Venezuela+History

= = =History of Venezuela! =


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The Flag of Venezuela is made up of three colors: yellow, blue, and red. The yellow represents land wealth, the blue represents the sea and sky of the country, and the red represents the blood shed by heroes if independence. 

When Columbus explored Venezuela on his third voyage in 1498, three different Indian tribes were living there: the Carib, the Arawak, and the Chibcha. Years later, a different Spanish explorer gave the country its name, meaning "Little Venice". Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas in 1783. Because of him, Venezuela was one of the first South American countries to revolt against the Spanish in 1810. They won their independence on July 5,1811. Venezuela didn't become a republic until 1830, after parting with the Republic of Greater Columbia, of which Columbia, Equador, and Venezuela made up.

Venezuela had a period of unstable dictatorships. Venezuela didn't become an oil exporter until 1935, during World War I, under the rule of Gen. Juan Vicente Gomez. After World War II, the expansion, due to immigration and globalization really diversified the country. It wasn't until 1947 that a democratically elected president was sworn into office. Since 1959, Venezuela has been one of the most stable democracies in Latin America.

Venezuela benefited from the oil boom of the 1970s. Under the leadership of President Carlos Andres Perez, Venezuela nationalized foreign owned oil and steel companies, offering compensation. In 1978, when the world's oil prices declined, the economy of Venezuela suffered. The country continued to rely on oil production for their revenue until 1997, when a new president, Rafael Caldera Rodriguez announced an expansion of gold and diamond mining to reduce the reliance on oil.

Current president Hugo Chavez took office in 1999, promising political and economic reforms to give the poor a bigger share of the nation's oil wealth. However, he had the constitution re-written in 1999 and established a constitutional assembly made up of his closest allies.

In April of 2002, businesses and labor unions protested Chavez's new form of authoritarian government. Oil workers decreased the amount of oil production to protest his policies. There was a massive anti-Chevez demonstration in which 12 people were killed and Chavez was forced out of power by a coalition of business and military leaders. But because the president had so many followers, he was reinstated just two days later. Chavez survived a referendum to get him out of power in 2004, and gained popularity.

In 2007, Chavez moved to push Venezuela even closer to becoming a socialist state. He continued to gain power as the National Assembly voted to allow him to rule by decree for 18 months, and he shut down the opposition television station. Within a couple months, the National Assembly abolished presidential term limits.

In July of 2008, on his last day of having legislative power, Chavez passed 26 new laws that increased his control of the country, allowing him to delegate regional leaders with separate budgets, create a new military branch, and temporarily control private companies.

In February 2009, Chavez won another referendum decisively, allowing him to run for re-election indefinitely.

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