The development of the petrolum and the social and economic politics in Venezuela:the influences of the Chavism (1999-2006)

• Main Authors: Kai-min Wang, 王凱民
• Other Authors: Kuo-shin Ho
• Format: Others
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/47650675073545050077

碩士 === 靜宜大學 === 西班牙語文學系研究所 === 96 === Venezuela, a country rich in natural resources and especially in oil, is one of the main export countries of South America, yet people did not have the resources to improve their lives. Although the oil was discovered in the 1930’s, yet it was not until the 1970’s that the state-owned oil company (PDVSA) was formally established. Before this, the whole oil exploration rights held in the hands of foreign companies. Besides, in the 1970’s there was an energy crisis and at the end of 1990’s the Asian financial crisis took place; as a consequence, the oil prices gradually showed a rise, and this change became a new opportunity for the Venezuelan people. Although the Government and the constitution of Venezuela had been established since 1830, yet, the country was still in civil war and warlords exercised widespread rule in Venezuela until 1958 when General Marcos Pérez Jiménez was overthrown. Then, the political parties and various high-level members of the community established the Puntofijismo Agreement (Pacto de Punto Fijo) in order to end the warlord’s situation and started a new situation through a formal change of the ruling party of Venezuela. But the democratic government was still unable to improve people''s lives. Besides, in the late 1980’s there was a crisis owed to the external debt which made a huge impact in the economy of Venezuela; despite the political parties efforts to replace and impel the economic policies, yet, in the 1990’s, the outbreak of the financial crisis made the government policies unsuccessful. Therefore, Venezuelan people also began to desire to have a new president to lead the people out of poverty. Chavez, an ex-commander who was in prison for taking part in the 1992 military coup d’état and as a result became famous; so, in 1998, through democratic elections, Chavez became Venezuela''s first leftist president, whose personal charisma and speech made him look like the savior of the poor. As soon as he took office, he introduced constitutional amendments and impelled the political reforms, but all the opposition parties criticized him. So, in April 2002, another coup took place in Venezuela and at the end of the same year an unprecedented oil strike brought to a standstill Venezuela’s economic pillar, and in 2004, launched by the opposition forces, a referendum asked the president to step down. President Hugo Chavez managed to survive all these events, but did the lives of people improve? Therefore, this paper studies the Government of Chavez since he took office in 1999 to 2006, the influence of his policies on the people and how he used his populism to get the support of voters. The main research question is: “has policies implemented by Chavez improved the economic and social situation?” This paper will present the historical development of the policies implanted by Chavez based on economic and social data.