New Durham
Baptist Church

• Background:

  Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Ecuador). 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. Current concerns include: a polarized political environment, a politicized military, drug-related violence along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations that are endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples.

• Location:

  Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, between Colombia and Guyana

• Natural Resources:

  petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower, diamonds

• Natural Hazards:

  subject to floods, rockslides, mudslides; periodic droughts

• Area - comparative:

  Slightly more than twice the size of California.

• Government Type:

  Federal Republic

• Capital; & Population:

  Caracas — 26,814,843 (July 2009 est.)

• Independence:

  5 July 1811 (from Spain)

• Ethnic groups:

  Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African, indigenous people

• Religions:

  nominally Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2%, other 2%

• Disputes - International:

  claims all of the area west of the Essequibo River in Guyana, preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into their waters; dispute with Colombia over maritime boundary and Venezuelan-administered Los Monjes islands near the Gulf of Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics and paramilitary activities penetrate Venezuela's shared border region; in 2006, an estimated 139,000 Colombians sought protection in 150 communities along the border in Venezuela; US, France, and the Netherlands recognize Venezuela's granting full effect to Aves Island, thereby claiming a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest Venezuela's full effect claim

* Based on CIA-The World Factbook