viernes, 30 de octubre de 2015

DON GIOVANNI - Opera mofa en Maracay, VENEZUELA



Carlos E

Feedback  ·  Tour
Help  ·  Region
Privacy  ·  Terms  ·  Maps Terms

201 followers|1,015,705 views







Shared publicly  -  12:13 PM
Elecciones el 6 de diciembre 2015, en Venezuela- un suicidio!
Carlos E Mijares
Shared publicly  -  11:50 AM

Don Giovanni - tercera Opera de Mozart, presentada parodiada en Maracay, donde le lavaron la estatua a Bolivar, remozaron algunas áreas, como el Teatro de la Opera y le construyeron una oficina a Maduro, al estilo Juan Vicente Gomez. El gobernador de Aragua hablando con el corazon le jaló las bolas a maduro hasta mas no poder, buscando mas apoyo para continuar la destruccion de Aragua. Enchufaron a Roman Chalbaud que como Abreu y Dudamel,  vendieron el Arte al Cubachavismo comunistoide colombianoide. Cubachavismo coyuntural porque depende del petroleo que podria dejar de comprar EE.UU. El general Kelly tiene la razón: si este despelote continúa Venezuela necesita intervencion urgente internacional. Maduro y Hugo Chavez son agentes de Cuba. El combo chavista se desplaza y monta su tarantín en cada esquina, compra a figuras como el caso de Roman Chalbabud - una desgracia para el cine y las artes. Eso mismo hizo Cuba en San Antonio de los Baños, con la Escuela de Cine y Garcia Marquez.
Tarek-Alsaimi, el arabe de Aragua, no sabe hablar con el corazón, ..porque el corazon tiene razones que la razon desconoce, como dijo Blas Pascal. El cineasta don Roman, temblaba y se reía como un váquiro apretando la humanidad de Maduro, recibiendo un Premio muy merecido por él pero no de las manos ensangrentadas del comunismo cubano.
#miami #nyc #venezuela








Carnet de Bal de Julien Duvivier, 1937, frances-  maestro de Roman Chalbaud y Rodolfo  Izaguirre. Que opina Izaguirre de la descarada pantomima de Chalbaud? Opera en Maracay - ni siquiera el Realismo Socialista pudo en sus mejores tiempos alcanzar la grandeza de un Mozart o un Bach. Como la Opera Fidelius unica Opera de Beethoven, password o clave secreta de Tom Cruise en Eyes Wide-Shut! ... condenado a muerte es rescatado por el amor de su esposa. En el film de Stanley Kubrick, cuando el maestro inquisidor le pregunta a Tom Cruise por la clave. Este, despues de responder Fidelius; es repreguntado por la contraclave - la cual es la misma o no existe; no lo sabe el actor y de repente una mujer del proscenio, desnuda y endeudada por la vida, con él; se lanza al ruedo y ofrece su vida a cambio de la libertad del ser amado. Tom regresa a su hogar, y, en vez de encontrar a la amada esposa (Nicole Kidman) lo espera una máscara como la usada en el ritual del Palacio de donde viene el amado esposo, con su máscara en la mano. Estaba la esposa desnuda entre las mujeres de la lujuria del Palacio, Quien colocó la máscara sobre la cama de los esposos...?

Opera de Maracay- comunistas corruptos, sin principios. Bolívar lo escribe en La Carta de Jamaica cuando explica porqué ni siquiera una tiranía nos gobierna, nos desgobierna una desmadre Patria y ahora un desmadre comunismo, sin principios ni democráticos ni tiránicos. Esa tirania fue despues la de Juan Vicente Gomez - que el árabe gobernador Chavista de Aragua, pretende vender - a  Maracay no como un tirano si no como un pseudo- tirano... como un doble agente como Hugo Chavez.

SIMON BOLIVAR EN LA CARTA DE JAMAICA desenmascara a estos borregos, cuando dice que no fueron capaces ni de crear una tiranía que por lo menos, gobernarían como tiranos. Ni son tiranos, ni son nada. Son dlincuentes corruptos que compran a los artistas y a los deportistas.



martes, 27 de octubre de 2015

CONSTITUTION OF VENEZUELA - Violated and Invaded by Colombia,Guyana and Cuba.



Constitution of Venezuela

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coat of arms of Venezuela.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Venezuela
Flag of Venezuela (state).svg
Venezuela
Geography
States-Cities-Lake Maracaibo
Caracas-Maracaibo-Maturín-Valencia
— Politics & Elections —
Constitution-Presidency
National Assembly-Parties
Communal Councils
Foreign Affairs - Foreign policy
— History & Wars —
Captaincy General-Bolívar's Campaigns
Carabobo-Maracaibo
Angostura-Gran Colombia
Bolivarian Revolution
— Society & Culture —
Catholicism-Missions-Media
Venezuela | Politics
edit
The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela.[1] It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constitutional assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December 1999, it replaced the 1961 Constitution, the longest-serving in Venezuelan history.[2] It was primarily promoted by former President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and thereafter received strong backing from diverse sectors, including figures involved in promulgating the 1961 constitution such as Luis Miquilena and Carlos Andrés Pérez. Chávez and his followers (chavistas) refer to the 1999 document as the "Constitución Bolivariana" (the "Bolivarian Constitution") because they assert that it is ideologically descended from the thinking and political philosophy of Simón Bolívar and Bolivarianism.
The Constitution of 1999 was the first constitution approved by popular referendum in Venezuelan history, and summarily inaugurated the so-called "Fifth Republic" of Venezuela due to the socioeconomic changes foretold in its pages, as well as the official change in Venezuela's name from the República de Venezuela ("Republic of Venezuela") to the República Bolivariana de Venezuela ("Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela"). Major changes are made to the structure of Venezuela's government and responsibilities, while a much greater number of human rights are enshrined in the document as guaranteed to all Venezuelans – including free education up to tertiary level, free quality health care, access to a clean environment, right of minorities (especially indigenous peoples) to uphold their own traditional cultures, religions, and languages, among others. The 1999 Constitution, with 350 articles, is among the world's longest, most complicated, and most comprehensive constitutions.

Contents

Origins

Conceptualization

President Hugo Chávez holds aloft a miniature copy of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution at the 2005 World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
President Hugo Chávez was first elected under the provisions of the 1961 Constitution in the presidential election of 6 December 1998. Chávez had been contemplating a constitutional convention for Venezuela as an ideal means to rapidly bring about sweeping and radical social change to Venezuela beginning from the eve of his 1992 coup attempt. Chávez would state later that:
We discussed how to break with the past, how to overcome this type of democracy that only responds to the interests of the oligarchical sectors; how to get rid of the corruption. We had always rejected the idea of a traditional military coup, of a military dictatorship, or of a military governing junta. We were very aware of what happened in Colombia, in the years of 1990-1991, when there was a constitutional assembly – of course! – it was very limited because in the end it was subordinated to the existing powers. It was the existing powers that designed Colombia’s constitutional assembly and got it going and, therefore, it could not transform the situation because it was a prisoner of the existing powers and thoughts.[3]
After his imprisonment and release, he began to seek a political career with such a convention as its political goal. Thus, in the 1998 presidential elections, one of Chávez's electoral promises was to organise a referendum asking the people if they wanted to convene a National Constituent Assembly. His very first decree as president was thus to order such a referendum, which took place on 19 April. The electorate were asked two questions – whether a constituent assembly should be convened, and whether it should follow the mechanisms proposed by the president. The "yes" vote in response to these two question totalled 92% and 86%, respectively.[3]

Election of the Constitutional Assembly

Elections were then held, on 25 July, to elect 131 deputies to the Constituent Assembly, which convened and debated proposals during the remainder of 1999. Chávez's widespread popularity allowed the constitutional referendum to pass with a 71.78% 'yes' vote; in the second election, members of Chávez's MVR and select allied parties formed the Polo Patriotico ("Patriotic Axis"). Chávez's Polo Patriotico went on to win 91.6% (120 out of 131 seats) of the seats in the new voter-approved Venezuelan Constitutional Assembly.

The "judicial emergency committee"

Conflict soon arose between the Constitutional Assembly and the older institutions it was supposed to reform or replace. During his 1998 presidential campaign, and in advance of the 25 July elections to the Assembly, Chávez had maintained that the new body would immediately have precedence over the existing National Assembly and the courts, including the power to dissolve them if it so chose.[4] Against this, some of his opponents, including notably the chief justice of the supreme court, Cecilia Sosa Gomez, argued that the Constitutional Assembly must remain subordinate to the existing institutions until the constitution it produced had been ratified.[5]
In mid August 1999, the Constitutional Assembly moved to restructure the nations judiciary, giving itself the power to fire judges, seeking to expedite the investigations of corruption outstanding against what the New York Times estimated were nearly half of the nation's 4700 judges, clerks, and bailiffs.[6] On 23 August, the supreme court voted 8-6 that the Assembly was not acting unconstitutionally in assuming those powers; however, the next day Cecilia Sosa Gomez resigned in protest. Over 190 judges were eventually suspended on charges of corruption.
On 25 August, the Constitutional Assembly declared a "legislative emergency," voting to limit the National Assembly's work to matters such as supervising the budget and communications. In response, the National Assembly, which in July had decided to go into recess until October to avoid conflict with the Constitutional Assembly, declared its recess over, effective 27 August. At one point the Constitutional Assembly prohibited the National Assembly from holding meetings of any sort. However, on 10 September, the two bodies reached an agreement allowing for their "coexistence" until the new constitution took effect.[7]

Framing of the new 1999 Constitution

Afterward, over the span of a mere 60 days in late 1999, the new and voter-approved Constitutional Assembly would frame and found a document that enshrined as constitutional law most of the structural changes Chávez desired. Chávez stated such changes were necessary in order to successfully and comprehensively enact his planned social justice programs. Sweeping changes in Venezuelan governmental structure were to be made; Chávez's plan was, stemming from his 1998 campaign pledges, thus to dramatically open up Venezuelan political discourse to independent and third parties by radically altering the national political context. In the process, Chávez sought to fatally paralyse his AD and COPEI opposition. All Chávez's aims were, in one move, dramatically furthered.

Ratification by popular referendum

This new 1999 constitution was presented to the national electorate in 15 December 1999 and approved with a 71.78% "yes" vote (audited by the National Electoral Council). The new constitution then legally came into full effect the following 20 December.

Text and guiding doctrines

The text of the constitution is a hybrid of jurisprudential and political norms drawn from sources as wide as Simón Bolívar's writings on constitutionality and popular sovereignty, José Martí, the Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui, and Evgeny Pashukanis. It is essentially a Bolivarian-Marxist charter, incorporating elements of popular sovereignty (such as frequent referendums), social responsibilities, the right to rebel against injustice and the independence of the republic from foreign domination.

Reforms introduced by the 1999 constitution

The Constitutional Assembly itself drafted the new 1999 Venezuelan Constitution. With 350 articles, the document was, as drafted, one of the world's lengthiest constitutions.

Venezuela's official name: the "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela"

Despite the initial reluctance of the constituent assembly's deputies, it changed the country's official name from "Republic of Venezuela"” to the "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela". The change was made largely at Chávez's personal insistence.[8]

Five branches in the Venezuelan government

Significant changes were made to the separation of powers. Instead of the usual three branches of government, the new Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has five (Article 136):
  1. The executive branch (the Presidency).
  2. The legislative branch (the National Assembly).
  3. The judicial branch (the judiciary).
  4. The electoral branch (poder electoral, or "electoral power").
  5. The citizens' branch (poder ciudadano, or "citizens' power").
The electoral branch is headed by the National Electoral Council (CNE) and is responsible for the independent oversight of all elections in the country, municipal, state, and federal. The citizens' branch is constituted by the (defensor del pueblo) (ombudsman or "defender of the people"), the Chief Public Prosecutor (fiscal general), and the comptroller general (contralor general). It is responsible for representing and defending the citizens in their dealings with powers of the Venezuelan state. The legislative branch was changed from a bicameral system to a unicameral system.

A strengthened and recallable presidency

It also increased the presidential term of office from five to six years, subject to a limit of two terms. The document also introduced provisions for national presidential recall referendums – that is, Venezuelan voters now were to be given the right to remove their president from office before the expiration of the presidential term. Such referendums were to be activated upon provision of petitions with a valid number of signatures. The new provision was activated for the first time when such a referendum was held in 2004, but it failed to receive majority support. See Venezuelan recall referendum, 2004. The presidency was also strengthened, with the power to dissolve the National Assembly under certain conditions.
In 2009, term limits (not only that for president) were abolished by a referendum.

Political Parties

State financing of political parties was eliminated. Previously the state financed the two major political parties, the Acción Democratica and Copei.[9]

A unicameral and marginalized legislature

The new constitution also converted the formerly bicameral National Assembly into a unicameral legislature, and stripped it of many of its former powers. Thus, the new single-chamber National Assembly dropped the prior traditional arrangement of the bifurcation of legislative powers between a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. In addition, the legislative branch's powers were substantially reduced and transferred to the President of Venezuela.

The Public Defender

Provision was also made for a new position, the Public Defender (Defensoría del Pueblo), which was to be an office with the authority to check the activities of the presidency, the National Assembly, and the constitution – Chávez styled such a defender as the guardian of the so-called “moral branch” of the new Venezuelan government, thus putatively tasked with defending public and moral interests.
This is an idea derived from Bolivar's constitutionalism.

Public examination for judicial candidates

Lastly, the Venezuelan judiciary was reformed. Judges would, under the new constitution, be installed after passing public examinations and not, as in the old manner, be appointed by the National Assembly.

Human Rights

Prior to Chávez' election, Venezuela was often in violation of human rights standards. When Chávez re-wrote the constitution human rights was a re-occurring theme. Civil rights, such as the freedom of expression, assembly, and political participation are included, but so are social human rights, such as the right to employment, housing, and health care.[9] The violations continue. [10]

Health care as a human right

As Articles 83-85 under Title III of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution enshrine free and quality healthcare as a human right guaranteed to all Venezuelan citizens,[11] the Hugo Chávez administration has sought to fulfill its constitutional obligations via the Barrio Adentro program. Notably, Article 84 under Title III mandate that the healthcare furnished through such public programmes as Barrio Adentro be publicly funded, and explicitly proscribes under any circumstance its privatization. The relevant text from the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution reads:[12]
Article 83: Health is a fundamental social right and the responsibility of the State, which shall guarantee it as part of the right to life. The State shall promote and develop policies oriented toward improving the quality of life, common welfare and access to services. All persons have the right to protection of health, as well as the duty to participate actively in the furtherance and protection of the same, and to comply with such health and hygiene measures as may be established by law, and in accordance with international conventions and treaties signed and ratified by the Republic.
Article 84: In order to guarantee the right to health, the State creates, exercises guidance over and administers a national public health system that crosses sector boundaries, and is decentralized and participatory in nature, integrated with the social security system and governed by the principles of gratuity, universality, completeness, fairness, social integration and solidarity. The public health system gives priority to promoting health and preventing disease, guaranteeing prompt treatment and quality rehabilitation. Public health assets and services are the property of the State and shall not be privatized. The organized community has the right and duty to participate in the making- of decisions concerning policy planning, implementation and control at public health institutions.
Article 85: Financing of the public health system is the responsibility of the State, which shall integrate the revenue resources, mandatory Social Security contributions and any other sources of financing provided for by law. The State guarantees a health budget such as to make possible the attainment of health policy objectives. In coordination with universities and research centers, a national professional and technical training policy and a national industry to produce health care supplies shall be promoted and developed. The State shall regulate both public and private health care institutions.

Women's Rights

Progressive principles were implemented in the constitution with relation to women's rights. These additions made the government responsible for evaluating policies for discriminatory effects.[9] Motherhood, is now protected from the point of conception. This makes pre-natal care guaranteed and family planning provided by the state but conversely makes abortion more difficult.[9]
Article 21: All persons are equal before the law, and, consequently:
1. No discrimination based on race, sex, creed or social standing shall be permitted, nor, in general, any discrimination with the intent or effect of nullifying or encroaching upon the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on equal terms, of the rights and liberties of every individual.
2. The law shall guarantee legal and administrative conditions such as to make equality before the law real and effective manner; shall adopt affirmative measures for the benefit of any group that is discriminated against, marginalized or vulnerable; shall protect in particular those persons who, because of any of the aforementioned circumstances, are in a manifestly weak position; and shall punish those who abuse or mistreat such persons.
3. People will only be officially addressed as Citizens, except for diplomatic forms.
4. No titles of nobility or hereditary distinctions shall be recognized.[13]

Changes to Businesses

Article 308:
The State shall protect and promote small and medium-sized manufacturers, cooperatives, savings funds, family-owned businesses, small businesses and any other form of community association for purposes of work, savings and consumption under an arrangement of collective ownership, to strengthen the country's economic development, based on the initiative of the people.[13]
Article 308 of Title VI the Venezuelan constitution showed a changed view on businesses. This article sought to introduce support for alternative management of businesses. Mentioned in the article are cooperatives, family-owned businesses, small businesses and savings funds. The government supported these alternatives as a way to democratize capital and challenge oligopolistic control of the economy.[14] Cooperativism in Venezuela became a more prevalent business option after the introduction of this government support. Government support of cooperatives is found in Article 118 of Title III.
Article 118: The right of workers and the community to develop associations of social and participative nature such as cooperatives, savings funds, mutual funds and other forms of association is recognized. These associations may develop any kind of economic activities in accordance with the law. The law shall recognize the specificity of these organizations, especially those relating the cooperative, the associated work and the generation of collective benefits.
The state shall promote and protect these associations destined to improve the popular economic alternative.[13]

Amendments

Amendments proposed by President Chávez and parliament were twice decided in referendums:

See also

References


  • Planchart Manrique, Gustavo. "Constituciones de Venezuela" in Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela. Caracas: Fundación Polar, 1997. ISBN 980-6397-37-1
    1. Patrick Clark. Sowing the Oil? The Chavez Government's Policy Framework for an Alternative Food System in Venezuela. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations 33:1/2. pg 135-165

    External links


  • Elkins, Zachary, Tom Ginsburg, and James Melton. 2009. The Endurance of National Constitutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Wilpert, Gregory. (Venezuela Analysis, 27 Aug 2003). Venezuela’s New Constitution. Retrieved 9 Nov 2005.

  • Russell Pelle, "Venezuela enters 2000 with progressive new constitution," People's Weekly World.

  • Larry Rohter, "Voters Push Power Toward Venezuela Leader," New York Times, 26 July 1999.

  • Larry Rohter, New York Times, 27 August 2009.

  • El Pais (Spanish), 11 September 1999.
    Also, McGirk, Tim. (Time, 27 Dec 1999). "Hugo Chávez Frías". Retrieved 3 Nov 2005.

  • Wilpert, Gregory. "Venezuela’s New Constitution". venezuelaanalysis.com. Retrieved 13 April 2015.

  • http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/70

  • http://www.hrw.org/americas/venezuela

  • http://www.gobiernoenlinea.ve/docMgr/sharedfiles/059.pdf

  • Title Iii

  • http://venezuelanalysis.com/constitution

  • jueves, 8 de octubre de 2015

    VENEZUELA´S OIL EMISSION SCANDAL - FIRST AND WORSE THAN GERMANY´S EMISSION SCANDAL





    The USA accounts for 65 % of Venezuela´s oil exports, so far...




    Hugo Chavez - a double agent, who sold Venezuela for a Condominium at Fourth Avenue in New York, where they enjoy life and amenities...

    Germany´s Automotor Emission´s scandal is a distraction - compared with Venezuela´s scandal that disturbs president Barack Obama Climate Change Control Plan and even the recent signed TPP (TransPacific Plan)-  excluding Venezuela and Colombia.

    The  FMI reunion in Peru is another distractor since Venezuela´s Banks are monitored by the FMI and the World Bank.

    Crimea´s annexation by Russia is a crime- as Venezuela´s invasion by Communist Cuba.

    The USA is obliged by Law, to help Venezuela to expel communist Cuba as is acting regarding Germany´s Corruption Scandal.

    Carlos E Mijares, MD, former resdident and fellow, University of Kansas, School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas. USA.

    www.centromedicodecaracas.com.ve, www.worldallergy.org
    carlosmixares@gmail.com

    History of the Venezuelan oil industry

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    The Real and Nominal price of oil from 1968 to 2006.[1]
    Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporting country and has the world's largest proven oil reserves at an estimated 296.5 billion barrels (20% of global reserves) as of 2012. In 2008, crude oil production in Venezuela was the tenth-highest in the world at 2,394,020 barrels per day (380,619 m3/d) and the country was also the eighth-largest net oil exporter in the world. Venezuela is a founder member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).[2]

    Contents

    Pre-discovery years—1907

    The Indigenous peoples in Venezuela, like many ancient societies already utilized crude oils and asphalts from petroleum seeps, which ooze through the ground to the surface, in the years before the Spanish conquistadors. The thick black liquid, known to the locals as mene, was primarily used for medical purposes, as an illumination source, and for the caulking of canoes.[3]
    Upon arrival in the early 16th century, the Spanish conquerors learned from the indigenous people to use the naturally occurring bitumen for caulking their ships as well, and for treating their weapons. The first documented shipment of petroleum from Venezuela was in 1539 when a single barrel of oil was sent to Spain to alleviate the gout of Emperor Charles V.[3]

    1908–1940—The birth of the Venezuelan oil industry


    Juan Vicente Gómez

    Ancient office of Mene Grande Oil Company
    Despite the knowledge of the existence of oil reserves in Venezuela for centuries, the first oil wells of significance were not drilled until the early 1910s. In 1908, Juan Vicente Gómez replaced his ailing predecessor, Cipriano Castro, as the president of Venezuela. Over the next few years, Gómez granted several concessions to explore, produce, and refine oil. Most of these oil concessions were granted to his closest friends, and they in turn passed them on to foreign oil companies that could actually develop them.[4] One such concession was granted to Rafael Max Valladares who hired Caribbean Petroleum (later acquired by Royal Dutch Shell) to carry out his oil exploration project. On 15 April 1914, upon the completion of the Zumaque-I (now called MG-I) oil well, the first Venezuelan oilfield of importance, Mene Grande, was discovered by Caribbean Petroleum in the Maracaibo Basin.[3] This major discovery encouraged a massive wave of foreign oil companies to "invade" Venezuela in an attempt to get a piece of the action.
    From 1914 to 1917, several more oil fields were discovered across the country include the emblematic Bolivar Coastal Field; however World War I slowed significant development of the industry. Due to the difficulty in purchasing and transporting the necessary tools and machinery, some oil companies were forced to forego drilling until after the war. By the end of 1917, the first refining operations began at the San Lorenzo refinery to process the Mene Grande field production, and the first significant exports of Venezuelan oil by Caribbean Petroleum left from the San Lorenzo terminal. By the end of 1918, petroleum appeared for the first time on the Venezuelan export statistics at 21,194 metric tons.[3]
    It was the blowout of the Barroso No. 2 well in Cabimas in 1922[5] that marked the beginning of Venezuela's modern history as a major producer. This discovery captured the attention of the nation and the world. Soon dozens of foreign companies acquired vast tracts of territory in the hope of striking it rich, and by 1928 Venezuela became the world's leading oil exporter.[6] Oil ended Venezuela's relative anonymity in the eyes of world powers, making it a linchpin of an ever-expanding international oil industry and a new consideration in global policymaking.[7] Venezuela's oil production became a major factor in policy making in Washington before the Second World War.[8]
    Cabimas still plays an important role in production from the nation's largest oil fields, which are located around and beneath Lake Maracaibo. Other fields are increasing in importance, mainly in eastern Venezuela.[9] About twenty years after the installation of the first oil drill, Venezuela had become the largest oil exporter in the world and, after the United States, the second largest oil producer. Exports of oil boomed from 1.9% to 91.2% between 1920 and 1935.[10] By the end of the 1930s, Venezuela had become the third-leading oil producer in the world, behind the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as the leading exporter.[11]

    Dutch Disease

    By 1929, the dramatic development of the Venezuela oil industry had begun to dominate all other economic sectors in the country, however, agricultural production began to decrease dramatically.[12][13] This sudden increase of attention to oil and neglect of the agrarian sector caused the Venezuelan economy to suffer from a phenomenon known as the Dutch Disease. This "disease" occurs when a commodity brings a substantial increase of income in one sector of the economy, causing a strengthening of currency which in turn harms exports of manufacturing and other sectors.[12]
    Agriculture accounted for about one-third of economic production in the 1920s, but by the 1950s this fraction dramatically reduced to one-tenth. This sudden increase of oil production restricted Venezuela's overall ability to create and maintain other industries. The government had ignored serious social problems, including education, health, infrastructure, agriculture, and domestic industries, causing Venezuela to fall well behind other industrialized countries.[citation needed]

    Xenophobia

    With a large influx of foreign "invaders", the effects of a xenophobia that had not been seen before became apparent. Novelist Jose Rafael Pocaterra described the oilmen as "the new Spaniards". He wrote in 1918:
    One day some Spaniards mounted a dark apparatus on three legs, a grotesque stork with crystal eyes. They drew something (on a piece of paper) and opened their way through the forest. Other new Spaniards would open roads…would drill the earth from the top of fantastic towers, producing the fetid fluid…the liquid gold converted into petroleum.
    Popular resentment of the foreign oil companies was also evident and expressed in several ways. Rufino Blanco Fombona, a Venezuelan writer and politician, accounts for the conflict between Venezuelan workers and their foreign bosses in his 1927 novel, La Bella y la Fiera:
    The workers asked for a miserable salary increase and those blond, blue-eyed men who own millions of dollars, pounds and gulden in European and U.S. banks, refused.

    1940–1976—The road to nationalization


    Venezuela production of crude oil, 1950-2012
    In 1941, Isaías Medina Angarita, a former army general from the Venezuelan Andes, was indirectly elected president. One of his most important reforms during his tenure was the enactment of the new Hydrocarbons Law of 1943. This new law was the first major political step taken toward gaining more government control over its oil industry. Under the new law, the government took 50% of profits.[4][14] Once passed, this piece of legislation basically remained unchanged until 1976, the year of nationalization, with only two partial revisions being made in 1955 and 1967.[citation needed]
    In 1944, the Venezuelan government granted several new concessions encouraging the discovery of even more oil fields. This was mostly attributed to an increase in oil demand caused by an ongoing World War II, and by 1945, Venezuela was producing close to 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m3/d). Being an avid supplier of petroleum to the Allies of World War II, Venezuela had increased its production by 42 percent from 1943 to 1944 alone.[15] Even after the war, oil demand continued to rise due to the fact that there was an increase from twenty-six million to forty million cars in service in the United States from 1945 to 1950.[16] By the mid-1950s, however, Middle Eastern countries had started contributing significant amounts of oil to the international petroleum market, and the United States had implemented oil import quotas. The world experienced an over-supply of oil, and prices plummeted.[citation needed]

    Creation of OPEC

    Main article: OPEC

    OPEC countries
    In response to the chronically low oil prices of the mid and late 1950s, oil producing countries Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait met in Baghdad in September 1960 to form the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The main goals of the OPEC member countries was to work together in order to secure and stabilize international oil prices to ensure their interests as oil producing nations. This was managed largely via maintaining export quotas that helped prevent the overproduction of oil on an international scale.

    Oil Embargo of 1973

    Main article: 1973 oil crisis
    In the early 1970s, oil producing countries of the Persian Gulf began negotiations with oil companies in attempt to increase their ownership participation. In 1972 they rapidly obtained a 25 percent participation, and less than a year later they revised those agreements to obtain up to 60 percent participation in the ownership of the companies.[4] By 1973, OPEC Persian Gulf states members decided to raise their prices by 70 percent and to place an embargo on countries friendly to Israel (the United States and the Netherlands). This event became known as the 1973 oil crisis. Following a culmination of conflicts in the Middle East and the oil producing countries of the Persian Gulf no longer exporting to the United States and oil prices rising steeply, Venezuela experienced a significant increase in oil production profits. Between 1972 and 1974, the Venezuelan government revenues had quadrupled.[12] With a new sense of confidence, Venezuelan president Carlos Andrés Pérez pledged that Venezuela would develop significantly within a few years.[12] By substituting imports, subsidies, and protective tariffs, he planned to use oil profits to increase employment, fight poverty, increase income, and diversify the economy. However, OPEC members had been violating production quotas, and oil prices fell drastically again in the 1980s, pushing Venezuela deeper into debt.

    Nationalization


    Petroleum map of Venezuela, 1972
    Well before 1976, Venezuela had taken several steps in the direction of nationalization of its oil industry. In August 1971, under the presidency of Rafael Caldera, a law was passed that nationalized the country's natural gas industry. Also in 1971 the law of reversion was passed which stated that all the assets, plant, and equipment belonging to concessionaires within or outside the concession areas would revert to the nation without compensation upon the expiration of the concession.[4] The movement towards nationalism was experienced once again under decree 832. Decree 832 stipulated that all exploration, production, refining, and sales programs of the oil companies had to be approved in advance by the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons.[4]
    Nationalization become official when the presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez, whose economic plan, "La Gran Venezuela", called for the nationalization of the oil industry and diversification of the economy via import substitution. The country officially nationalized its oil industry on 1 January 1976 at the site of Zumaque oilwell 1 (Mene Grande), and along with it came the birth of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) which is the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company. All foreign oil companies that once did business in Venezuela were replaced by Venezuelan companies. Each of the former concessionaires was simply substituted by a new 'national' oil company, which maintained the structures and functions of its MNC-predecessor.[17] All the new companies are owned by a holding company-Peteroven or PDV- and in its turned owned by the State.[18] Ultimately not much had changed in this regard, as all Venezuelans with leading positions in the MNCs took over the leading positions of the respective new companies,[18] and therefore still securing their interests in Venezuela's oil. PDVSA controls activity involving oil and natural gas in Venezuela. In 1980, in an aggressive internationalization plan, PDVSA bought refineries in USA and Europe as the American Citgo that catapultated it to the third-largest oil company in the world.[12]

    1977–1998

    After the 1973 oil crisis, the brief period of economic prosperity for Venezuela was relatively short lived. This especially was the case during the "1980s oil glut". OPEC member countries were not strictly adhering to their assigned quotas, and once again oil prices plummeted. During the mid-1980s, Venezuela's oil production steadily began to rise.[19] By the 1990s, symptoms of the Dutch Disease were once again becoming apparent. Between 1990 and 1999, Venezuela's industrial production declined from 50 percent to 24 percent of the country's gross domestic product compared to a decrease of 36 percent to 29 percent for the rest of Latin America,[20] but production levels continued to rise until 1998.[19]
    However, the efficiency of PDVSA was brought into question over these years. From 1976-92, the amount of PDVSA’s income that went towards the company's costs was on average 29 percent leaving a remainder of 71 percent for the government. From 1993 to 2000, however, that distribution almost completely reversed, to where 64 percent of PDVSA's income were kept by PDVSA, leaving a remainder of only 36 percent for the government.[21]

    1999–today


    Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
    After Hugo Chávez officially took office in February 1999, several policy changes involving the country's oil industry were made to explicitly tie it to the state. In addition, he attempted to strengthen Venezuela’s infrastructure and other national industries to move the country towards a more developed nation.

    Chávez's role in the reinforcement of OPEC

    At the time of Chávez's election, OPEC had lost much of its influence compared to when it was first created. A combination of OPEC members, including Venezuela, regularly ignoring quotas and non-OPEC countries such as Mexico and Russia beginning to expand on their own petroleum industries resulted in record low oil prices to which hurt the Venezuelan economy. One of Chávez's main goals as president was to combat this problem by re-strengthening OPEC and getting countries to once again abide by their quotas. Chávez personally visited many of the leaders of oil producing nations around the world, and in 2000, he hosted the first summit of the heads-of-state of OPEC in 25 years (the 2nd ever).[12] Goals of this meeting, held in Caracas, included recuperating the credibility of Venezuela in OPEC, defending oil prices, consolidating relations between Venezuela and the Arab/Islamic world, and to strengthen OPEC in general.[citation needed]
    The meeting could be considered a success given the record high oil prices of the following years, but much of that is also a consequence of the 11 September 2001 attacks against the United States, the Iraq War, and the significant increase in demand for oil from developing economies like China and India, which helped prompt a surge in oil prices to levels far higher than those targeted by OPEC during the preceding period. In addition to these events, the December 2002 oil strike in Venezuela, which resulted in a loss of almost 3mmbpd of crude oil production, brought a sharp increase in world prices of crude.[22]

    2001 Hydrocarbons Law

    On 13 November 2001, under the enabling law authorized by the National Assembly, Chávez enacted the new Hydrocarbons Law, which came into effect in January 2002. This law replaced the Hydrocarbons Law of 1943 and the Nationalization Law of 1975. Among other things, the new law provided that all oil production and distribution activities were to be the domain of the Venezuelan state, with the exception of joint ventures targeting extra-heavy crude oil production. Under the new Hydrocarbons Law, private investors can own up to 49% of the capital stock in joint ventures involved in upstream activities. The new law also provides that private investors may own up to 100% of the capital stock in ventures concerning downstream activities, in addition to the 100% already allowed for private investors with respect to gas production ventures, as previously promulgated by the National Assembly.

    Tension between Chávez and PDVSA

    Chávez began setting goals of reinstating quotas, such as ten percent of PDVSA’s annual investment budget was to be spent on social programs.[23] He also changed tax policies and the oil revenue collection process.[12] Chavez initiated many of these major changes to exert more control over PDVSA and efficiently deal with the problems he and his supporters had over PDVSA’s small revenue contributions to the government.
    In December 2002, PDVSA officially went on strike creating a near-complete halt on oil production in Venezuela. The aim of the Venezuelan general strike of 2002-2003 was to pressure Chávez into resigning and calling early elections. The strike lasted approximately two months, and the government ended up firing 19,000 PDVSA employees and replacing them with workers loyal to the Chávez government.[24] When the strike ended, substantial macroeconomic damage had been done with unemployment up by 5 percent. This increase brought the country to a national unemployment peak of over 20 percent in March 2003.[25]

    "Re-nationalization" and tax reform

    Following the December 2002 to February 2003 oil strike, Chávez referred to regaining control of the industry as "re-nationalization". He aimed at improving the efficiency of PDVSA in the context of distributing a greater amount of its revenues to the government and also by certain changes in taxation. Certain tax reforms had already been implemented earlier in Chávez's first term. As of 2001, royalty payments were nearly doubled to 30 percent of the price at which every barrel is sold compared to before when it was 16.67 percent. Also in 2001, the government lowered the income tax levied on oil extraction from 67.6 percent to 50 percent.[12]
    In April 2002, the opposition took advantage of mass demonstrations in Caracas and attempted to overthrow Chavez. A few months after the failure of the coup and the return of Chavez, a combination of labor unions and business groups called for an "indefinite national strike" which, in many places, turned out to be a forced 'bosses lock out' where the employees were prevented from working.
    In 2006, the government had a 40 percent share which was announced to be increased by 20 percent. Some believe this move could potentially burden PDVSA with investment costs, but Chavez created several new subsidiaries of PDVSA to try to prevent unwanted costs from happening. These subsidiaries include agriculture, shipbuilding, construction, and industry.
    Different media and spokespersons have reported that Hugo Chávez nationalized oil when referring to these reforms. However, oil was nationalized in 1976.

    Today and the future

    Today, Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporting country in the world with the second-largest reserves of heavy crude oil (after Canada). Canada and Venezuela have significant potential for capacity expansion; Venezuela could potentially increase production capacity by 2.4 Mbbl/d (380,000 m3/d) from 2001 level (3.2 MMbpd) to 5.6 MMbpd by 2025[22] - although this would require significant amounts of capital investment by national oil company PDVSA. By 2010, Venezuelan production had in fact declined to ~2.25 Mbbl/d (358,000 m3/d). PDVSA have not demonstrated any capability to bring new oil fields onstream since nationalizing heavy oil projects in the Orinoco Petroleum Belt formerly operated by international oil companies ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Total.
    In 2005, PDVSA opened its first office in China, and announced plans to nearly triple its fleet of oil tankers in that region. Chávez had long stated that he would like to sell more Venezuelan oil to China so his country can become more independent of the United States. The United States currently accounts for 65 percent of Venezuela's exports.[26]
    In 2007, Chávez struck a deal with Brazilian oil company Petrobras to build an oil refinery in northeastern Brazil where crude oil will be sent from both Brazil and Argentina. A similar deal was struck with Ecuador where Venezuela agreed to refine 100,000 barrels (16,000 m3) of crude oil from Ecuador at discount prices. Cuba agreed to let thousands of Venezuelans be received for medical treatment and health programs, and in turn, Venezuela agreed to sell several thousands of barrels to Cuba at a 40% discount under Petrocaribe program.[citation needed]
    As of March 2010, PDVSA’s current strategic plan forecasts 5 million barrels per day (790,000 m3/d) for 2015 and 6.5 million barrels per day (1,030,000 m3/d) for 2020[27] PDVSA's goal to produce 6.5 million barrels per day (1,030,000 m3/d) by 2020 will likely be harder under Chavez’s policies, which hinder the potential increase of private investment.[27]
    The Chávez government used PDVSA resources to fund social programmes, treating it like a "piggybank",[28] and PDVSA staff were required to support Hugo Chávez. Experts reported that systematic underinvestment in the Venezuelan oil industry caused the August 2012 explosion at Amuay; Chávez called these reports "irresponsible".[29][30] The "string of accidents, outages and unplanned stoppages" then continued with a fire started by lightning at the El Palito refinery a month later.[31]

    See also

    Notes



  • Annual Energy Review 2006, Energy Information Administration

    1. "Crews extinguish fire at Venezuela's El Palito refinery", reuters.com; accessed 12 September 2015.

    References



  • US Energy Information Administration, “Country Energy Profiles: Venezuela”, US Energy Information Administration, [1]).

  • Anibal Martinez (1969). Chronology of Venezuelan Oil. Purnell and Sons LTD.

  • Gustavo Coronel (1983). The Nationalization of the Venezuelan Oil Industry. Heath and Company.

  • The Royal Dutch Shell Group of Companies in Venezuela, 1913-1922

  • Miguel Tinker Salas, The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela(United States: Duke University Press, 2009), 6.

  • Salas,6.

  • Ibid.

  • Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power [Simon and Schuster, 1990], pp. 233–236; 432

  • Franklin Tugwell (1975). The Politics of Oil in Venezuela. Stanford University Press.

  • Painter 2012, p. 26.

  • Gregory Wilpert, “The Economy, Culture, and Politics of Oil in Venezuela”, Venezuelanalysis.com, http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/74.

  • Suburban Emergency Management Project, “History of Venezuela’s Oil and Rentier Economy”, Suburban Emergency Management Project, http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=476.

  • Yergin, p. 435

  • Jose Toro-Hardy (1994). Oil: Venezuela and the Persian Gulf. Editorial Panapo.

  • Daniel Yergin (1991). The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power. Simon and Schuster.

  • Vegard Bye,"Nationalization of Oil in Venezuela: Re-defined Dependence and Legitimization of Imperialism." Journal of Peace Research, 16, no. 1 (1979): 67, accessed December 3, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/422789?seq=11.

  • Bye, "Nationalization of Oil in Venezuela:Re-defined Dependence and Legitimization of Imperialism", 67.

  • Venezuela peak

  • World Development Report 2000/2001. p. 297.

  • Bernard Mommer (2001). Venezuelan Oil Politics at the Crossroads. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Monthly Commentary.

  • Jan Kalicki, David Goldwyn (2005). Energy and Security. Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

  • Cesar J. Alvarez, “Venezuela’s Oil-Based Economy”, Council on Foreign Relations.

  • UN News Centre. "UN labour agency discusses repression in Myanmar, China, Colombia, Venezuela". Retrieved 12 September 2015.

  • Venezuelanalysis.com. "Venezuela's economy shows strong signs of recovery after lock-out/strike". Retrieved 14 April 2008.

  • Marijke van den Berg. ""Oil Chinese" in Venezuela are treading carefully". Retrieved 14 April 2008.

  • Sheridan Titman, “The Future Oil Production in Venezuela”, blogs.mccombs.utexas.edu, 23 March 2010.

  • ""Pdvsa is the government's piggy-bank," a U.S. official says". El Universal. 29 June 2004. Retrieved 28 June 2014.

  • "Huge blast stops Venezuela's main oil refinery Amuay". BBC, 25 August 2012.

  • "Chavez denies neglect in Venezuela oil fire", AlJazeera.com, 27 August 2012.