The Venezuela Reader

  1999: Landslides in Venezuela Left 50,000 People Dead or Missing,   Politics Complicated the Relief Effort The State of Vargas was renamed “La Guaira” in 2019. La Guaira (Vargas) is located on the Caribbean Sea on an alluvial plain created by soil washed down from a nearby mountain range. The population of Vargas in 1999 was about 298,000 people. Between December 14 and 16, 1999, the region received 36 inches of rainfall. Mudslides caused massive destruction of most of the state infrastructure, including the collapse of most roads, bridges, housing, public and private buildings, and of basic services including electricity and communications. Official estimates were that some 50,000 were dead or missing.   The victims washed out to sea or buried under layers of mud could not be counted. In the following weeks, nearly the entire state's population was displaced. Hugo Chavez was elected President of Venezuela in December 1998. During 1999, a Constitutional Assembly had...

  2005: US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s Criticism of Venezuela’s Purchase of 100,000 AK-47s Received No Support from Latin American Countries In 2005, the Venezuelan armed forces were poorly equipped: ·        “The Venezuelan armed forces are poorly equipped as a result of several years of underfunding.   According to an independent report, its armed forces are a ‘hollow shell’ that is so weakened by budget cuts that soldiers patrolling the border region often lack uniforms, boots, helmets, body armor and ammunition.” [1] The Venezuelan Government began” shopping around” to modernize its Armed Forces.[2] Upgrading the Country’s Army Service Rifle was a high priority. Venezuela and ninety other countries began using the Belgian FAL rifle in the 1950s. Most countries switched to other rifles in the 1980s and 1990s. The FAL was still the main service rifle of the Venezuelan Army in 2005.In 2005 Venezuela purchased 100,000 Kalashnikov AK-47 rif...

  2011: Globovision was Fined $2.1 million for TV Coverage of a Prison Riot A riot broke out in Rodeo-2 Prison on June 2011 when some 22 people were killed as rival gangs clashed. [1] Fifty rioting inmates took some 800 inmates hostage.5000 National Guard troops were sent and surrounded the prison. The prison was located in the city of Guatire, near Caracas. Many people came out from Caracas to check on relatives who were hostages. Fires broke out in the prison; gunshots were heard. People became highly anxious and confronted the troops. Globovision (a 24-hour news station) ran extensive coverage of the El Rodeo-2 prison riot. The TV station ran the same video of eighteen distraught relatives 269 times in four days. They added a soundtrack of machine guns being fired. They did not run any coverage of what the government was doing to resolve the crisis.[4] The hostage situation was resolved through dialogue and denial of food and water to the prison gangs. No hostages were kil...

  2016: The National Assembly Passed a Housing Law which the Supreme Court Declared Unconstitutional Beginning in the 1930s people began moving from rural to urban areas. No programs were adopted to provide housing. Millions of people erected makeshift dwellings on hillsides creating the “Barrios.” Many of these dwellings were substandard. Many families could not afford to purchase private housing elsewhere. The Great Housing Mission was established in 2011 by Hugo Chavez’s government. Public funds are used to build the homes which are then permanently leased to residents. The residents effectively own the home to permanently live in, but are barred from freely selling their units. The government provides residents with a payment plan based on their means. By January 2016, a million homes had been built [1].   On January 14, 2016, opposition Deputy Julio Borges introduced a Bill to privatize public housing. Residents would be granted deeds to their properties, allowing the...

  2008: President Chavez Cancelled His Law on Intelligence Agencies after 14 Days of Criticism On February 1, 2007, the National Assembly passed an “enabling law” which allowed President Chavez to pass laws by decree in eleven different areas for a period of eighteen months. Chavez used his decree power to enact a major overhaul of Venezuela’s intelligence agencies. The Law came into effect on May 28, 2008 after being published in the Official Gazette . The new law dissolved Venezuela’s two main intelligence services and replaced them with new agencies, to be overseen by the President. Chavez said that the Law was intended to protect national security and combat U.S. interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela. [1] The Law required Venezuelan citizens to comply with requests from the intelligence services to assist with intelligence-gathering. Citizens who refused could face prison terms of two to four years, while government employees could face four to six years. The La...

  2007: President Chavez Lost an Election to Amend the Constitution On August 15, 2007, President Chavez proposed amending 33 articles of Venezuela’s 350-article 1999 Constitution. The proposed constitutional reforms were needed, according to Chavez, to complete the transition to a “socialist republic.” [4] To reform the Constitution, Venezuela’s constitutional procedures require three debates before the National Assembly. The first two debates were held on August 21 and September 11, 2007. The third debate was on October 25, 2007 and the National Assembly approved the proposal, enlarged from 33 articles to 69. Final parliamentary approval for the referendum was given on November 2, 2007. The National Assembly sent the proposed amendments to the Electoral Council to arrange for a national referendum. The Electoral Council set December 2, 2007 for the National Referendum. The CNE divided the 69 amendments into two packets (A&B) for voting. The CNE arranged for four televise...