http://travel-to-venezuela.blogspot.com/2011/10/short-history-of-venezuela-and-culture.html
Short History Of Venezuela and Culture
Travel tips for your trip to Venezuela Hotel Maps Famous Places in Venezuela helps you to make your trip to Venezuela in the holiday a Splendid One
Originally inhabited by Carib and Arawak Indians, Venezuela was claimed as a Spanish territory by Christopher Columbus in 1498. Spanish rule was administered from a distance, leaving the various regions to develop separately from the capital, Caracas. In the 18th century, an attempt to inject a measure of unification by the Spanish was met with widespread resistance and uprisings led by Simón Bolívar.
In 1830, Venezuela became a sovereign state, led by José Paéz. The precise territorial limits were not, however, well defined, and Venezuela's borders have since been the subject of periodic disputes with its neighbours.
The exploitation of the country's substantial oilfields began in 1918. In the 1980s, successive Governments struggled to stabilise the country and the economy in the face of persistent social and labour unrest.
In 1992, a number of army units launched a completely unexpected military coup. It was suppressed by loyal army units but the Perez Government was fatally undermined and it was little surprise when Perez was removed from office by Congress the following year, before completing his term. Elections at the end of 1993 resulted in Rafael Caldera, who had served as President in the mid-1970s, assuming the post once again.
Meanwhile, the leader of the 1992 coup attempt, Colonel Hugo Chávez, was seeking to establish himself as a national political figure, drawing on the support of millions of disaffected poor people, who had been disregarded during the oil boom. The established parties, dominated by wealthy and increasingly corrupt interests, held little attraction for them.
In 1997, Chávez announced the formation of his own party, the Movimiento Quinta República (MVR), and his candidacy at the 1998 Presidential election. He won, while his party was able to take control of the National Assembly. Further polls in 2000 secured his position and, de facto, an endorsement of the constitutional changes that he planned to increase Presidential powers.
Chávez's problems now began in earnest. Always a controversial figure, as a result of the 1992 coup attempt and his courting such Heads of State as Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chávez has attracted powerful enemies both inside and outside Venezuela.
His policies have effectively polarized the society: Venezuelans either love him or loathe him. Celebrating a decade at the nation's helm in 2009, the leader has won broad acceptance from the masses of Venezuela's poor for his implementation of ‘21st-century socialism’, while further alienating the far less populous well-to-do sector.
