.5-13.5 billion tons) oil reserves have been discovered in the so-called Orinoco oil belt, which stretches for 600 km along the lower reaches of the river, as well as deposits on the continental shelf of the Gulf of Venezuela. In the regions of Maracaibo, the Orinoco delta and in the extreme northeast there are deposits of natural asphalt, and in the Andes, in the area of Lake. Maracaibo and south of Barcelona - coal.
The country is rich in ores of many metals. Thus, iron ore reserves are estimated at 12 billion tons. It has been found in different areas, but the deposits of the northern edge of the Guiana Plateau, south and east of Ciudad Bolivar (in the Imataka Range), are of particular importance. Here, almost entire mountains are made of high quality iron ore. There are also deposits of manganese, nickel, titanium, chromite ores, tungsten, copper, zinc, lead, silver, gold, tin, antimony, mercury, vanadium, magnesite, bauxite, high-quality asbestos, gypsum, phosphates, mica, rock crystal, precious stones ... But they are either mined on the most modest scale, or not at all. Deposits of thorium and uranium ores have been found on the Guiana Plateau and in the region of Caracas.
After the Second World War on the river. Deposits of diamonds were discovered in Paragua and its tributaries. They started talking about the Venezuelan Guayana as a "geological sensation." A genuine "diamond rush" broke out, similar to the "gold rush" in the Klondike described by Jack London at the time. Thousands of people rushed into the wilds of the Guiana Plateau: adventurers, agents of mining companies, miners. But only a very few returned from there with good luck. A new outbreak of the "diamond rush" in the area occurred in 1971.
2.3 Rivers and lakes
Nearly half of Venezuela's 1,000-plus rivers run off the Andes and the Guiana Highlands into the Orinoco, Latin America's third-largest river. Its basin covers an area of about 1 million square meters. km. After Diego Ordaz and other Spanish conquistadors, who repeatedly climbed up the river in a vain search for the legendary Eldorado, many tried to find its origins. However, it was possible to do this only in 1951 by a special Franco-Venezuelan expedition, which finally established the exact length of the river - 2740 km.
In the upper reaches, the Orinoco carries its waters to the northwest. Below the village of Esmeralda, already reaching 700 m in width, it comes across a large rocky threshold, splitting it into two streams. At the same time, the main stream retains the same direction - to the north-west, while the smaller one - r. Casiquiare - Turns southwest. And since the slope of the surface to the south-west begins here, the Casiquiare does not return to the Orinoco, but carries its waters to the Rio Negro, one of the large tributaries of the Amazon. This is the famous Orinoco Bifurcation - the world's largest bifurcation of the river, in which each of the two branches belongs to different river systems. Casiquiare in some places looks like a canal about 400 m wide, and there are even suggestions that the water bridge connecting the Orinoco with the Amazon was the work of the oldest inhabitants of this area.
In the middle reaches, the Orinoco breaks through the crystalline rocks of the outskirts of the Guiana Plateau and, breaking through the system of rapids, forms numerous waterfalls and rifts. Below the mouth of the largest left tributary, the Meta, the rapids disappear and the river becomes navigable. In the place where another large left tributary, the Apure, flows into it both lazily and widely, the Orinoco turns to the east. Gradually expanding (in some places up to 25 km), it flows to the southern outskirts of Llanos. Below Ciudad Bolivar, the depth of the river reaches 30 m, sea tides penetrate here and for 400 km Orinoco is accessible to ocean ships. Having passed Barrancas, it spills into a huge, intertwined with numerous arms and heavily swampy delta, which stretches almost along the entire Atlantic coast of Venezuela.
Orinoco is an important trade and transport artery that plays a huge role in the economic development of Llanos and the northern part of the Guiana Plateau. Its left tributaries on the Llanos plain have a slow current, and during the rainy season they overflow, flooding large areas. The right tributaries running down from the Guiana Plateau are the Ventuari. Caura, Caroni (with the Paragua tributary) and others are impetuous, stormy, abound with rapids and waterfalls. They are unsuitable for shipping, but they have great energy potential.
Lake Maracaibo is the largest in Venezuela: its area is about 15,000 square meters. km, length - 155 km, width - 120 km, depth on average 20-30 m. In the north, it is connected by four channels with the Venezuelan Gulf of the Caribbean Sea, and its water there is brackish. Lake Valencia, located in the intermontane valley of the Caribbean Andes, is the second largest in the country. From the east, the river flows into it. Aragua, and from the southwest it was still in the 19th century. had a runoff to the plain of Llanos. But since then its level has dropped, and now it is drainless.
Only 10% of rivers are suitable for navigation, but in terms of hydropower resources, estimated at 40 million kW, Venezuela ranks third (after Brazil and Colombia) in Latin America.
2.4 The flora of Venezuela
The hot zone, in which most of the country lies, is characterized by an extraordinary variety of vegetation. There are 7 thousand species of wild flora here. In the forests, which occupy 40% of Venezuela's territory, there are over 600 tree species - three times more than in all of Europe. "Nowhere are magnificent tropical forests with their hundreds of lianas ... not distinguished by a greater variety of plant forms than in the vast archipelago of the Orinoco estuaries or along the circumference of Lake Maracaibo, at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Merida," wrote E. Reclus. These forests are characterized by exceptional density, with the tallest trees reaching 45-50 m. It is almost impossible to get through the thickets of the rainforest, even with an ax. Forests sometimes stretching for hundreds of kilometers, especially in the east and south of the Guiana Plateau, where they adjoin the equatorial forests of the Amazon basin, are still in a wild state. Rare paths for the most part run along rivers, which are the only real "roads" here. The central and northern part of Venezuelan Guayana is covered with less humid and tall-stemmed, but also rugged forests with many valuable species of trees, as well as spots of savannahs in the leeward areas.
More than a third of Venezuela's area is occupied by the savannas of the Orinoco plains, called Llanos. During the rainy season, when rivers overflow their banks and flood vast areas, Llanos is covered with abundant and succulent grasses reaching 2 m in height. In November-December, the flood waters subside, and in January a drought begins without a single drop of rain until the end of March. The streams dry up, small rivers gradually turn into chains of swamps and puddles. The sun almost completely burns out the grass cover. Low-growing trees that form scraps of shrub forest lose their foliage; only the crowns of Mauritius palms remain evergreen.
Venezuela's climate and soil is favorable for growing a wide variety of crops. The main agricultural zone is located at an altitude of 300 to 1800 m above sea level. seas. In the hot zone there are plantations of cocoa, coconut palm, sugar cane, rubber plants, cotton, tobacco, citrus fruits, mango trees, bananas.
The most important crop of the mid-mountain "temperate" altitude zone is coffee. The main food crops are also grown here: corn, cassava, yams, beans, sweet potatoes. There are also crops of rice, sugar cane, tobacco, but, in addition, there are oats, barley, potatoes and various vegetables. Plums, quinces, peaches grow in the gardens next to bananas, palms and papayas. The cool mountainous zone is characterized by barley, wheat and other cereals, peas, horse beans and various vegetables, as well as fruit plants of a temperate climate. Above other crops (up to 3000 m), the famous Andean potatoes are taken.
2.5 Fauna of Venezuela
The fauna of tropical forests and savannas, rivers and lakes of Venezuela is extremely rich and diverse. In forests, most mammals live in trees. This is a sloth, about two dozen species of wide-nosed chain-tailed monkeys, making devastating raids on plantations and gardens. Tapirs and capybaras are found on the edges and along the river banks. Wild pigs - bakers also live here. In the forests and savannah, small and large rodents are found, including the "golden hare" - agouti, various species of small deer, foxes, possum, woody porcupine, anteater and armadillo. Of the predators, the most typical South American chain-tailed raccoon - kinkajou, jaguar, "American lion" - cougar and other, smaller species and cats.
It is home to many venomous snakes, the bite of which is fatal, including several species of rattlesnakes, mapanare, and the yellow kumaima snake. Among the large snakes, the anaconda, the boa constrictor and the "king boa constrictor" stand out. The latter is known as a rat exterminator and is kept not only in warehouses and barns, but sometimes in residential buildings as well. At night, the boa constrictor hunts, and during the day it sleeps or bask in the sun. He becomes attached to the house, if he is taken away, he often comes back.
Other reptiles include iguana, caimans and turtles. The island of La Tortuga is especially famous for its large sea turtles. Of the amphibians, the giant toad (up to 1 kg in weight) is interesting.
Among freshwater fish, the temblador eel is widespread, the electric discharge of which is capable of stunning a bull wading into a river, a lungfish, which has lungs in addition to gills, and a piranha (aka caribé) - a carp-like fish 30-40 cm long with razor-sharp triangular teeth ... Piranhas live in huge flocks and, if a drop of blood appears in the water, they go berserk. Thousands of them attack any animal, and in a few minutes only one skeleton remains of it. Even a crocodile, wounded by the spear of an Indian hunter, prefers to get ashore if piranhas are nearby. The sea off the Venezuelan coast is replete with commercial fish (Spanish mackerel, mullet, sardine, tuna, herring, sea bass, etc.), as well as lobsters, shrimps, crabs, and various shellfish.
The bird world has thousands of species and subspecies. There are numerous and varied insects (there are hundreds of species of butterflies, beetles, ants, termites, mosquitoes), as well as spiders and scorpions.
3. Economy
Venezuela was the first ever exporter of "black gold" - back in 1539 a barrel of oil was sent to Madrid from here. But in the colonial era, the main articles of export of the country were indigo and sugar, and in the 19th - early 20th centuries. - coffee and cocoa. However, after in 1922 near the village of Cabimas, at the lake. Maracaibo, a powerful oil gusher hit the sky, the "oil boom" began here. Venezuela became one of the world's largest producers of "black gold", and since then it has almost always accounted for 9/10 of its export value.
The proximity of the fields to the sea, facilitating the transportation of oil, the high production rate of wells and the low standard of living of the population, which provided cheap labor, made Venezuela a lure for oil companies. During the Second World War, the exploitation of new oil fields, discovered in the eastern, and in the 50s and in the western part of Llanos, began. By 1958, the total area of oil, mainly North American and British, concessions reached 68 thousand square meters. km, exceeding the area of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg combined.
After the Second World War, on the right bank of the Orinoco, in its lower reaches, the richest deposits of iron ore were discovered, the development of which was seized by the US monopolies. They also penetrated the manufacturing industry, agriculture, and the service sector. In 1967, foreign investment in Venezuela reached $ 5.5 billion, of which 11% belonged to the United States. More than half of all foreign investment was in the oil industry, 2% in manufacturing and 4% in the mining industry. From 1960 to 1970 alone, American companies transferred from Venezuela to the United States in the form of profits of $ 7.2 billion. The manufacturing industry in the country was very poorly developed, and agriculture was in such a state that most of the food had to be imported.
The exceptional unevenness of economic development was reflected, among other things, in the geographical location: almost all industrial production was concentrated in the north and northwest - in the Caribbean Andes region and the basin of Cde. Maracaibo. Only in the 50s and 60s did new growing industrial centers emerge in the eastern regions of Llanos and on the right bank of the lower Orinoco.
But social production still retains a multiformity: along with highly concentrated production in a number of industries in the countryside, in some places there are semi-feudal remnants, and in some outlying areas even primitive communal relations have been preserved.
Meanwhile, in the 60s and 70s, Venezuela took one of the first places in Latin America in terms of economic development. The growth in oil production and exports, which provided large tax revenues and an influx of hard currency, allowed the Venezuelan government to create significant savings to finance the economy. The state sector of the economy developed both in the field of infrastructure (road transport, hydraulic engineering, power engineering) and in the petrochemical, metallurgical and metalworking industries. Already in 1973, it accounted for 30% of large industrial enterprises. And after the nationalization of the iron ore and especially the oil industry, Venezuela, which previously ranked first in Latin America in terms of foreign investment, turned into a country whose economy is controlled by the state to a greater extent than in any other country in the Western Hemisphere.
The state-owned Petroleros Venezolanos has become the ninth largest oil company in the world, the owner of 12,000 operating wells, 10,000 km of oil and gas pipelines, 12 refineries, as well as marinas and storage facilities.
The government soon banned foreign investment in utilities, energy, communications, broadcasting and television, passenger and freight transport, publishing and advertising. Foreign companies in a number of industries were asked to transfer at least 80% of their shares to Venezuelans within three years.
All these measures were an important step forward in the struggle for national independence and sovereignty. However, the oil monopolies still retain the right to deal with the marketing and transportation of Venezuelan oil and the supply of technology, they are paid compensation in the amount of more than $ 1 billion, and the creation of mixed enterprises in the oil industry with the participation of foreign capital is allowed.
Venezuela ranked fourth in terms of gross national product in the 70s, and in terms of its share per capita - first in Latin America. Industry accounts for about 30% of GNP, 25% for trade, and only 8% for agriculture.
In the 60s and 70s, the Venezuelan economy developed to a large extent according to plans drawn up by the Central Office for Coordination and Planning. In particular, the fifth national development plan (1976-1980) aimed to further reduce dependence on oil exports and use the increased income from them to diversify the economy and create a solid industrial and agricultural base in the country. To this end, the main investments were directed to the iron ore, steel, aluminum, engineering, chemical, shipbuilding industries and the construction of ports. However, as a rule, these plans could not be fully implemented in the planned time frame.
Noticeable shifts have taken place in the structure of the economically active population, in particular, the number of people employed in industry from 1950 to 1975 almost tripled.
One of the fastest growing sectors of the economy is the electric power industry: in the 60s and 70s, the annual increase in electricity generation exceeded 10%. More than 30% of it is produced by hydroelectric power plants. Venezuela ranked fourth (after Brazil, Mexico and Argentina) in Latin America in terms of installed capacity of power plants (8.2 million kWh in 1979) and electricity generation (31 billion kWh), and in terms of production and consumption by per capita - first place.
3.1 Export
Foreign trade plays a huge role in the life of Venezuela. The country's export in value reaches 1/3, and imports - 1/6 of the gross national product. In the value of Venezuelan exports, more than 90% are oil and oil products, 4% - iron ore, the rest - coffee and cocoa, gold, asbestos, sugar, bananas, vegetables, rice, skins, livestock, forest products. Import is dominated by various equipment, machinery, mechanisms, vehicles and spare parts for them, various raw materials and materials, including metal structures, pipes for gas and oil pipelines, as well as various consumer industrial goods and foodstuffs.
In recent years, food imports have been growing, since agriculture remains the most backward sector of the economy and cannot meet the country's needs for agricultural products. A significant portion of the oil exported goes to the United States. Only crude oil is imported to the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curacao from Venezuela, which, after processing at the factories of American and British companies located there, is re-exported to the USA, England, Germany, Japan and other countries. The United States accounts for most of Venezuela's import value - about $ 3 billion a year.
3.2 Extractive industry
The mining industry played an important role in the country's economy. In 1970, 194 million tons of oil were produced in Venezuela. Since the 70s, the government has been pursuing a policy of reducing oil production in order to preserve its reserves. In connection with the sharp rise in world oil prices during the years of the energy crisis, the country's revenues from its exports have increased significantly, despite the decline in its volume. In 2005, 140 million tons were produced.
More than 4/5 of all Venezuelan oil is produced in the lake basin. Maracaibo, about 20% in the east, 3% in the southwest. Together with oil, 95% of the explored reserves of natural gas lie. In 2005, its production amounted to 35 billion cubic meters. m.
In contrast to oil production, the output of the mining industry grew rather rapidly. The lion's share of it is iron ore. The main deposits - San Isidro, Cerro Bolivar and El Pao - are located in the north of the Guiana Plateau. The ore is mined in an open pit and contains 60-70% iron. In the late 90s, production was 12-15 million tons per year, of which more than half was exported to the United States and 2/5 to Europe.
On the Guiana Plateau (in the Upata region) and near Valencia, manganese is mined in small quantities, and in the Caribbean Andes - nickel ore, zinc, lead, silver, asbestos. Near the city of San Cristobal, phosphate rock, including those containing uranium, and coal are mined. Magnesite is mined on the island of Margarita, coal is mined in Naricuale (near Barcelona) and in Guazar.
Gold is mined at El Callao on the Guiana Highlands. In the same region, diamond mining is growing (700-800 thousand carats are mined annually). Discovery of new deposits in the basin of the river. Cuchivero (accompanied by another "diamond rush") turned Venezuela into the largest supplier of diamonds in Latin America.
3.3 Manufacturing industry
The manufacturing industry, especially its new branches - chemical (including petrochemistry), oil refinery, mechanical engineering (including car assembly), metallurgy, develops in the post-war period almost twice as fast as the country's economy as a whole. However, the lion's share of the value of the gross output of the manufacturing industry is still provided by the food, textile and clothing, leather and footwear, woodworking and other "old" industries.
More than 25% of the value of the gross output of the manufacturing industry is accounted for by oil refining. Venezuela is a major exporter of petroleum products. The leading sectors of the manufacturing industry, in addition to oil refining, include: food, textile, clothing, chemical, metalworking, mechanical engineering.
The development of the richest deposits of iron ore served as the basis for the creation of a metallurgical industry in the country. In 1962, the first state-owned full-cycle metallurgical plant, using electric blast furnaces, was fully operational on the right bank of the lower Orinoco, in the Sue dad Guayana region. There are also two aluminum plants, an iron ore briquette plant and two plants for the direct reduction of iron from ore.
3.4 Production
Machine building is developing in the country, the basis of which is the car assembly industry. There are factories for the production of tractors and agricultural implements, transport and construction equipment, tools and other metalworking enterprises. There are also enterprises for the production of electrical, radio and television equipment. In connection with large-scale construction in the oil, mining and manufacturing industries, urban and road construction, the production of building materials is growing rapidly.
An intensive process of concentration of production is observed: 80% of all workers are employed in large and medium-sized factories.
3.5 Agriculture
The country has a significant amount of land suitable for cultivation, but only a small part of it is cultivated. In addition, until recently, the country was dominated by a backward form of land tenure and land use, in which 2% of farms belonging to the largest landowners accounted for 80%, and half of all farms accounted for only 1% of the recorded land fund. This resulted in extremely low levels of land use and labor productivity. As a result, agriculture was the most backward sector of the economy. In 1950, imports of food and agricultural raw materials accounted for half, in 1960 - a third of their consumption in the country.
The situation began to change in the 60s and 70s as the agrarian reform was carried out. Due to the redemption by the government from the latifundists of the lands not used by them, as well as from the state land fund, a significant part of the peasants received land plots.
Industrial relations in the Venezuelan countryside are still very diverse. In the largest farms, the labor is used not only of hired workers, but also of sharecropping tenants and peon farm laborers. At the same time, with the development of the economy in the village, a significant detachment of agricultural workers was formed, employed on plantations and farms.
Agriculture provides 45% of the value of agricultural products. The main agricultural region is the mountainous region in the north and northwest of Venezuela. There are 2/3 of all arable land here, including most of the large plantations and peasant farms. In Llanos, agriculture is developed mainly at the foot of the Andes and in some places along the rivers. The scourge of this area is droughts, and in this regard, the government is implementing a 30-year plan for the development of water management here, which provides for the construction of dams and irrigation of 2 million hectares of land.
More than 20% of the total cultivated area is occupied by the main export crops - coffee and cocoa. The best coffee comes from the Northwest Mountain States. High quality cocoa is produced in the states of the Caribbean coast. The plantings of cotton, which gives two crops a year, as well as sisal and tobacco, have grown noticeably, including in Llanos. The main food crops are corn (30% of all cultivated areas), rice, cassava, potatoes, yams, legumes, bananas, sugar cane, peanuts and other oilseeds. Various vegetables and fruits are grown.
3.6 Livestock
Livestock, whose main industry is cattle breeding, accounts for 55% of the value of agricultural products. The main livestock region of the country has long been considered Llanos, where up to 5 million head of cattle and 200-300 thousand horses graze.
The main areas of dairy farming are the basins of the Maracaibo and Valencia lakes and the Caracas valley. Here, in contrast to Llanos, where livestock is mainly owned by the owners of huge cattle-breeding latifundia, most of the livestock farms are medium-sized and large farms. Farms appeared in the same areas supplying the cities with eggs and beaten poultry. On the arid Caribbean coast and in the state of Lara, goats and sheep are raised. In general, over the past 10-15 years, animal husbandry has developed faster than agriculture. The share of large-scale farms using modern methods of cattle care and equipment has grown significantly.
On the northern coast of Venezuela and in the lake. Maracaibo has developed fisheries (but the most valuable product of marine fisheries is shrimp). The importance of forestry has declined. However, small quantities of tannins are collected, rubber, guayabum, vanilla, as well as copay balsam and other products of the rainforest used in medicine and perfumery are collected.
3.7 Transport
Transport routes are extremely unevenly distributed throughout Venezuela: almost all railways and most of the highways are concentrated in the north and northwest. The total length of the railways is about 1.4 thousand km, but they are short, unconnected lines. Almost all passenger and 75% of freight traffic falls on road transport. In 1997, the total length of highways was about 71 thousand km (including about half - with hard surface).
The main internal waterway of the country is r. Orinoco. The total length of navigable routes along it and its tributaries is 12 thousand km. There is also a boat service on the Valencia and Maracaibo lakes. There are developed cabotage services along the sea coast, which partly make up for the lack of overland communications. Venezuela's ocean-going merchant fleet ranks third in Latin America in terms of total displacement. The country has more than a hundred sea, lake and river ports, including 23 ports for the export of oil and oil products (Maracaibo, Amuay, La Salina, Caripito, Puerto de la Cruz, etc.) and 8 for export and import of other goods. The main import ports are La Guaira, Puertoio, Maracaibo.
Air transport has acquired particular importance for the development and development of the remote, previously almost inaccessible eastern and southern regions of the country. Regular flights connect the capital with a large number of cities, with oil fields in Llanos and mining centers on the Guiana Plateau. The country has about fifty airfields, more than 200 landing sites and eight international airports.
4 Culture
The Spanish conquerors brought their language, customs, religion, architecture to the New World. The influence of Spanish culture in Venezuela is reflected in everything - from the names and appearance of cities to music and entertainment. However, Venezuelan culture is the result of many influences. And the most significant of these, besides Spanish, were Indian and African. Many place names in the country are of Arawak (Paraguana, Kumarebo), Caribbean (Cumana, Piritu) and other Indian origin, and such as Ganga, Birongo, Taria are of African origin. The names of the states speak of the same: Barinas, Sulia, Tachira are Indian names, Ansoategi, Myrida, Miranda are Spanish, and Monagas is associated with African influence.
The Spanish settlers adopted from the local Indians their agricultural skills, methods of obtaining and cooking food, borrowed many elements of their life and housing, methods of healing and even some superstitions, etc. hunting, labor skills and customs that they passed on to their children. Until now, for example, peasants in some parts of Venezuela use Indian methods of fishing, hunting for an iguana or armadillo, cooking some dishes, as well as "American bread" - cassabe. The hammock has become a bed and a rocking chair for the Venezuelan. The peasant often uses canoes and pirogues as a means of transport, while the llanero catches cattle with a lasso.
Native American languages have had a significant impact on the vocabulary, phonetics and syntax of the Spanish language in Venezuela. It contains up to three thousand Indian words. Some of them are widely used in the works of Venezuelan prose writers and poets. The Indian influence is still very noticeable in Venezuelan folk art and oral folk art. The image of the Indian appears in many folk dramas and pantomimes. The popular folk dance "mare-mare" dates back to the ancient Indian ritual dance in honor of the ancient deities of the Jaguar and the Moon. Another popular dance is of Indian origin - "toure". Many Indian tales (everyday and about animals), legends and tales have passed into modern Venezuelan folklore.
4.1 Influence of Africans and Europeans on culture
African slaves brought to Venezuela many features of the culture of their homeland, which was reflected in the language, and in the peculiarities of cuisine and everyday life, and in folklore. Black slaves performed almost all types of work, and this contributed to the vitality of labor skills and techniques that came from Africa. Some dishes of Venezuelan peasants trace their origin directly from Africa, while Africans have only made some changes to other local dishes. So, mestizos, following the example of the Africans, began to add coconut milk to the widespread corn porridge (masamorra) here.
The Africans, on the other hand, introduced cambour, a banana leaf wrapper, and the use of bananas for making treats.
More than one generation of Venezuelans was brought up on African tales about Uncle Rabbit and Uncle Jaguar. Certain Catholic holidays in rural areas have a distinct African influence. For example, the celebrations on the day of St. John are essentially a solstice festival, which has long been merged here with the Catholic cult. They usually play African instruments on this day. The popular festivals of the devil and the devils in Venezuela originate from the Congo.
Finally, Africans and Indians had similar cultural and everyday features, such as the use of palm leaves in the construction of housing, like a pylon - a mortar for grain, a drum, or maraca, some customs. All these similarities of different cultures have merged on Venezuelan soil and have survived to this day.
In addition, over the past century and a half, Venezuelan culture has absorbed some new elements that came both from other - in addition to Spain - European countries, and from the United States. In particular, in the last decades of the 19th century. many Venezuelans, mainly in cities, tried to speak French, prepared French food, followed French fashion. In the second half of the XX century. a stream of North American newspapers and magazines, bestsellers, films, records, etc. poured in here. The widespread immigration into the country in the 1940s and 1950s by Italians and Portuguese undoubtedly also influenced the development of Venezuelan culture.
4.2 Rural population
The rural population lives mainly in villages. Almost every village has a square, in the center of which there is usually a giant tree - seiba. Peasant houses, as a rule, are adobe buildings, covered with tiles or palm leaves. The floor - earthen or cemented - covered with mats. The Guarani Indians living in the swampy Orinoco Delta, and the Indians on the shores of Lake. Maracaibo huts are built on stilts.
The furnishings of a rural dwelling are usually very modest: a table, chairs, kitchen utensils. Beds are rare here, as it is cooler to sleep outside in an amaka, a thick fabric hammock. In Venezuela, almost the entire rural population uses it. In the courtyard there is a small hearth for cooking from stones coated with clay. The house is usually surrounded by a hedge of cacti, yellow acacia bushes and other plants. Often there is a vegetable garden with beds of sweet potatoes, peppers, beans and, of course, cassava. In rural dwellings and small shops in Venezuelan cities, you can always see stacks of large, grayish-white, fragile tortillas made from cassava. This is kasabe. The Gauhiro Indians prefer boiled and fried cassava.
But most of the traditional dishes are made with corn. These are corn tortillas - arepa, aljakita - fried corn and aliaq flour - a typical national and almost ritual dish, as it is eaten only at Christmas and New Years. People in the villages also love sankoche - a stew of beef and vegetables, chichu - a strong drink made from corn. An important place in the diet of a peasant family is occupied by beans, yams, potatoes, sweet potatoes, as well as bananas, papaya and other tropical fruits, the use of which is very diverse. Also popular are kartiljo - a soft drink made from rice or corn cooked with sugar, and guarapo - sugarcane juice. In many areas, farmers supplement their diet with fish and bushmeat. They hunt armadillos, hares, pigeons and ducks, iguanas and turtles.
A Venezuelan peasant is usually dressed in a white cotton shirt and matching pants. A short cape is put on over the shirt in cool weather. A sombrero, woven of straw or grass "put", must be worn on the head from the scorching sun. On the horns of the alpargatas there are wicker shoes that look like bast shoes. Women wear wide long dresses, and sometimes a scarf is thrown over the sombrero. In the last decade, however, villagers have increasingly begun to wear shirts, trousers and jackets of European cut, which have long been common in the city. At the same time, in areas where Africans live, clothes of very bright colors predominate, especially red.
One of the favorite shows of Venezuelans is bullfighting. Previously, cockfighting was held everywhere in the country, but in the past and five years baseball has gained immense popularity in the country, and it can be called the main sport. Football and hippodrome racing are very popular. Venezuelans love music and dance. In towns and villages, you can see and hear the guarachas - Venezuelan songs and dances performed at a fast pace to the accompaniment of a quatro - a four-string guitar, and sometimes an accord. Among the many celebrations, the carnival stands out, usually lasting ten days, filled with fun and dancing. The streets and squares these days are flooded with crowds of people in folk costumes, animal masks, ornaments made of feathers, ribbons and shiny tinsel.
4.3 "Country" Indians
In the villages, mestizos and especially Indians are engaged in handicrafts - they weave mats, belts, hammocks from grass fibers and palm leaves, produce colorful fabrics with images of domestic and wild animals, birds and plants on homemade looms. To store water and food, vessels of various shapes are made from clay. The dishes made of hollowed out fruits of the bottle tree are decorated with fine carvings. In the city markets you can find skillfully made handicrafts: fancifully painted pipes, carved walking sticks, ceramics with beautiful ornaments. With the money raised, the peasants buy various household items, agricultural implements, factory-made clothing and other manufactured goods.
"Civilized" Indians, as a rule, live in a community and are bilingual: in everyday life, communicating with each other, they speak their own language, and when dealing with the "outside world" - in Spanish. Their main occupation is agriculture. Men are engaged in soil preparation and sowing, women are engaged in harvesting, but outdated methods of tillage are the reason for low yields. The Indians are also engaged in handicrafts, hunting, fishing, picking wild fruits, raising pigs and poultry.
The community helps the Indians to preserve not only their lands, but also some ethnic traits. However, although the land is considered to be communal property, it is cultivated by groups of several families, and this system is gradually giving way to the actual division of communal land into individual plots.
The Guajiro Indians, driven back to the desert peninsula of Guajira, are forced to dig wells up to 10 m deep to provide themselves with water. Due to constant droughts, agriculture is poorly developed in them and is limited to small areas under corn and cassava. The main occupations of guahiro were cattle breeding, turtle fishing, and crafts. They sell leather and other goods in Maracaibo, as well as on the islands of Aruba and Curacao.
4.4 "Forest" Indians
The "unassimilated" or "forest" Indians live mainly in the mountain forests of the state of Zulia bordering Colombia and on the Guiana Plateau. The main occupation of the motilons living in the forests of the Sierra de Perija is slash-and-burn agriculture. But unlike most other tribes, the Motilons are almost unfamiliar with corn. They grow cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas. The most important food product is fish.
In the forests and savannahs of the Guiana Plateau, along the banks of the rivers, you can find settlements of Indians of the Caribbean language family scattered at a distance from each other - the Makiritare, Karinya, Yavarana, Pemon, and Panare tribes. The Indians of these tribes are distinguished by their large stature and lighter skin. The makiritare tribes are at the stage of decay of the primitive communal system. Among them, European-style clothing and modern tools are becoming increasingly widespread. The Piaroa Indians leading a semi-nomadic lifestyle, as well as the Indians of the Arawakan language family - Guaibokuibo, Curripako, Guar-kena and others - are smaller and hardly wear any clothes. For hunting, they use not only bows, but also arrow-throwing tubes up to 3 m long, as well as small arrows smeared with curare poison. One of the earliest aborigines of this area - the Yanoama Indians, or Wika - are divided into a number of tribes and lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Most of them are engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture, hunting, fishing. A feature of their settlements is the large houses - "maloki" or "shabono". The number of relatives living in them often exceeds 100 people.
But although the Indians of Venezuelan Guayana as a whole still retain their traditional way of life, modern civilization and culture are increasingly penetrating this region of the country. Some of the Indians are assimilated by the newcomer population and are gradually losing some elements of their original culture. Among them, modern skills in building houses, new tools, European clothing, utensils, etc. are spreading.
4.5 Education
Venezuela has long had a law on free and compulsory primary education, but still 25% of the population over 15 years old is illiterate, and hundreds of thousands of children are left out of school. Higher education is almost inaccessible to the working people. Government spending on education is less than 5% of national income.
Of the six universities in the country, the oldest are the Central in Caracas (founded in 1725) and the Andean in Merida (1785). There is also a Catholic university, pedagogical and other institutes. Back in the 19th century. were founded by the National Library, the Venezuelan Academy of Language, the National Academy of History, in the first half of the XX century. - National Medical Academy, Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Association for the Promotion of Science, in 1960 - Institute for Economic and Social Research, etc. There are a number of scientific societies and museums.
For a passport; valid passport; payment of the fee; return air ticket or ticket to a third country; a postal envelope with a stamp and its own return address, if the tourist sends the application by mail; characteristics from the place of work and from the bank. To obtain a business visa, all of the above is necessary, only instead of characteristics from the place of work and from the bank, you need to submit a letter from the employer, ...
... (coffee, cocoa, sugarcane, sisal, soy, oranges, bananas, pineapples, etc.). The second large state in this region - Argentina - is one of the most economically developed countries in Latin America (especially if we bear in mind its high per capita indicators). The accelerated development of the manufacturing industry (metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemistry) in recent decades has significantly ...
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Venezuela is one of the largest states on the South American continent. It includes several islands in the Caribbean Sea, the largest of which is called Margarita. A country with an area of 916 thousand square meters. km it shares borders with Brazil and Colombia. As of early 2017, the population barely reached 31 million.
The federal republic, headed by the president of 21 states. The majority of the population are Venezuelans (descendants of Indians and Spaniards) - 67%, Europeans - 21%, blacks - 10%.
Climate and natural conditions
The central part is represented by a low-lying flat area with the Orinoco River. The Caribbean Andes, the Cordillera de Merida ridge stretch from north to west, and part of the Guinea Plateau rises in the southeast.
The climate is hot subequatorial. Most of the year, the north of the country suffers from drought, while rainy seasons are frequent in the central regions.
The vegetation cover is rich and varied: mangroves, xerophytic-succulent woodlands, dry tall-grass savannas, deciduous tropical forests, gilea, etc.
Economic development of Venezuela
Few people know that the described Latin American country is the first oil exporter. In the 16th century, the first barrel of black gold crossed half the world on its way to Madrid. In the 17th-18th centuries, the main export items were indigo and sugar, a little later - cocoa and coffee. In 1922, one of the largest oil fields was found near Lake Maracaibo in the village of Cabimas, which marked the beginning of the oil boom and brought about dramatic changes in the Venezuelan economy.
The location of the fields in close proximity to the sea, the low standard of living of the population (cheap labor) and the high potential of the wells provoked an active interest of the oil companies. During the Second World War, new deposits were found and put into operation; a few years later, their total area reached 68 thousand square meters. km.
In the lower reaches, the largest deposits of iron ore were discovered, the development of which was immediately intercepted by the American monopolists. As of 1970, the volume of foreign investment in the development of the Venezuelan economy amounted to 5.5 billion dollars. 11% of this amount belonged to the United States.
1975-1980 the state took a leading position in economic development in Latin America. The infrastructure began to develop actively.
A crucial step on the road to independence and national sovereignty was the nationalization of the oil and iron ore industries. Venezuela's economy was now underpinned by complete government control. In most industries, foreign companies were asked to transfer 80% of the shares to the citizens of the country within three years.
Import and export
Experts say that 50% of Venezuela's economy is foreign trade. The lion's share of sales falls on oil and related products, iron ore is in demand. The list for export includes coffee, cocoa, asbestos, gold, sugar, bananas, rice, skins, livestock, timber.
Priority items of import are high-tech equipment, vehicles and components, raw materials and supplies for oil pipelines, industrial goods for general consumption. Food imports are increasing every year, since agriculture is in decline and is unable to meet the needs of the population. Most of the cost of purchases comes from the United States - more than $ 3.5 billion a year.
Extractive industry
The main product of the mining industry is iron ore. In the large deposits of El Pao, San Isidro and Cerro Bolivar, the fossil is quarried and contains up to 70% iron. Its annual production is 15-17 million tons, 90% of this amount is exported to America and Europe.
In the area of Upata mined In the Caribbean Andes, nickel, lead, zinc, asbestos, silver are mined in small quantities. In the suburban area of San Cristobal, phosphorite ores are being mined.
Underway in El Callao. Diamond production is also actively gaining momentum here (700-800 thousand carats per year). In the basin of the Kuchivero River, a large deposit of precious stones was discovered and was accompanied by a diamond rush. For several years in a row, Venezuela has been the largest diamond supplier among Latin American countries.
Manufacturing industry
According to general information on the Venezuelan economy, until 2013, its oil refining, chemical and machine-building industries developed at a rapid pace. Nevertheless, more than 50% of the value of the gross product is provided by the textile, food, woodworking and leather and footwear industries.
The development of the largest deposits of iron ore gave impetus to the development of the metallurgical industry. On the territory of the state, there are several full-cycle plants with blast-furnace electric furnaces, aluminum plants, etc.
Production
The development of mechanical engineering is based on the car assembly industry. The Venezuelan economy can be briefly described as receiving support from factories for the production of agricultural implements, tractors, construction equipment, tools, etc. Companies that manufacture television and radio equipment are developing. Large-scale construction in the mining, oil and manufacturing industries stimulates the creation of production sites for the production of building materials.
Livestock
Cattle breeding determines the value of agricultural products by 55%. Farms are concentrated in Llanos.
The dairy farming area is the Caracas Valley, the Valencia and Maracaibo river basins. In the same areas, bird purveyors supply the cities with eggs and meat. The arid Caribbean coast (Lara state) is famous for the largest goat and sheep farms. Over the past 15 years, the livestock sector has made significant progress in comparison with the crop sector. The mass share of large farms using modern methods of raising and caring for animals has increased.
Fishing is developed in the northern part of the country (the coast of Venezuela. Today, tiger prawns - the most valuable and revered product by gourmets) have a positive impact on the Venezuelan economy.
Forestry is not given much importance. Procurement of tannins, vanilla, guayabum gum and rubber used in perfumery and pharmacology is carried out in minimal quantities.
Plant growing
The state has a record amount of land suitable for cultivation in Latin America. Only a third of them are processed. According to the latest data from the Venezuelan economy, crop production is recognized as the most backward industry.
45% of the value of agricultural products comes from agriculture. 2/3 of arable land is concentrated in the north of the country. In Llanos, crop production is developed along the rivers and at the foot of the Andes. The area's problem is severe droughts. In order to solve the problem, the government has developed a plan for creating a water economy for the next 30 years with the construction of dams and the organization of an irrigation system for 2 million hectares of land.
One fifth of the area is occupied by the main export crops - cocoa and coffee. The raw material for a fragrant invigorating drink grows in the mountainous states of the northwest. The raw materials for most of the world's chocolates are collected in the states of the Caribbean. In Llanos, crops of cotton, tobacco and sisal have grown over the past 8-10 years.
Transport
Throughout Venezuela, communication routes are unevenly distributed. The maximum concentration of highways and railways is in the north. The latter are short, unconnected lines with a length of 1.4 thousand km. Passenger and ¾ freight transport is carried out by road.
The Orinoco River is the main inland waterway, steamship traffic is maintained along the lakes of Maracaibo and Valencia. The shortage and poor quality of land routes are compensated by coastal shipping by sea. In terms of scale, the ocean merchant fleet is one of the three leaders in South America. For the export of oil and related products, 23 ports are equipped, for the export and import of other goods - 8 more.
The organization of air traffic with remote southern and eastern regions is of particular importance for the Venezuelan economy. Regular airlines connect the capital with major cities, oil fields and mining centers.
Economic crisis
2013 was a fateful year for the Venezuelan economy. The crisis has affected all spheres of state life. Only high prices for the main exported commodity - oil - saved from default. At the beginning of the year before Maduro came to power, the country's public debt was 70% of GDP, with a budget deficit of 14%. At the end of 2013, inflation was 56.3%. In this situation, the parliament has endowed the new president with extraordinary powers. To meet the expectations of millions of voters, the guarantor announced an economic offensive, which introduced a 30% limit on the profits of private enterprises. There is an acute shortage of essential goods in the country - sugar, oil, toilet paper. Government officials unanimously stated that the reason for the collapse of the Venezuelan economy was corruption, speculation, sabotage and the ongoing financial war against the state. Maduro initiated an anti-speculation program. After a month of operation of the new service, the Daka retail chain was nationalized. For establishing a mark-up on goods of 100% instead of the permissible 30%, the property and management of supermarkets were arrested.
2015: falling oil prices
In 2014, Venezuela's economy, which was successfully moving towards recovery from the crisis, was shaken by another blow. World oil prices fell sharply. Compared to the previous year, the income from the export of black gold decreased by 1/3. In an effort to cut the budget deficit, the Central Bank is issuing more bills, leading to inflation of 150% (official data as of September 2015). In another attempt to contain inflation, the government is developing a complex system of currency exchange. A week later, the official dollar rate exceeded the market rate by more than 100 times. Adhering to the ideology of Chavism, the parliament, headed by the president, limited food prices, which provoked a total shortage of essential goods.
2016: the situation worsens
In January, left-wing socialist Luis Salas was appointed to the post of head of the Ministry of Economy. To match other members of Maduro's administrative apparatus, the official sees the cause of Venezuela's economic problems in the conspiracy and financial war of Europe against his homeland.
According to the IMF, in 2016 the level of GDP decline is approaching 20%, unemployment is growing rapidly - 25%, the budget deficit is 18% of GDP. Inflation of 550%, combined with external debt exceeding $ 130 billion, is pushing the Venezuelan economy towards default every day.
The highest denomination banknote - 100 bolivars - costs 17 US cents. Hyperinflation negates the purchasing power of citizens. A basic food basket for a family costs eight minimum wages, according to the local Center for Documentation and Analysis (Cendas).
Our days: the causes of the crisis
The main factors that provoked economic destabilization are structural and political foundations, in particular, dependence on imports, a sharp drop in the world oil price, as well as total state control over the production and distribution of food products.
In connection with the worsening economic situation in Venezuela in the first decade of 2017 and the refusal of President Maduro to hold a referendum on changes in the political course of the state, massive protests were held in major cities. More than a million citizens, dissatisfied with the actions of the authorities, took to the central streets with demands to bring essential products to the shops - flour, eggs, milk, medicines.
The opposition accuses the current head of state of following the anti-social laws of the dictator Hugo Chavez, which led to a deep crisis, which will be exacerbated by the decline in oil prices. In turn, Nicholas Maduro accuses the country's aristocracy of boycotting the economy to achieve their goals through corruption.
The relief of the country is predominantly mountainous, although there are also vast plains. There are four main geographic regions: mountainous region Andes in the north-east of the country (the highest mountain range is the Sierra Nevada, or Cordillera de Merida), a depression surrounded on three sides by mountains Maracaibo(the lake of the same name is located there), Guiana highlands in the south and the area of tall grass savannas Llanos... The main river of the country is Orinoco river, originates on the Guiana Plateau, and forms a huge delta at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean south of Trinindad Island.
Most of the major cities are located in the mountains along the Caribbean coast. This is due to the fact that the coastal lowland has a too hot and arid climate, and living conditions improve with distance from the coast. Agricultural areas of the country with fertile lands (Valencia depression, Tui river valley) are located in a depression between the ridges of the Coastal Sierra, reaching an altitude of 2150-2700 m. But, on the other hand, above 1800 m the climate is much cooler (closer to the climate of temperate latitudes), living conditions are worse and farming is difficult. Therefore, all major cities are located at an altitude of 600 to 1850 m above sea level. In the northeast, where there is a lot of rainfall, the influence of man is not very noticeable: the mountain slopes are covered with dense tropical forests, and only in small cleared areas there are cocoa plantations.
Climate... Due to the sufficient proximity to the equator, temperatures vary little throughout the year and depend primarily on the altitude of the area above sea level. Nevertheless, in most of the country, the weather changes noticeably throughout the year: from May to November there is a rainy season, characterized by calm weather. The dry season lasts from December to April, at which time strong trade winds blow. Precipitation varies from 280 mm on the Caribbean coast to 2000 mm or more. Most rainfall occurs at the southern tip of Lake Maracaibo, as well as on the windward slopes of the mountains and on the Guiana Plateau.
Flora... The territory of Venezuela, like most of the countries of South America, is diverse in absolute heights, the amount of precipitation and other environmental conditions. This explains the heterogeneity of the vegetation cover and richness of flora countries: tropical rain forests, areas overgrown with grasses, shrubs and cacti ... The most interesting from the floristic point of view is a small area that occupies the flat tops of the Serra Pacaraima sandstone mountains along the southern border of the country. A lot of heather, madder, bromeliads and cypress grows here, which are not found anywhere else.
Venezuela
1. "BUSINESS CARD".
1.1. Territory and location.
The country's territory is 916.5 thousand square meters. km. The country is located in the north of South America. It is washed by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Brazil, Guyana and Colombia. The length of the Caribbean coast is 2,700 km. Venezuela has 72 islands.
Capital: Caracas, founded in 1567
Population: 25 million people, mostly of Indian-Spanish descent, accounting for about 60%. The rest of the population: 21% - whites (Spaniards, Italians, etc.), Negroes - 10%, Indians - 2%. The country is home to more than 3 million foreigners - immigrants from Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy, Portugal.
State language: Spanish, English is also widespread.
1.2. Form of government and administrative - territorial structure
Venezuela is a federal republic. It includes 22 states, a federal district (Caracas) and federal estates - 72 islands.
Executive power is exercised by the president, who is at the head of the government. The current President of Venezuela is Hugo Chavez.
1.3. State symbols (coat of arms, flag)
2. ECONOMIC - AND POLITICAL-GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
2.1. Economic - and poly-geographic situation in the sub-region and the region where the country is located
From the early 1920s to the late 1960s, the oil industry grew rapidly. Oil provided more than 90% of Venezuela's export earnings and 60% of government revenues, accounting for nearly 25% of GDP. It is oil that explains the large volume of foreign investment. Taxes and various deductions paid by the oil industry have enabled an extensive public works program and loans to many private entrepreneurs. Foreign exchange earnings from oil exports make it possible to purchase abroad not only consumer goods, but also industrial goods in sufficient volume, which contributes to the rapid growth of production. In 1973-1974, oil prices on the world market increased, and, consequently, Venezuela's revenues from oil exports increased by 400%. This provided the government with the means to carry out ambitious plans, including the development of agriculture, hydropower and new branches of heavy industry, especially metallurgy; the construction of industrial enterprises was supposed to be in the eastern part of Venezuela - in Ciudad Guayana and other cities. It is important for the Venezuelan government to understand that today the country needs to gradually abandon the export of raw materials, delve into the process of processing products, and develop scientific and technical industries. As a result, Venezuela has a good chance of becoming not a developing, but a developed country.
Venezuela is one of the countries in which leaders changed very often, various debates were held, in a word, it is a country with a rather interesting political history. Legislative power, in accordance with the new constitution, belongs to the unicameral National Assembly. Its deputies are not elected anonymously for a term of five years, according to party lists, but personally, according to a proportional system, based on a quota of one deputy from 1.1% of the total population of the country. In addition, three more deputies are elected from each state. Seats are allocated for representatives of Indian communities. Deputies can only be elected for two terms; they are required to report once a year to the voters in their constituency and may be early recalled.
Voters are considered to be all Venezuelans who have reached the age of eighteen and are not deprived of state and political rights. Under the new constitution, the military received the right to vote. It is permissible to hold public office from the age of twenty-one.
2.2. Land neighbors: the level of their socio-economic development, the nature of relations with them
Brazil is Venezuela's main neighbor.
The main sectors of the Brazilian economy:
Mechanical engineering concentrated in the country's two main industrial complexes - Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Transport engineering (automobile and shipbuilding) is of the greatest importance. The shipbuilding industry is developing at a faster pace than other industries and has about 20 shipyards. All major shipyards are located in Guanabara Bay.
Aircraft construction... The Embraer company, founded by the state and originally producing small aircraft, now exports aircraft of various types. These days, the government encourages the development of the microelectronics industries and the production of personal computers.
Agriculture... Since the middle of the 20th century. the share of agriculture in the gross national product began to decline. Today, less than a third of the economically active population is employed in this industry (30%). Brazil is self-sufficient in food self-sufficiency. She grows rice, coffee, sugarcane, corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, cocoa and other crops.
The second and one of the main neighbors is Colombia.
Key indicators of economic development:
For much of the 20th century, the Colombian economy was based on agriculture, with coffee as the leading crop and the main legal export. However, in recent decades, the role of agriculture has gradually begun to decline, and by 1996 it accounted for 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP), and by 2003, agriculture accounted for 13%, industry accounted for 30%, and services accounted for - 57%. Export receipts in 2002 amounted to $ 12.9 billion.
Colombia is a developing country of the agro-industrial type with significant reserves of oil (3rd place in Latin America), gas, coal (1st place in Latin America), iron and copper ores, gold and platinum. It accounts for about 90% of the world's emerald production.