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Village in the Venezualan Andes
Financial Link(s) Bolsa de Valores de Caracas (Venezuala Stock Market - 67 listings)
News Link(s) Caracas News (English)
Area:
912,050 sq km (355,700 sq mi)
Population: 23,543,000 (growth rate 1.6%)
Capital city: Caracas (pop 4,608,934)
People: 67% mestizo, 21% European descent, 10% African
descent, 2% indigenous. There are approximately 200,000
Amerindians, remnants of a number of diverse semi-nomadic
hunter-gatherer societies.
Language: Spanish is the official language, but more than
30 Amerindian languages still survive, predominantly belonging to
the Arawak, Cariban and Chibcha ethnolinguistic categories.
Religion: 96% Roman Catholic, 2% Protestant
Government: Federal Republic
Head of State: Hugo Chavez
GDP:
US$194.5 billion
GDP per head: US$8500
Annual growth: -0.9%
Inflation: 29.9%
Major industries: Petroleum, iron ore, cereals, fruit,
sugar and coffee
Major trading partners: USA, Germany, Japan, Colombia,
Brazil, Italy
A country of striking natural beauty and dramatic contrasts: the snowcapped peaks of the Andes in the west; steamy Amazonian jungles in the south; the hauntingly beautiful Gran Sabana plateau, with its strange flat-topped mountains, in the east; and 3000km (1860mi) of white-sand beaches fringed with coconut palms lining the Caribbean coast. South America's largest lake, Lake Maracaibo, and third-longest river, the Orinoco, are also here, and the country boasts the world's highest waterfall, Angel Falls. It is also home to a wide variety of exotic plants and animals, including the jaguar, ocelot, tapir, armadillo, anteater, and the longest snake in the world, the anaconda.
Venezuela's government is in a state of flux after a coup and its sudden reversal. President Hugo Chavez was returned to power two days after he was arrested and imprisoned by his own military high command. The troubles began on Thursday, April 11, when gunmen opened fire on opposition protestors, killing at least 16 people. The military blamed Chavez and arrested him early on Friday, April 12, claiming that he had resigned. Interim President Pedro Carmona was swiftly sworn in and began to take drastic and unpopular steps such as dissolving the National Assembly. But thousands of people flooded the streets to demonstrate against the illegal coup and took over state television to demand Chavez' reinstatement. Unfortunately, the situation is still far from stable, and there is still the potential for unrest and violence.
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Copyright (c) January 2004 - material on this page is not to be reproduced in any manner without the express written permission of Wildfire Asset Management Inc.
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