Table Of ContentVENEZUELA
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW®
VENEZUELA
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW®
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS
1
3
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To Luna Isabel and Nylen Diego, may you continue
to always ask por qué (why)?
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XI
GLOSSARY XV
Introduction 1
Part One Venezuela Before Oil 15
What groups lived in Venezuela before the arrival of the
Spaniards in the sixteenth century? 15
What is the origin of the name “Venezuela”? 17
How did Spanish colonial rule mark Venezuela? 18
What was the character of race relations in colonial society? 22
What was colonial society like for women? 24
What sparked the independence movement? 25
Why did the first movement for independence fail? 27
Why is the figure of Simón Bolívar so important and what is his
legacy in Venezuela? 30
How is Bolívar remembered today? 33
What happened in Venezuelan politics and society after Bolívar? 35
Why did José Antonio Páez emerge as the central figure
after independence? 37
viii Contents
Why couldn’t elites forge a consensus? 40
What was the importance of the Liberal Party? 41
Were the Federal Wars of 1858–1863 inevitable? 43
How did post-Federal War Venezuela evolve? 46
Who was Cipriano Castro and how did the Andeans come to
dominate Venezuela? 48
Why did European powers blockade Venezuela in 1902? 51
What were social and racial conditions like on the eve of the
twentieth century? 54
Part Two Venezuela in the Twentieth Century 59
When was oil discovered? 59
What impact did oil production have on Venezuelan society? 62
Who was Juan Vicente Gómez and how did he rule Venezuela
for nearly three decades? 66
What was Venezuela’s experience with immigration following
the discovery of oil? 69
What was the Generation of 1928 and who was Rómulo Betancourt? 70
How did Venezuela change after Gómez’s death? 72
How did López Contreras address new political demands? 74
What was the significance of new political forces that emerged
in the mid-twentieth century? 75
How did World War II affect Venezuela? 76
What was the importance of the 1943 oil legislation? 77
What was the state of race relations at mid-century? 79
Who replaced Medina Angarita? 80
What was the Trienio (1945–1948) and what is its legacy in Venezuela? 82
Who was Romulo Gallegos and why is he so important in
postwar Venezuela? 84
Who was Marcos Pérez Jiménez and how did he come to power? 85
What kind of advances did Venezuela make in the 1950s? 87
Contents ix
How did resistance to Pérez Jiménez develop? 90
What was the Pacto de Punto Fijo? 92
What was the outcome of Venezuela’s 1958 democratic elections? 93
What challenges did Betancourt confront? 94
How was Venezuela governed under the Punto Fijo pact? 97
Did the election of Rafael Caldera alter how Venezuela was ruled? 98
What was the Gran Venezuela Project? 101
When did Venezuela nationalize its oil industry? 104
How had oil transformed Venezuela by the 1980s? 106
What was the legacy of nationalization and the Gran Venezuela
Project after 1978? 110
Did a shift in government alleviate the crisis? 113
What was the Caracazo and how did it influence Venezuelan politics? 117
What motivated the coups of 1992? 122
Who was Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías? 123
How did the Venezuelan government try to recuperate from
two failed coups? 126
Part Three O il and Revolution: The Rise
of Hugo Chávez 132
How did Chávez, a former coup leader, win the 1998
presidential election? 132
Why did Venezuela draft a new constitution in 1999 and what
provisions did it include? 136
What difficulties did the new constitution face? 139
How did the election of Chávez transform foreign relations? 140
How does Washington view developments in Venezuela? 143
What is the importance of regional integration? 144
How did oil policy in Venezuela change after Chávez’s election? 147
Why did conservatives resort to a coup against the government
in April 2002? 151
