Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
HISTORY
The indigenous peoples of Venezuela relied on farming, along with hunting and
fishing, for generations, until Christopher Columbus made history in 1498 by being the first
European to arrive in Venezuela. Alonso de Ojeda, a Spaniard, launched a second voyage to
the region in 1499. He saw cottages on stilts and gave it the name Venezuela, which means
little Venice. In 1521, the Spanish established their first town in Venezuela, and they started
bringing in African slaves as well. But to the Spanish, Venezuela remained comparatively
insignificant. A national assembly proclaimed Venezuela independent on July 5, 1811,
however, it did not last long, since a year later, Spanish forces were again in charge. Simon
Bolivar eventually freed Venezuela in 1821. Initially, Venezuela was combined with Ecuador
and Colombia to form a state known as Gran Colombia, however, disintegrated quickly, and
Venezuela attained full independence in 1830. Venezuela was governed by military dictators
known as Caudillos in the 1800s, but general dissatisfaction with the system caused
several Civil wars, leading to the ever-changing constitution of Venezuela (Lambert, 2021).
GOVERNMENT
Venezuela has a lengthy past of enacting constitutional changes. Apart from the two
constitutional processes that transpired upon Venezuela's independence in 1811 and its
separation from Gran Colombia in 1830, numerous other constitutional processes were held in
Venezuela, including those that took place in 1858, 1863, 1893, 1901, 1914, 1946, 1953, and
1961. These instances of constitution-making procedures were typically the result of a
political overthrow, a revolution, or a civil war that de facto rejected the preexisting
constitution. But the 1999 reform was different, because it was the most recent. Not a coup,
revolution, or civil war, but Hugo Chávez's democratic election on December 6, 1998, served
as the catalyst for it. Since his failed coup attempt in 1999, Chávez had been considering
constitutional reform.
The 1999 Constitution altered the previous one in a number of ways. The Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela replaced the Republic of Venezuela as the official name of the nation.
Many of the modifications had to do with how the government was set up. Venezuela's three-
branch (executive, legislative, and judicial) form of government was changed to a five-branch
system by the 1999 Constitution. These five branches are the following: the president serves
as the head of the executive branch; the National Assembly serves as the legislative branch;
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the courts serve as the judicial branch; the National Electoral Council serves as the electoral
branch; and the Defender of the People, Chief Public Prosecutor, and Comptroller General,
who are in charge of protecting citizens state, make up the citizen's branch. The legislative
branch was likewise converted from bicameral to unicameral under the new Constitution.
Furthermore, the Constitution changed the nature of the presidency, giving Venezuela's more
powerful presidency than any other Latin American nations. The 1999 constitution extended
the five-year presidential term to six years, with a two-term limit for each president. It granted
the president the authority, subject to certain restrictions, to dissolve the National Assembly.
The right of the people to remove the president from office before the end of their term was
provided by the Constitution also included a presidential recall vote (ConstitutionNet, 2016).
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Some of the presidents of Venezuela who have held office since the country's
democratic system came into being in 1958 have outlined the fundamental ideas that shaped
their foreign policy. These included upholding human rights, allowing all peoples to exercise
their right to self-determination, refraining from interfering in other countries' internal affairs,
mediating international conflicts peacefully, guaranteeing peace and security to all peoples,
advocating for the end of colonialism, and demanding much higher export prices for the main
goods produced by developing nations, particularly oil. Throughout its history, Simón
Bolívar's vision of advancing the political and economic unification of Latin America has also
permeated Venezuela's foreign policy. Venezuela has made numerous attempts to uphold these
ideals in the democratic era. It continued to be an active member of the Organisation of
American States (OAS) and its affiliated bodies, OPEC, the United Nations (UN) and its
affiliated agencies, the Latin American Integration Association, and numerous other
international and regional organisations (U.S. Library of Congress, 2020).
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References
ConstitutionNet. (2016). Constitutional History of Venezuela. ConstitutionNet.
https://constitutionnet.org/country/venezuela
Lambert, T. (2021, March 14). A Brief History of Venezuela. Local Histories.
https://localhistories.org/a-brief-history-of-venezuela/
U.S. Library of Congress. (2020). Venezuela Foreign Relations. Countrystudies.us.
https://countrystudies.us/venezuela/50.htm
