Venezuela: Looking for peace

VENEZUELA

Political conflict

Venezuela has been passing through a lot of different problems due to their goverment, which is controlled by their president Nicolás Maduro. 

These events have caused some protests and confrontations between the police and the town. And as a consequence there have been 4 decays and injured people.

Here are 5 points to understand what is happening there:

1. The acceptance of the Enabling Law:

 This was one of the first things that Maduro did when he assumed the power. This law basically doesn’t need the approval of the National Assembly to approve new laws. So with this he promotes other laws for the control of the products price, the earning margin and the use of currency. Henrique Capriles, the ex candidate for the Presidency of Venezuela accused the president for being one the most corrupt president in Venezuela.

2. The economic crisis:

Venezuela has an inflation of 56.3% and a shortage of basic products of 28%. The government blames the opposition, but the business-man blames the government, because the control of the administration scares away the investors.

3. The beginning of the protests

The protests began on the cities of Tachira and Mérida, when a student was almost raped on the interior of the Universidad de los Alpes. The students asked for more security inside the universities, and then they started to demonstrate the lack of products and the economic crisis.

The students convoke a multitudinous manifestation on Caracas on February 12th. To the manifestation also assisted the Tumparo Revolutionary Movement, which is armed people of the chavismo, the social movement, they shot to the protestors and three protestors died that day.

4. The censorship of the media:

The government demanded for the exit of the NTN24, a Colombian channel that transmitted the manifestation live. Also Maduro banned the transmission of the protests in other channels.

5. The insecurity on the country:

Venezuela now is one of the 5 most violent countries in the world. They have a rate of 79 deads for every 100.000 people, 12% of the deaths is for violence.

Chavez & Maduro

Hugo Chavez (1954-2013) was a former Army Lieutenant Colonel and President of Venezuela. He incited to the “Bolivarian Revolution” where the most important industries were nationalized and the oil profits were used in social programs for the poor. Chavez always believed that the United States was behind the attempted coup.

Hugo Chavez died on March 5, 2013 after a long battle with cancer. The final months of his life were full of drama, as he disappeared from public view not long after the 2012 elections. He returned to Venezuela in February of 2013 to continue his treatment there, but his illness eventually proved too much for his iron will.

Chavez was a complicated political figure who did much for Venezuela, both good and bad. Venezuela's oil reserves are among the largest in the world, and he used much of the profits to benefit the poorest. He improved infrastructure, education, health, literacy and other social problems from which his people suffered. Under his guidance, Venezuela emerged as a leader in Latin America for those who do not necessarily think that the United States is always the best model to follow.

Chavez was seen as a hero for the poor people, but for the middle and upper, he wasn’t, they despised him.

Nicolas Maduro Moros is the actual president of Venezuela. He took office in 2013 after the death of his political mentor Hugo Cavez. He is also known for worked as a bus driver.

He was born in Caracas in 1962. He never went to college; instead, he was a bus driver in the city of Caracas.

As Chavez, he is a leftist and is in favor of the programs for the poor.

Maduro has an unenviable job. Venezuela is facing serious problems. Although the country has a billion-dollar oil industry, the economy is in ruins. Inflation is fast and the currency is so unstable that the government has had to create strict controls. International economists believe that the government pressured the Central Bank into releasing reports in December of 2013 that do not accurately reflect the true state of Venezuela’s economy. Crime is at record highs, especially in Caracas. The opposition is gaining strength as the power of Chavez’ ghost fades.

Geography 

Venezuela is a country located in South America, and part of the Caribbean South, it is between Colombia, Guyana and in the south with Brazil. It is about twice the size of California.

The country has all types of weather, as tropical humidity to cold temperatures in winter, all this climate factors are due to the elevation.

Market

One of the most important things that they don't have is the paper, in the black market it the dollar cost 10 times more than the 6.3 official bolivars, this have caused that the news papers of all the country can't import paper. The newspaper El Nacional reduced their pages a 40%due to the situation.

You can get return flights for less than the normal price, 10 times less.

In 2003 Chávez limited the amount of foreign currency; as a consequence, there are no basically products as toilet paper, cooking oil, sugar, etc. Indeed, the lack of products is due to the close of the frontiers, Venezuela import most of their products.

International relationships

The President of Venezuela believes that the US is behind all the protests, and warning to the US that if they take any action in helping the protestors, the Venezuelan army will counterattack.

The most important point to say is that any country can press politically, but they can infer physically. It all depends of the country.

Bibliography:

• www.telegraph.com.uk
• www.neontommy.com
• www.princeton.edu
• www.iprofesional.com
• www.laht.com
• world.time.com
• www.knoxnews.com
• www.elpais.com