The document provides information about Venezuela, including its natural wonders, demographics, economy, politics, and society. Some key points: 1) Venezuela has a population of over 26 million people, with 93% living in urban areas. Its economy is highly dependent on oil exports, which account for around 90% of export earnings and 50% of government revenues. 2) Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998 and implemented socialist policies and programs known as "misiones" to reduce poverty and inequality. However, Venezuela still faces issues of crime, corruption and economic instability. 3) Under Chavez, the government nationalized key industries and amended the constitution to enable land reform and wealth redistribution.

1. Venezuela – Tierra de Gracia

5. Natural Wonders
Angel Falls
Angel Falls or Kerepakupai merú (which means "waterfall of the deepest place", in Pemon
language, or: Parakupa-vena, which means "the fall from the highest point"; Spanish: Salto
Ángel) is the world's highest waterfall, with a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807
m (2,647 ft). The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyantepui mountain in the Canaima
National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the
Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State, Venezuela.

7. Basic Statistics
(Obtained from the CIA World Factbook and US Department of State)
• Population: 26,814,843 (July 2009 est.)
• Urban Population: 93% of total population (2008)
• National Holiday: Independence Day, 5 July (1811)
• Economy - Overview: Venezuela remains highly dependent on oil revenues, which account
for roughly 90% of export earnings, about 50% of the federal budget revenues, and around
30% of GDP.
• Population Below Poverty Line: 37.9% (end 2005 est.)
• Exports - Partners: US 39.8%, Netherlands Antilles 7.6%, China 4.6% (2008)
• Imports - Partners: US 26.1%, Colombia 12.6%, Brazil 10.7%, China 6.9%, Mexico 4.8% (2008)
• Chief of State: President Hugo CHAVEZ Frias (since 3 February 1999)

9. Changing Demographics and Increased
Oil Dependency
• Restructuring of economy
• Discovery of oil in 1909
– purchase of cheap foodstuffs from abroad
– decline of domestic agricultural sector
– Oil comes to dominate economy at the expense of other
industries
• Rapid rural to urban migration
– Strains government resources
– Formation of shanty towns around major urban areas
– Persistence of poverty, gradually worsens over the years
• Reliance on oil and dependency on food imports worsened
in 1990s through implementation of neoliberal policies.

10. Worsening Socio-Economic Conditions
and the 1998 Election of Hugo Chavez
• Corruption
• Ineffective management of the economy
• Increase in imports
• Widening gap between social classes
• Using international credit Venezuela continues to invest heavily in capital intensive industries and social programs
• 1980s and 1990s: 20 year decline in oil revenues
– State forced to cut back on social spending and distribution programs
– Rising debt crisis
– Decline in export revenues
– Rising expectations among Venezuelan population
– Government forced to devalue currency and cut back on spending on social programs
• Social conditions progressively deteriorated
• El Caracazo: February 27 1989 – neoliberal package raises gas prices and bus fares – riots break out
• 1992: Hugo Chávez attempts military coup, styling himself as a champion of the masses
– Chávez imprisioned, released after 1993 presidential elections
– Decides to pursue political goals through the electoral system
• Chávez promises to:
– reduce inequality and poverty
– Give land to the peasants
– Improve general living conditions
• Run up to 1998 elections; situation in Venezuela had become critical
– Chávez appeals as an outsider uncorrupted by the previous political system
• December 6th 1998: Chávez wins the elections in a landslide

16. Who is Hugo Chavez
• Teodoro Petkoff – “Bourbonic Left”
• Andres Oppenheimer – “Venezuela and Beirut”
• Simon Saez Merida – “A Rhetorical Revolution”
• Richard Gott – “A Democratic Revolution”
• “Different Rate of Transition”

17. Four Horseman of the Apocalypse

20. Alfonso Sintjago - "In Castro's Shadow"

22. Elections and Results during Chavez Government
Dec 6, 1998 Wins Elections with 56,2% of the Vote
April 25, 1999 The New Constitution is ratified with 88% of
the Vote
July 30, 2000 Chavez Wins Elections under new constitution
with 59% of the Vote
August 16, 2004 Chavez avoids a referendum with 59% of the
vote
Dec 3, 2006 Chavez is reelected with 62,89% of the vote
Dec 2, 2007 Chavez loses an election (51.01% to 48.99%)
Feb 15, 2009 Constitution is amended (54.36%)

23. Government Misiones
• Currently, there are 29 actives misiones in Venezuela.
• All of the misiones attempt to collectively improve
conditions for the lower classes in Venezuela.
• The misiones deal with topics such as
– Education: Ribas, Robinson, Sucre.
– Health: Milagro, Esperanza, Jose Gregorio Hernandez,
Barrio Adentro (I, II, III)
• CDI
– Reorganization of Labor: Che Guevara, Vuelvan Caras, 13
de Abril.
– Rural Conditions: Zamora, Arbol, Vuelta al Campo.
• Misiones have improved the conditions of the poor,
among them the campesino.
• The Misiones have been criticized as clientelistic

26. Gradual Changes by the Chavez Government
April 25, 1999 New Constitution is ratified
November 13, 2001 Legislature approves 49 laws including the
Law of Hidrocarbons, and the Law of
Lands.
April 2002 – To Dec 2002 Chavez faces a coup and also a general
strike, his transitional to socialism slows
down
Law of Content and Social Auto-Censoring of Media Networks
Responsibility – Nov 2004
“Ley Habilitante” – Feb 1, 2007 Allows the President to rule by decree for
18 months
Nationalization of Industries PDVSA, CANTV (Feb, 2007)
“Ley de Inmuebles” Currently being drafted – Abolishes
private property

28. Castro was involved in:
-Grenada
-Panama
-Nicaragua
-Venezuela
-Chile
-Bolivia
Current Latin American Leaders Associated with Chavez

29. Castro was the head of the Non-Aligned Movement – 1979-1983
-Supported Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
-Sent troops to Angola, and the Congo
Chavez in Iraq (2000) and Iran (2006)

30. Growing Violence (1998-2010)
• Caracas is the second most violent city in Latin
America, after Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. A
government sponsored study released earlier this
year revealed that 2.300.000 criminal cases were
reported in the country in 2009.
Among those 60% were robberies and thefts but
what really is the most disturbing is the number
of murders and kidnappings. For 100.000
inhabitants 75 are killed and another 95 are
kidnapped. In Caracas the murder rate is 220 per
100,000 people. Polls show that violence is the
main concern for 95% of the Venezuelan.

31. Violence Continues
(NYT – August 22, 2010)
• Some here joke that they might be safer if they
lived in Baghdad. The numbers bear them out.
• In Iraq, a country with about the same population
as Venezuela, there were 4,644 civilian deaths
from violence in 2009, according to Iraq Body
Count; in Venezuela that year, the number of
murders climbed above 16,000.
• Even Mexico’s infamous drug war has claimed
fewer lives.

32. Decreased Poverty
• To fight poverty government implemented “social
missions” a series of state-funded social programs
across diverse areas of human development such as
education, medicine, nutrition, and culture.
Thanks to those policies authorities claim that the
poverty rate has dropped to 27% and extreme poverty
to 7.7 percent since President Chavez took office, when
49% of the population lived below the poverty line and
21% were suffering from extreme poverty.

33. Venezuelan Economics – 2009-2010
(BBC – 1/19/2010)
• More worrying is Venezuela's apparent inability to get
to grips with persistent inflation, which is now the
highest in Latin America, reaching an annual rate of at
least 27% in 2009.
• The bolivar's official exchange rate, which is set by
government decree, had been held at 2.15 to the US
dollar since the last devaluation in March 2005.
• Oil, as ever, is still the mainstay of the Venezuelan
economy. In fact, it is responsible for more than 90% of
the country's foreign currency inflows and 50% of
government revenues.

34. AGRARIAN REFORM IN
VENEZUELA:
CASE STUDY OF A FUNDO
ZAMORANO IN THE STATE OF
MONAGAS

35. History of Land Ownership in
Venezuela
• Colonial System:
– Encomienda
– Repartimiento
– Land granted to nobles according to their “quality”
• War of Independence:
– Independence forces failed to appeal to campesinos
– José Tomás Boves, José Antonio Páez
– Lands awarded to those who fought according to their rank
• Conservative Oligarchy 1830 – 1847
– Páez – first Venezuelan president
– Ezequiel Zamora rose up, argued for distribution of land and respect for campesino.
• Liberal Oligarchy: 1848 – 1858
– President José Gregorio Monagas
– President José Tadeo Monagas
– Awarded land to family and friends and for political favours
• Federal War 1859-1863
– Zamora dies in 1860 but remains moral leader of the Federal War to this day.
– Liberals win but fail to implement agrarian reform
• Spoils system: Presidents amass large amounts of land during their term in office.
Land concentrated in the hands of a few

36. 1960 Law of Agrarian Reform
• March 5th 1960: Agrarian Reform law signed by the leaders of the 3 major
political parties (Romulo Betancourt, Rafael Caldera and Jóvito Villalba)
• Reform focused on integral rural development
• Promoted growth of capitalist medium sized producer, not communal or
cooperative organizations.
• Aimed to:
– Modernize the agricultural sector
– Reduce rural poverty – distribute land, services and aid to landless campesinos
– Increase agricultural production
• Land awarded at no cost to landless campesinos, whereas medium-sized
farmers were required to pay a fee
• Expected to coordinate rural development efforts with other government
agencies but the actual level of cooperation was very limited
• 1960 reforms legally active until 2001.

37. Results of the 1960 Agrarian Reform
• There is considerable dispute among scholars about the exact number of beneficiaries and amount of
land distributed under the 1960 reform. However, it is generally agreed that the reform:
• Distributed land to a large number of households
• Increased agricultural production
• Improved education
• Increased access to healthcare in rural areas
• Increased use of fertilizers and agricultural technology for medium sized producers
BUT:
• Reform was limited in its extent
• High level of land concentration persisted – only a small change in the Gini coefficient
• Reform failed to eliminate the latifundio
• Reform primarily benefited medium-sized land owners
• Did not eliminate dependency on agricultural imports
• Total number of minifundios actually increased
• Limited improvement in the conditions experienced by campesino families
• Increase in rural poverty levels from 1975-1997
• Credit mainly given to medium or large size capitalist producers
• Development of legal and illegal land market – According to 1997 agrarian census 90% of farmland
distributed under 1960 agrarian reform has been recovered by larger landowners
• Corruption was widespread

38. Legal Framework
• Constant reorganization and strengthening of the agrarian reform process.
– 1999 Bolivarian Constitution (Articles 305-308)
– 2001 Law of Lands and Agrarian Development (LTDA)
• Creation of the INTI, INDER, CVA
– 2001 Special Law of Cooperative Associations
– 2003 Bolivarian Misiones
– 2005 Reform Bill
• 2001 LTDA- Article 104 – Classification of land according to different agricultural
vocations.
– Lands can be taxed if not meeting 80% of the expected production level.
• 2002 Supreme Court Decision
– Article 89 and 90 declared unconstitutional
– Article 90 was reintroduced after minor modifications in its text
– The government went around the unconstitutionality of Article 89 by issuing
Cartas Agrarias.
• 2005 Reform Bill
– Land can be expropriated even if they are productive, if they exceed 5,000
hectares

39. Administration of the Reform and
Rural Development Initiatives
• Creation of new institutions and reorganization of institutions. “Socialism of the 21st Century”
– INCES, CIARA, INIA, ZEDES, BAV, BANMUJER, FODAS, FONENDOGENO, FUNDAPROAL
– INTI, CVA, INDER, EPS
• Creation of new ministries
– From 14 (1999) to 27 (2007).
• Creation and expansion of government misiones.
• Expansion of the government has increased attention to previously overlooked social issues, yet it has
also brought about overlapping jurisdiction between institutions and the need for reorganization.
• Consolidated Fundos Zamoranos were recently transferred for INTI to CIARA. Institutions such as INIA
are currently reorganizing.
• High level of polarization has led to an increased distrust and fear of obstructionists within the
different institutional administrations (Human Rights Watch, 2008).
• NDE and Fundos Zamoranos – Both created out of cooperatives formed from Mision Vuelvan Caras.
Practically interchangeable. The conglomerates of cooperatives functioning adequately are designated
as Fundos Zamoranos while those experiencing greater difficulties are designated as NDE.
• The current agrarian reform has been primarily top / down in nature. The lack of a major rural
organization and the limited and unorganized rural population has increase the difficulties in
organizing cooperatives.
– Acting as cash transfer programs. Mision Vuelvan Caras paid its participants $150 a month for
participating.

40. Achievements of the 2001 Agrarian
Reform
• Production (2000-2005) has decreased in certain crops – including: garlic,
tomatoes, carrots.
• First years – 2001 to 2003 – There was a very small distribution of land.
Since then, the pace of land distribution has increased.
– Particularly after Adan Chavez took over as the administrator of INTI.
– By 2008 – INTI had distributed over 4,624,420 hectares and 105,922
documents of production rights.
• Possibly benefiting over 400,000 families.
• The redistribution of land might slow down as quality idle lands become
scarce and the development of infrastructure and consolidation of
agricultural production units transforms into the focus of the agrarian
reform.
• According to the Zamorano National Development Project (2007-2008),
the government provided close to US $4.9 billion between 2002 and 2007
in financing.
• Reduction of poverty from 62.1 percent to 31.5 percent (2003 to 2008)
• Improvement in HDI from .69 in 1998 to .84 in 2008.
• Upcoming census results may indicate an improvement in Venezuela’s
land Gini coefficient.

41. Fundos Zamoranos and Their
Organizational Structure
• Bring about an integral rural development and an
increase in agricultural production, while
emphasizing socialist values of cooperation and
solidarity.
• Major differences in size and number of
cooperative members in different Fundos
Zamoranos
– Differences related to geographical conditions
– Shared basic organizational structure
• Vocero, Casa Zamorana, Cooperative Members (Mision
Vuelvan Caras)

43. History of the Fundo Zamorano
Alejandro de Humboldt
• Cooperatives formed in Mision Vuelvan Caras decided to invade the farm La
Argentina during the fall of 2003, after it had been declared idle and unproductive
by the INTI
• Located between two rivers, La Argentina contained 5,213 hectares of medium
quality land.
• The Bermudez Association – were primarily absentee land owners who grazed a
few heads of cattle at La Argentina under natural pastures, having no fences and a
limited number of dirt roads.
• La Argentina collected revenues from the government for having a major
governmental electrical installations running across its property.
• During the first year, the cooperatives requested the aid of the federal
government, as they were continuously harassed by the Bermudez Association.
– To provide the campesinos with protection, the government stationed an army battalion on
the lands of the fundo.
• In 2004, the Bermudez association agreed to reduce their land hounds from the
original 5,213 hectares to 382 hectares, or 7.3 percent of the original holdings.
• After two years of existence, the Fundo Zamorano Alejandro de Humboldt was
officially constituted on June 5th, 2005.
• 13 production units originally obtained cartas agrarias at Alejandro de Humboldt.
This letters must be renewed every two years

44. Goals and Objectives of the Fundo
Zamorano Alejandro de Humboldt
• First Stage – (2005 -2008) – investing in vegetable
production. The fundo is attempting to become
sustainable and provide sustenance for the families of
its members
• Second Stage (2009 -2013) – the fundo moved towards
animal production, primarily cattle ranching, and
continue to expand its vegetable production.
• Third Stage (2014 - 2020) – The fundo is to focus on
expanding its production in order to fulfill Venezuela’s
development goal of attaining agricultural self-
sufficiency.

45. The Struggle against Capitalism and an
Individualist Mentality
• Movement away from individualist values has been difficult.
• The fundo is attempting to move away from “el neoliberalismo salvaje”.
• According to the Vocero, Chavez’s socialism of the twenty first century
includes the recreation of Che Guevara’s new man, an emphasis on
cooperation between members, and the creation of cooperatives of
agrarian production.
• Most of the members who attended Mision Vuelvan Caras had no
previous experience in working in cooperatives or collective enterprises.
– In a six month period, participants of Vuelvan Caras learned to work in
cooperatives and work as agricultural producers
– The short learning period led to problems within cooperative
administration and member retention.
• The vocero has advocated the creation of classes to teach members and
government workers how to better function within cooperatives and the
goals of a socialist society.

46. Organization of Fundo Zamorano
Alejandro de Humboldt
• The fundo was composed of 14 different cooperative
associations, three civil associations, and two independent
producers.
– Civil associations: composed of producers or agronomists who
join together to produce in a piece of land with no profit
objective.
– Independent producers: are private enterprises who employ
workers to bring a piece of land into production.
– Cooperative associations: were composed of either lanceros
(graduates of Vuelvan Caras) or non-lanceros.
• The speaker of the fundo, or Vocero was attempting to
consolidate the fundo as a cooperative of the second
degree.
• Hired workers were utilized by every production unit, and
some of them were interested in eventually becoming
members of a cooperative.