Terrible Venezuela Paper

Venezuela

By: Kenny George

1/22/07

Senor Reyes 3rd Hour Spanish II Class

Venezuela is a quiet country on the northern tip of South America. First colonized in 1522, Venezuela gained its independence on July 5, 1811 after a series of uprisings lead by Francisco de Miranda....and obviously, since we are in a Spanish class, the national language is...you guessed it, Spanish.

Venezuela is divided into twenty-three states, a capital district corresponding to the city of Caracas. Venezuela is further subdivided into 335 municipalities each with their own subcities and districts.

It\'s hard to believe that 26,749,000 people in to a 353,841 sq mi area. That puts you at roughly 100 per square mile. This crowded population makes for great social gatherings including fiestas, weddings, and futbol games.

The petroleum sector dominates the Venezuela\'s mixed economy, accounting for roughly a third of, around 80% of export earnings, and more than half of government revenues.The oil sector operates through the government-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which among other things owns the US-based distributor CITGO and its more than 14,000 retail gasoline outlets. Despite the significant oil wealth, 47% of the population live in poverty.

Along with all this money talk, I will also mention that the Venezuelan bolivar is the national currency. Since March 1, 2005, the currency has been officially pegged to the U.S. dollar at an exchange rate of 2150 bolнvares to the dollar. So it is a really cheap form of money...worse than peso\'s and Canadian money.

Venezuela is also highly dependent on its agricultural. Sectors with major potential for export-led growth are production of both coffee and cocoa crops. At one time, Venezuela ranked close to Colombia in coffee production, but in the 1960s and 1970s, as petroleum temporarily turned Venezuela into the richest country in South America, coffee was relegated to the economic back burner. Today, Venezuela produces less than 1% of the world\'s coffee, most of it consumed by the domestic market. However, Venezuelan coffees are again entering the North American specialty markets.

It would cost approximately $810 to make a round trip to and from Venezuela. This is without food