Venezuela Politics and History
Venezuela is situated in South America next to Colombia, Brazil and Guyana and was originally inhabited by Carib, Arawak and Chibcha peoples who farmed and hunted along the coast, the Andean mountain range and the Orinoco River. The first permanent Spanish settlement was established in 1522 and Venezuela became a Spanish colony until independence in 1811 as part of Gran Colombia, from which it later seceded.
Venezuela was governed by a series of military dictatorships until 1958 when Romulo Betancourt won the first democratic presidential election. The 1970s oil crisis brought windfall profits to Venezuela’s oil industry but created further social tensions due to unequal wealth distribution. Unrest grew during the 1980s, when oil prices fell and social programmes were cut, and resulted in an historic agreement between government, business and trades unions.
Tags: andean mountain range, hugo chavez frias, international monetary fund, international monetary fund imf, windfall profitsBuilding Your Business – Are Politics and Peacemaking Mutually Exclusive
It is easy to assume that all politics and peacemaking can be mutually exclusive. The truth is that there are many situations that in order to keep the peace, politics may be involved or even get in the way. Where there is a dispute of uncommon interests, whether it is to gain control, power or leadership that is politics. God teaches us on how we should be if we are to be His children. As human beings created by God we are asked to be images of the Father. In doing so, we bring peace to ourselves and to others.
In many organizations, there are internal conflicts, and even key leaders begin to make their case and use politics in what they hope may either bring the peace or put an end to what they believe is disrupting their peace. Vice Presidents will threaten other departments by flexing their control should those departments not do as they are told. When we discuss politics, we discuss the policies and processes that are brought up for debate. These same policies dictate the path towards peacemaking as a societal whole. But it is also important to remember that it also brings about additional conflict within the groups and hence another opportunity for peacemaking. Take a look at what took place in Ireland in 1997.
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