For the past 2 months, Venezuela has been in the middle of a revolution. In February, students took to the streets in a nationwide protest. They were calling for better security, an end to goods shortages, the protection of freedom of speech, and an end to corruption. Since then, the government and its supporters have responded harshly to the protestors. Information has been blocked by the government as they have blacked out independent news media that have covered the protests. The Venezuelan government has also accused the protestors of being fascists and supported by the US government as an attempt at a coup. They also expelled the US diplomats from the country. For now, the protests have mostly been led by the middle class. So where do the Christians fit in to all of this? Traditionally, the Catholic church and the Venezuelan government have had tense relations, and just this week the Catholic church condemned the President's tactics of suppression of the protestors. In a country where crime and corruption are the daily norm, living a life of integrity and peace will not go unnoticed. This month as we pray for the Christians in Venezuela, let us pray that they will be a model for peaceful change as they boldly share the love of Christ and the reason for the hope that they have.
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Venezuela
Basic Info: Venezuela is located in
Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, between Colombia and Guyana. It
is slightly more than twice the size of California, and has a tropical climate,
though it's more moderate in the Highlands.
The country is on major sea and air routes linking North and South
America, and Angel Falls in the Guiana Highlands is the world's highest
waterfall. Spanish is the official
language, but there are numerous indigenous dialects. Of the 29 million population, 93% are urban
and 80% live along the Caribbean coast. Some concerns for the country are
sewage pollution of Lago de Valencia, oil and urban pollution of Lago de
Maracaibo, deforestation, soil degradation, urban and industrial pollution,
especially along the Caribbean coast, and the threat to the rainforest
ecosystem from irresponsible mining operations.
Also, the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial and
offshore waters in the Caribbean Sea as a significant risk for piracy and armed
robbery against ships. Numerous vessels,
including commercial shipping and pleasure craft, have been attacked and
hijacked both at anchor and while underway, and crews have been robbed and
stores or cargoes stolen. Colombia's
organized illegal narcotics and paramilitary activities have spilled over into
Venezuela's shared border region. In
2006, an estimated 139,000 Colombians sought protection in 150 communities
along the Venezuela border. Large
quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transit the country from Colombia
bound for US and Europe. There is significant narcotics-related
money-laundering activity, especially along the border with Colombia and on
Margarita Island. Venezuela is also a source, transit, and destination country
for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced
labor. Venezuelan women and girls are
trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation, lured from the nation's
interior to urban and tourist areas.
Women from Colombia, Peru, Haiti, China, and South Africa are also
reported to have been sexually exploited in Venezuela. Some Venezuelan women are transported to
Caribbean islands, particularly Aruba, Curacao, and Trinidad & Tobago,
where they are subjected to forced prostitution. Some Venezuelan children are forced to beg on
the streets or work as domestic servants, while Ecuadorian children, who are
often from indigenous communities, are subjected to forced labor. Venezuela does not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. However, they are making significant efforts
to do so. Public service announcements
and an awareness campaign on human trafficking have continued (2013).
Government: In 1830, when the country of
Gran Colombia collapsed, three new countries took its place: Ecuador, New
Granada (which became Colombia), and Venezuela. For most of the first half of
the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military
strongmen, who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms.
Democratically elected governments have held sway since 1959. Hugo Chavez,
president from 1999 to 2013, sought to implement his "21st Century
Socialism," which purported to alleviate social ills while at the same
time attacking capitalist globalization and existing democratic institutions.
Current concerns include: the weakening of democratic institutions, political
polarization, a politicized military, rampant violent crime, overdependence on
the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations
that are endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples. The country is a federal republic with its
civil law system based on Spanish civil code.
The current president is Nicolas Maduro Moros, and he was the former
Executive Vice President who assumed presidential responsibilities after the
death of President Chavez on 5 March 2013, and was officially sworn in on 8
March 2013. The country has a unicameral
National Assembly (165 seats; members elected by popular vote on a proportional
basis to serve five-year terms; three seats reserved for the indigenous peoples
of Venezuela).
Economy: Although poverty in Venezuela
did decline during the Chavez administration (nearly 50% in 1999 to about 27%
in 2011), it still remains high and some experts question how much of a role
social expenditures have played in this poverty reduction. Progress in lowering
poverty, income inequality, and unemployment may in fact be more closely linked
to the rise and fall of oil prices. In the long-run, education and healthcare
spending may increase economic growth and reduce income inequality, but rising
costs and the staffing of new healthcare jobs with foreigners are slowing
development. In the meantime, social investment has led to better living
standards, including increased school enrollment, a substantial reduction in
infant and child mortality, and greater access to potable water and
sanitation. Since Chavez came to power
in 1999, more than a million predominantly middle- and upper-class Venezuelans
are estimated to have emigrated. The 'brain drain' is attributed to a
repressive political system, lack of economic opportunities, steep inflation, a
high crime rate, and corruption. Thousands of oil engineers emigrated to Canada,
Colombia, and the United States following Chavez's firing of over 20,000
employees of the state-owned petroleum company during a 2002-2003 oil strike.
Additionally, thousands of Venezuelans of European descent have taken up
residence in their ancestral homelands. Nevertheless, Venezuela continues to
attract immigrants from South America and southern Europe because of its
lenient migration policy and the availability of education and healthcare.
Venezuela also has taken in more than 200,000 Colombian refugees. Venezuela
remains highly dependent on oil revenues, which account for roughly 95% of
export earnings, about 45% of federal budget revenues, and around 12% of GDP.
Fueled by high oil prices, record government spending helped to boost GDP
growth in 2011. Government spending, minimum wage hikes, and improved access to
domestic credit created an increase in consumption which combined with supply
problems to cause higher inflation - roughly 26% in 2011 and rising to more
than 56% in 2013. Former President Hugo Chavez's efforts to increase the
government's control of the economy by nationalizing firms in the agribusiness,
financial, construction, oil, and steel sectors hurt the private investment
environment, reduced productive capacity, and slowed non-petroleum exports. In
2013, Venezuela continued to wrestle with a housing crisis, an electricity
crisis, and rolling food and goods shortages - all of which were fallout from
the government's unorthodox economic policies.
It is estimated that around 7% of the population is unemployed. There
have been substantial improvements recently to telephone service in rural
areas. The combined fixed and
mobile-cellular telephone subscribership is 130 per 100 persons. The government
supervises a mixture of state-run and private broadcast media with 1 state-run
TV network, 4 privately owned TV networks, a privately owned news channel with
limited national coverage, and a government-backed pan-American channel. The state-run radio network includes 65 news
stations and roughly another 30 stations targeted at specific audiences. State-sponsored community broadcasters
include 244 radio stations and 36 TV stations.
The number of private broadcast radio stations has been declining, but
many still remain in operation in 2010.
Religion: Christian 84.5%, Non-Religious
12.7% With the death of President Hugo
Chavez on March 5, 2013, Venezuela has the opportunity for improved religious
freedom. Chavez, who came to power in a 1998 military coup, embraced socialism
and established an authoritarian regime strongly aligned with Iran and Cuba.
For many years there were strong tensions between Chavez and the Catholic
Church, whose members compose approximately 71 percent of the population.
During his battle with cancer, however, Chavez reportedly sought increased
spiritual guidance from Catholic religious leaders. Only 10 percent of
Venezuela’s Catholics attend Mass, making it “one of the least-churchgoing
nations in Latin America,” according to Operation World. High economic growth
has been accompanied by 27 percent inflation and high unemployment. The U.N.
Office on Drugs and Crime reports that Venezuela has the fifth-highest murder rate
in the world (even though their population is 1/10th of the US, they had more
murders last year than the US). On average, 58 people are murdered every day in
Venezuela. Operation World calls Caracas one of the “least reached areas” for
Christ in the country. VOM workers report that guerrilla bands from Colombia
are now moving into Venezuela to set up training camps and are seizing church
buildings in some rural areas. VOM distributes Bibles and other religious
literature in Venezuela, and supports a partner that broadcasts Christian radio
programs into the country.
Info compiled from CIAFactBook “Venezuela”; VOMCanada “Venezuela”
Operation World “Venezuela”
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