Venezuela geographical position and nature. The main characteristics of Venezuela: territory, population, natural resources, industrial potential
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Prepared
There are relatively few monuments of ancient Indian culture in Venezuela: rock paintings, stone blocks with images of jaguars, crocodiles, snakes, symbols of the Sun and Moon, engraved and painted ceramics.
The Spaniards brought their urban art. Cities in the colonial era were divided according to the principle of a chessboard, residential buildings were built of stone and brick, with tiled roofs, patios, wooden balconies and metal patterned bars on the windows. Painting was limited to church paintings. In the 19th century public buildings and apartment buildings in the classical and neo-gothic styles were built, a local school of portraiture, and later historical painting and sculpture, appeared. In the XX century. realistic painting (T. Salas, F. Brandt, G. Brachoi, and other graphic arts (A. Gonzalez) and sculpture (F. Narvaez) arose and then began to dominate.
In architecture, already in the 40-50s, first in connection with the restructuring of the center, and then the construction of new quarters of Caracas, but especially in the 60s and 70s, during the period of rapid economic development, the growth of old and the construction of new cities and industrial companies, a group of talented architects and rectors came forward: K. R. Villanueva, G. Bermudez, X. M. Galia, S. Dominguez and others.
In the process of intense search for their own, national style, synthesis of innovative and traditional, they created unique structures and entire ensembles of buildings in these decades, distinguished by original architectural solutions, novelty of forms using monolithic and prefabricated concrete structures and polychromy. These are the Centro Bolívar (Center of Simon Bolívar) with the multi-tiered Plaza el Silencio (Plaza of Silence), as well as one of the largest and most beautiful campuses on the continent, designed by Villanueva. Located in the center of the capital, it is separated from its hustle and bustle by the Botanical Garden. Buildings of faculties and dormitories, two stadiums and swimming pools are distinguished by a variety of volumes, beauty of forms and immersed in greenery. A bold design solution, alternation of transparent and lattice walls, fine detailing of facades, colored panels, mosaics and sculpture make the university complex in Caracas a notable phenomenon in world architecture.
It is impossible not to mention the "Elikoid" architects X. Romero and D. Bornost. Roca Tarpeya, a large hill with a rock to the west of the university campus, was turned into a complex structure, resembling from a distance a pyramid surrounded by a spiral highway. It is a commercial and cultural center with shops, cafes and restaurants, exhibitions, a cinema, playgrounds, a hotel and a TV station.
The mountainous terrain and the high cost of land in Caracas make it necessary to build administrative, business and residential buildings of 20-30 and even 40 floors, for which Caracas is now often called the South American New York. And when from the round tower of the Humboldt Hotel on the top of Mount Avila you see below a huge city built up with hundreds of white, blue, pink high-rise buildings, it is hard to believe that back in 1952 there were almost no houses higher than four floors.
Venezuelan architects have managed to give a national character to architecture that is absolutely modern in figurative language, making it an important and integral part of their national culture.
Unlike the capital Maracaibo, Valencia, Barquisimeto and other old cities tend to retain the Spanish rectangular layout, but they, not to mention the new industrial cities, also have dozens of modern business and public high-rise buildings.
The ideas of the French enlighteners of the 18th century had a great influence on the formation of Venezuelan literature. and journalism of the leaders of the War of Independence F. Miranda and S. Bolivar. In the first decades of the republic, enlightenment classicism prevailed in literature, the most prominent representatives of which were the public figure and poet A. Bello, the prose writer F. Thoreau, and the poet R. M. Baralt. In the 40-80s, romanticism dominated it, and at the end of the 19th century. a realistic trend appeared (R. Blanco Fombona, X. R. Pocaterra, and others). At the beginning of the XX century. modernism flourishes, which in the 20-30s is replaced by futurism and other fashion trends. But at the same time, under the influence of the democratic and revolutionary movement, a critical-realist trend arises and grows stronger: R. Gallegos (in Russian translation of the novels Doña Barbara and Canaima). M. Brisegno Irragorri, M. Otero Silva. A. Uslar Pietri and many others paint a broad picture of the life of the people in their works.
The periodical press has existed in the country since the 19th century. At present, the largest newspapers are El Nacional, El Mundo, El Universal, and others.
The first theater in Venezuela was opened only in 1853 in Maracaibo. In the XX century. theatrical life intensified in connection with the emergence of sinete - a genre of musical comedy. In the early 40s, the Society of Friends of the Theater arose, in the 50s several schools of performing arts opened and theater festivals began to be held. There are permanent theaters in several cities. Movies in the country are shown mainly foreign. Few full-length feature films are produced, the rest are documentaries or promotional films.
Regions
5.1 Caracas - the pearl of Venezuela
Founded by the Spaniards in 1567, the city of Caracas (which means "valley of singing birds") by 1941 had 269 thousand inhabitants. In the next third of the century, its population grew 10 times! Now it is a large modern city, the largest cultural, financial and industrial center of the country, numbering 3 million inhabitants with its suburbs. Here are the National Congress, the presidential palace of Miraflores, the seat of government, the pantheon with the ashes of Bolivar, the Central University and other higher educational institutions, museums, theaters, editorial offices of major newspapers. In the capital and its environs, enterprises of metalworking, car assembly, electrical engineering, chemical, printing, textile and clothing, leather footwear, food and other industries are concentrated. Caracas accounts for 2/5 of Venezuela's domestic trade and its manufacturing products.
The city lies in the river valley. Guairy, between two parallel ridges of the Caribbean Andes, at an altitude of 900-1000 m above sea level. seas. Protected by the mountains from the sultry south and north winds, it has a very healthy and, moreover, almost unchanged climate throughout the year, for which Caracas is called the city of eternal spring. To the north, like the blue-green guardian of the capital, rises the forested Peak of Avila. A low pass (1040 m) separates Caracas from its port - La Guaira, located on the Caribbean coast. There are 13 km in a straight line between them, but the northern slope of the Veregovoy Range is so steep that the Venezuelans jokingly called the old highway connecting the capital with the sea "the last blow of the bullfighter", because hundreds of its loops and turns were able to finish off the most persistent passenger. In the 50s, two tunnels were cut through the ridge, a state-of-the-art freeway was built, and now the entire trip from the coast to Caracas takes 20 minutes. To the east of La Guaira, through which 3/4 of the country's imports pass, stretches a strip of beaches - the Venezuelan Riviera, and to the west on the coast is the international airport of Maiquetia.
In the post-war decades, major work was carried out to rebuild Caracas. Entire blocks of old houses were destroyed. A new multi-kilometer Bolivar Avenue stretches almost through the entire capital. In the western part of it rises Centro Bolívar - two skyscrapers connected to each other above the roadway of the avenue with underground galleries, shops and garages. Huge buildings of the military academy, university campus, high-rise residential buildings and buildings made of glass and steel were built, which housed the boards and branches of foreign and local banks, commercial and industrial firms, hotels, shops. A new "two-story" Liberator Avenue appeared, in the middle of which a freeway without crossings runs through a concreted channel deepened by 4-5 m into the ground, connecting the western part of the capital with the eastern one. Numerous two- or three-tier reinforced concrete flyovers and tunnels have been built for highways that cut through the city in all directions and are filled with a continuous stream of vehicles. "Caracas is more a city of cars than a city of people," notes the Swedish writer Arthur Lundqvist, "Motorways here do not turn into streets: they unceremoniously crash into the city and pierce it through and through..."
Caracas lacks structural unity. It has several centers and many suburbs. In his appearance, features of different eras are visible. Often, modern high-rise buildings are neighbors of ancient buildings, churches and mansions.
Wide boulevards, squares and parks give the city a colorful look. Magnificent mansions and palaces, surrounded by decorative trees, palm trees and cacti, flower beds and lawns, chic restaurants and sparkling nightclubs, tennis courts and swimming pools - all this is a very special world where the local rich live.
At the same time, the suburbs of the capital are a sea of hopeless poverty. These are "ranch" quarters - slums, often without even running water. Here, on the slopes of the mountains, in houses built from construction waste, many thousands of residents of the capital live: former peasants who have lost their land and homes, and immigrants. Here, at every step, foreign speech sounds, most often Italian.
.2 Northwest Venezuela
If you leave Caracas on the Venezuelan branch of the Pan American Highway, then, without turning anywhere to the side, you can visit almost all the most important cities in the northwest of the country. 80 km from the capital, in a fertile valley occupied by plantations of citrus fruits, coffee and sugar cane, lies the main city of the state of Aragua - Maracay. In the first third of the XX century. it housed the residence of the dictator V. Gomez. It houses a large garrison, an aviation school and the main base of the Venezuelan Air Force. Industry - textile, leather, food, ceramics.
Further, on the shores of the lake of the same name, Valencia (about 400 thousand inhabitants) is located - the center of a rich agricultural region and the main city of the state of Carabobo. Until recently, with narrow streets, churches and buildings of the colonial era, this city was embossed with old Spain. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, industrial production rapidly developed in it, and now there are enterprises in the machine-building, metal and woodworking, textile, leather and footwear, food, and cement industries.
The main city of the state of Lara - Barquisimeto has over 300 thousand inhabitants. It is an important industrial center for the processing of agricultural raw materials and trade in coffee, cocoa, sugar, cereals, livestock, as well as a major transshipment point between the rich agricultural area surrounding the city and one of the main ports of the country - Puerto Cabello. Located to the southwest, in a mountain basin, the city of Trujillo also has enterprises that process local agricultural raw materials. Their products are sent mainly to the cities of the lake basin. Maracaibo.
At the city of Valera, the road forks: the Pan-American Highway goes up to the southwest. There, high in the Andes, is the ancient religious and university center of Mérida, reminiscent of a corner of Castile with its white fortress towers and monasteries. And finally, almost at the very border is San Cristobal, which conducts a very lively trade with the border region of Colombia.
.3 Lake Maracaibo
The highway, which descends from the city of Valera to the northwest, enters the wide lowland surrounding the lake. Maracaibo is the second most important region of the country, practically including only one state of Zulia. It occupies approximately 7% of the territory of Venezuela, but 14% of its population lives in it. The climate is hot and humid. A significant part of the lowland is swampy and covered with forest. In the western part of the Maracaibo basin, there are plantations of cocoa, sugar cane and other perennial crops, and south of the lake, tropical farming and dairy farming on the best pastures in Venezuela prevail. But the main wealth of the region is oil. Here is one of the world's largest deposits of "black gold". Oil and associated gas are produced on the coast and from the bottom of the lake.
In 1525, Emperor Charles V, in payment for a debt of 12 barrels of gold, transferred the right to rule Venezuela to the German bankers Welsers for 30 years. The governor sent by them on the northwestern shore of Lake Maracaibo founded the city. In the next four centuries, the city of Maracaibo changed little. Until 1918, when oil production began nearby, there were no pavements, no sewerage, no water supply. The discovery of the richest oil reserves in the area of the lake and the rapidly increasing production of oil in a short time changed the face of the provincial town and the entire district. The villages along the shores of the lake turned into settlements of oil workers, and then into the cities of La Rosa, Cabimas, Lagunillas, La Salina, etc. Forests of towers, oil storage facilities, and warehouses grew around them. Not far from Maracaibo, in El Tablaso, the buildings of the largest petrochemical plant in Latin America have risen.
Maracaibo became the second largest city in Venezuela. It has about 800 thousand inhabitants. Various industries sprang up here. In the 1950s and 1960s, wide paved avenues and blocks of multi-storey modern buildings appeared in it. The city has large refrigerators, various industrial enterprises, and an international airport.
In one of the channels connecting the lake. Maracaibo with a sea bay, a canal was dug, making the city accessible to ocean-going ships, and now it has become the country's first port in terms of cargo turnover.
Not far from the city, a concrete bridge about 9 km long was built across the canals, connecting Maracaibo with the eastern shore of the lake. The bridge has 135 spans, and the central ones (236 m each) are raised 45 m above sea level. sea, which allows large tankers to pass under the bridge. In addition, an artificial concrete island with an area of 48 hectares was built on the lake, near the city of La Salina, on which a new oil export port was built.
.4 Llanos
Llanos have been used for cattle breeding since colonial times. However, the dry and hot climate, sparse population, remoteness from the main markets and the absence of railways for a long time hampered the growth of livestock. And now the animal husbandry of the meat direction is extensive here. At the same time, in the west of the Llanos, part of the land in the foothills of the Andes has been developed for crops; in the central part of Llanos, thanks to the creation of a dam and a reservoir, irrigated agriculture (rice, cotton) appeared, and plantations of tropical crops arose in the east.
After oil production began in the eastern and then in the western Llanos, the appearance of these areas changed markedly. The population of Maturin, Tukupita and other local towns increased rapidly. In the deserted steppes, dozens of oil workers' settlements have grown up. Both in the east and in the west, oil and gas pipelines appeared, connecting the deposits of "black gold" with seaports and industrial centers. In connection with the growth of oil production in the east, the role of Barcelona and its port of Puerto de Cruz, located on the coast of the Bay of Barcelona, has significantly increased. Previously, only the agricultural products of the surrounding area were processed here, and there were salt and coal mines.
Now Barcelona is the end point of a large oil pipeline, and a large oil plant has been built in its vicinity and several old oil refineries are operating. The city is growing rapidly and is of the same importance for the east of the country as Maracaibo is for the west. In the same area, the construction of a new deep-water port Guanta for a number of industrial enterprises is underway.
.5 Guiana Plateau
The Guiana Plateau, or Venezuelan Guayana, is a vast area south of the lower Orinoco, partly covered with savannahs, partly with tropical rainforest. With the exception of its northeastern outskirts, this entire region is extremely sparsely populated and almost undeveloped. Small tribes of "forest" Indians living along the rivers, which serve as their main means of communication, are engaged in hunting, fishing, primitive farming and forest gathering.
Until the Second World War, the only significant settlement in this vast territory was the city of Ciudad Bolivar, located on the right bank of the Orinoco. It served as a gateway for everyone who was heading into the depths of the Guiana Plateau - to the land of gold, diamonds, rubber. But the discovery in the north of the plateau of the richest deposits of high-quality iron and manganese ores, bauxites and other minerals, combined with the presence of large hydropower resources and convenient transport links, made this area beneficial for integrated development.
In the 60-70s, the largest mining, metallurgical and machine-building complex arose here, including several cities and river ports, large hydroelectric power stations and enterprises of various industries. The city of Ciudad Guayana is growing rapidly - the center of this region, which has already received the name of the Venezuelan Ruhr. Agricultural development of the Orinoco Delta is planned in order to provide the new industrial region with agricultural and livestock products.
The relief of the country is predominantly mountainous, although there are also vast plains. There are four main geographical areas: mountainous region Andes in the northeast 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 Plateau in the south and the region of tall grass savannahs Llanos. The main river of the country - Orinoco river, originates on the Guiana Plateau, and forms a huge delta when it flows into the Atlantic Ocean south of the island of Trinindad.
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. The agricultural regions of the country with fertile lands (the Valencia depression, the valley of the Tui river) are in a depression between the ridges of the Coastal Sierra, reaching a height 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 agriculture is difficult. Therefore, all major cities are located at an altitude of 600 to 1850 m above sea level. In the northeast, where a lot of rain falls, human influence 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 change little during the year and depend primarily on the height of the area above sea level. However, in most of the country, the weather changes markedly during 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 precipitation falls 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 countries of South America, is diverse in terms of absolute heights, the amount of precipitation and other environmental conditions. This explains the heterogeneity of the vegetation cover and richness of flora countries: tropical rainforests, areas overgrown with cereals, shrubs and cacti ... The most interesting from a floristic point of view is a small area that occupies the flat tops of the sandstone mountains of Serra Pacaraima, running along the southern border of the country. Many heathers, madders, bromeliads and cypresses grow here, which are not found anywhere else.
This is the sixth largest (over 900 thousand sq. Km) state located in South America and washed by the Caribbean Sea in the north (the length of the coastline is about 2000 km). On land, Venezuela borders Colombia to the west and southwest, Brazil to the south and southeast, and Guyana to the east. The entire territory of the country is located within the tropical zone of South America, the extreme southern point of the country is located 80 km north of the equator. However, due to different altitudes, the climate in different regions varies from the stifling heat on the Caribbean coast to the constant cold in the perpetual snow belt of the Andes in the west of the country.
Relief The country is predominantly mountainous, although there are also vast plains. There are four main geographical regions: the mountainous region of the Andes in the north-east of the country (the highest mountain range is the Sierra Nevada, or Cordillera de Merida), the Maracaibo depression surrounded on three sides by mountains (the lake of the same name is located there), the Guiana Plateau in the south and the area of tall grass savannahs Llanos. The country's main river, the Orinoco River, originates on the Guiana Plateau and forms a huge delta when it flows into the Atlantic Ocean south of the island of Trinindad.
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. The agricultural regions of the country with fertile lands (the Valencia depression, the valley of the Tui river) are in a depression between the ridges of the Coastal Sierra, reaching a height 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 agriculture is difficult. Therefore, all major cities are located at an altitude of 600 to 1850 m above sea level. In the northeast, where a lot of rain falls, human influence is not very noticeable: the mountain slopes are covered with dense tropical forests, and only in small cleared areas there are cocoa plantations.
Flora of Venezuela
The territory of Venezuela, like most countries of South America, is diverse in terms of absolute heights, the amount of precipitation and other environmental conditions. This explains the heterogeneity of the vegetation cover and the richness of the country's flora: tropical rain forests, areas overgrown with cereals, shrubs and cacti ... The most interesting from a floristic point of view is a small area that occupies the flat tops of the Serra Pacaraima sandstone mountains, running along the southern border of the country. Many heathers, madders, bromeliads and cypresses grow here, which are not found anywhere else.
State in northern South America. The territory is 912 thousand square kilometers. The capital is Caracas.
Venezuela is a federation of 22 states, a federal district and a federal possession.
A distinctive feature of the geographical position of Venezuela is that it borders the Atlantic Ocean, which is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the strategically important Panama Canal. Access to the oceans is very important for the country not only for communication with other continents, but also for contacts between the Latin American countries themselves.
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 processing industries, urban and road construction, the production of building materials is growing rapidly.
The country has a significant amount of land suitable for cultivation, but only a small part of them is cultivated. In addition, until recently, the country was dominated by a backward form of land ownership and land use, in which 2% of farms owned by the largest landowners accounted for 80%, and half of all farms - only 1% of the registered land fund. This has led to extremely low levels of land use and labor productivity. As a result, agriculture was the most backward branch 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 60-70s as the agrarian reform was carried out. Due to the redemption by the government from the latifundists of unused lands, as well as from the state land fund, a significant part of the peasants received land plots.
Agriculture provides 45% of the value of agricultural products. The main agricultural region is a mountainous region in the north and northwest of Venezuela. Here is 2/3 of all arable 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 northwestern mountain states. High quality cocoa is produced in the states of the Caribbean coast.
The share of animal husbandry, the main branch of which is cattle breeding, accounts for 55% of the value of agricultural products. Llanos has long been considered the main livestock region of the country, where up to 5 million head of cattle and 200-300 thousand horses graze.
Fishing is developed off the northern coast of Venezuela and in the Maracaibo lakes. The most valuable product of marine fisheries is shrimp.
The extractive industry occupied an important place in the economy of the country. In 1970, 194 million tons were mined in Venezuela. oil. Since the 1970s, the government has pursued a policy of reducing oil production in order to preserve its reserves. Due to the sharp increase in world oil prices during the years of the energy crisis, Venezuela's income from its exports increased markedly, despite the reduction in oil production.
More than 4/5 of all Venezuelan oil is produced in the basin of Lake Maracaibo, about 20% - in the east, 3% - in the southwest. Together with oil lies 95% of the explored reserves of natural gas.
The manufacturing industry, especially its new branches - chemical (including petrochemistry), oil refining, machine building (including car assembly), metallurgy, has been developing in the postwar 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 given 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.
Foreign trade plays a huge role in the life of Venezuela. The country's export in value reaches 1/3, and import - 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, hides, livestock, forest products. Imports are dominated by various equipment, machines, 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, as agriculture remains the most backward sector of the economy and cannot satisfy the country's needs for agricultural products. A significant part of the exported oil is sent to the United States. Only crude oil is imported from Venezuela to the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curacao, which, after processing at the plants of American and British companies located there, is re-exported to the USA, England, Germany, Japan and other countries. The US accounts for most of the value of Venezuela's imports, about $3 billion a year.
Venezuela
1. "BUSINESS CARD".
1.1. Territory and location.
The territory of the country 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 borders with Brazil, Guyana and Colombia. The length of the Caribbean coast is 2,700 km. Venezuela consists of 72 islands.
Capital: Caracas, founded in 1567
Population: 25 million people, mostly of Indian-Spanish origin, who make up about 60%. The rest of the population: 21% - whites (Spaniards, Italians, etc.), blacks - 10%, Indians - 2%. More than 3 million foreigners live in the country - immigrants from Colombia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy, Portugal.
Official language: Spanish, English is also widely spoken.
1.2. Form of government and administrative - territorial structure
Venezuela is a federal republic. It consists of 22 states, the federal district (Caracas) and federal possessions - 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)
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2. ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
2.1. Economic - and political-geographical situation in the subregion and the region where the country is located
From the early 1920s to the late 1960s, the oil industry grew rapidly. Oil provided over 90% of Venezuela's export earnings and 60% of government revenue, accounting for nearly 25% of GDP. It is oil that explains the large volume of foreign investment. Taxes and various royalties paid by the oil industry have enabled an extensive public works program and credit to be provided 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 quantities, which contributes to the rapid growth of production. In 1973-1974, oil prices on the world market rose, and consequently, Venezuela's income from oil exports increased by 400%. This gave the government the means to carry out far-reaching plans, which included the development of agriculture, hydropower, and new branches of heavy industry, especially iron and steel; the construction of industrial enterprises was supposed 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, is vested in the unicameral National Assembly. Its deputies are elected for a period of five years not anonymously, 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. Places 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.
All Venezuelans who have reached the age of eighteen and are not deprived of state and political rights are considered voters. Under the new constitution, military personnel 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 branches of the Brazilian economy:
mechanical engineering concentrated in the two main industrial complexes of the country - 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 building. Embraer, founded by the state and initially manufacturing small aircraft, now exports aircraft of various types. Nowadays, the government encourages the development of microelectronics industries and the production of personal computers.
Agriculture. Starting from 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 providing itself with food. It grows rice, coffee, sugarcane, corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, cocoa and other crops.
The second, one of the main neighbors is Colombia.
Key indicators of economic development:
For most of the 20th century, the Colombian economy was based on agriculture, in which coffee was 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 gross domestic product (GDP), and by 2003, agriculture accounted for 13%, industry - 30%, the share of services was – 57%. Export earnings in 2002 amounted to 12.9 billion dollars.
Colombia is a developing agro-industrial country 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.