Background information 1522 is when Spanish explorers first colonized what is now Venezuela where they found indigenous tribes that made their life as simple hunters and gatherers. The Spanish colonized the area but paid little attention as they moved on to seek out the plentiful gold and silver in other parts of Central and South America.  Venezuela remained a Spanish possession until 1821 when Simon Bolivar led an uprising and  by 1830 Venezuela separated from Gran Columbia( modern day Columbia, Panama, and Ecuador) and became an independent nation. The discovery of Oil has played a major role in this South American country as the population centers were ruled by military strongmen that promoted the industry and brought more and more of the country under a single ruling entity.  There was bloodshed and for years it was who could raise the largest army ruled. The nation began to concentrate on it's oil prospects and nations around the world began to take notice and offer investments to remove the oil from the ground.  By 1929 Venezuela exported more oil than any country in the world.  The  succession of military presidents continued until the first democratically elected leader took office in 1959 and has maintained itself as a democracy since.  The early years were tough as it appeared that the military felt that they were short changed as the government gave the people credit for the New Democracy.

Area:;slightly more than twice the size of California. Capital--Caracas  Population 26,023,528.

A New Full Democracy Tries to Stay United

Romulo Betancourt became President after being exiled by an earlier military regime.  He was a reformist and many consider a political genius in that he understood the importance of working through alliances to create unity.  He was not a Marxist, in fact he was against socialistic dictators and even more pleasing to the United States anti-Soviet Union.  He respected the virtual autonomy of the armed forces and he did all he could to keep good relations with Washington.  The Betancourt government invested in educational facilities. New universities were created. Vocational and crafts schools were founded.  The idea was to build their economy from the ground up and it would be more stable and be able to maintain growth rather being dependent on foreign workers and foreign technical expertise. It would also offer opportunity for the Venezuelan people who in the past were at the mercy of foreign companies that came to exploit the cheap labor most notably in the oil industry.  All of the economic policies of the Betancourt government were underwritten by the Kennedy administration through the Alliance for Progress which used Venezuela as the exemplar for all of Latin America.  The early years was very tough.  Sectors of the military felt disenfranchised and planned another revolution against the government that ultimately failed, Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba as a Marxist-Leninist created a new leftist ideology that threatened as well. 

ECONOMIC WOES AND THE RISE OF HUGO CHAVEZ During the eighties Venezuela's economy sustained long periods of despair and  the public's began to have disfavor with the Perez administration. During this time thoughts of a change were also occurring in Hugo Chavez's mind as well.   In February 1992 Chavez ceased this opportunity to  plan a coup against the current government  that eventually failed.  This propelled Chavez into the national spotlight leaving many poor Venezuelans with a new hero.  They saw Chavez as a man that stood up against the current corruption and greed of the government.  Chavez was sent to prison for 2 years during that time President Perez was impeached.  He was released after being pardoned by President Rafael Caldera.  Chavez embraced Socialism and has on many occasions expressed his admiration and respect for Cuba's Fidel Castro.  In recent years prior to Castro's ailing health their relationship blossomed into a passing of the guard so to speak.  Chavez strongly disagrees with U.S. South and Central America policies and believes that these policies and the over powering U.S. presence  are interfering with governments in the Hemisphere.

He sees Fidel as a true patriot because of his resistance under extreme pressure from U.S. policies and standing up to the imperialistic nature of  American foreign involvement throughout Central and South America.

President Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez rose from a 17 year military career and failed coup attempt planner to the poor and working class choice for president in 1998 where he received 56% of the vote.  His fiery and colorful personality endeared him to many Venezuelans.  When he officially took office in 1999 he rattled the government with changes and strengthened his position by getting his supporters voted into the National Assembly. Soon afterward they voted to create a new national constitution.  He extended the term of President to six year terms.  Chavez remained true to the poor and working class by creating social programs that ranged from vaccinating the public, building roads and increasing school enrollment. He privatized the country's social security system and other industries including the oil industry.  The elitist of the country did not favor the policies of Chavez nor did the labor unions who felt that Chavez had overstepped the government boundaries in  getting overly involved into the labor unions activities.  He made many enemies and even went as far as changing the name of Venezuela to República Bolivariana de Venezuela.  Bolivariana refers to the ideology he forged to create a more socialistic state for the poor and working class. 

2002 Coup Against Chavez

In April 2002 during a strike largely  resulting from firing of management of the state controlled oil company hundreds of thousands marched onto the Presidential Palace  and met up with pro-Chavez supporters and what ensued was chaos, gun shots and violence leaving many civilians dead.  During this time Chavez was apprehended by military forces and held at a military base.  It was announced on television that Chavez had resigned and a new  interim president was appointed that immediately  reversed Chavez's social and economic reform policies and completely dissolved the Nation Assembly.  Chavez supporters orchestrated a counter coup that eventually returned Chavez to power.  The drama had just begun as Chavez said the whole coup against him was supported and carried out with the assistance of the United States.  He from that date forward has become the one of the most outspoken opponents of U.S. world policy and has on numerous occasions accused the CIA and President George Bush of trying to assassinate him.  Since then Chavez has had to deal with economic problems, strikes,  presidential recall attempts to remove him from office and in 2004 the public majority voted to keep him.  This is much to the dismay of the opposition against him as Chavez has been accused of punitive measures against the proponents of the recall.  He had regained his grip and even tried to change the constitution to extend his rule past two six year terms however the measures failed in the referendum vote.

Chavez Reaches for World Spotlight.

From 2004 on Chavez has cracked down on opposition voices in the media and in public.  He has continued his policies of redistribution of the country's wealth from the hands of foreign investment and the wealthy private sector to the poor and working class.  However many opponents to his policies have expressed concern with his desire to be not only a regional voice but to become a world stage player.  His rhetoric is extremely patriotic of Venezuela but, it is hard to decide if he is looking out for what is best for the country's progress or if he is leading them to much harder times.  Oil is a huge weapon and he has used the once ignored South American country's abundance of it to yield his will on the world stage. He has befriended just about every world leader that opposes U.S. policy or is in conflict with the United States.  He has worked with and supported leftist governments in the region and has tried to unite them against what he calls U.S. Imperialism.

He has even gone as far as attempting to befriend Muslim Extremist groups according to allegations by Venezuelans that have sought political asylum in America.  Chavez has returned the majority of the oil profits back to the Venezuelan state by redefining arrangements with foreign companies that invested into the country.

Hugo Chavez has not only been using these avenues of revenue for social programs, but has been purchasing weapons and upgrading his military systems from countries throughout the world.  Far from ever being a direct military threat to the U.S. but enough purchases to begin threatening neighbors including U.S. ally Columbia.  He is very outspoken of Columbia's relationship with America and the purpose behind it.  Chavez has openly called Columbia's leadership a puppet to Yankee influence and imperialism in the region.  In the midst of all this anti-U.S. rhetoric including his 2006 speech to the UN general assembly where he described President George Bush as the Devil, he has showed generosity to the poor in America.  Chavez has offered to provide heating fuel to the poor in the U.S. in many states some have refused the assistance and replied that his motives are questionable.  In all reality it could be an attempt to gain support from the American public and to show that his problem is not with the American people but rather with the leadership  and foreign policies of the U.S.  In conclusion one would think that a man with his personality and growing resources due to high the rising oil prices that he will continue to force his views on the rest of the world.  At times he comes across as almost comical but that would be a mistake to think that he is not a person to take as serious as in the near future he will more likely than not place himself in the world spotlight as often as possible and build alliances with just about any opposition voice to American policies.  He has an agenda and it appears very similar to that of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.  They both are testing the post WWII division of world power and respect and want their individual countries to ascend to the position of influence on the world stage.  Their weapons of choice are oil, meddling in other countries affairs ( which they accuse the U.S. of) and shocking the world with sensational revelations and speeches to inspire their masses.

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