Freedom Circle logo
Freedom Circle

Where Can You Find Freedom Today?

Territory in northern South America, ruled since 1999 by the República Bolivariana de Venezuela

Venezuela, officially Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a federal republic on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and a large number of small islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of Caracas. It has a territorial extension of 916,445 km². The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Colombia, Brazil on the south, Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east and on the east by Guyana. With this last country, the Venezuelan government maintains a claim for Guayana Esequiba over an area of 159,542 km². For its maritime areas, it exercises sovereignty over 71,295 km² of territorial waters, 22,224 km² in its contiguous zone, 471,507 km² of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean under the concept of exclusive economic zone, and 99,889 km² of continental shelf. This marine area borders those of 13 states. The country has extremely high biodiversity and is ranked seventh in the world's list of nations with the most number of species. There are habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon basin rain-forest in the south via extensive llanos plains, the Caribbean coast and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.

Geographical type: Territory

Latitude: 4° N — Longitude: 72° W

Area: 916,445 km²

ISO 3166-2 code: VE

Measures of Freedom

Human Freedom Index [PDF], The Human Freedom Index 2023: A Global Measurement of Personal, Civil, and Economic Freedom
2021: 4.22, Rank: 160, Personal freedom: 5.09, Economic freedom: 3.01
Level of Economic Freedom, Economic Freedom of the World
2014: 3.29, Rank: 159
Venezuela | Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2024
2016: Status: Partly Free, Aggregate Score: 35, Political Rights: 5, Civil Liberties: 5
An opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), won a dramatic victory in parliamentary elections on December 6, overcoming the ruling party's intimidation and continued manipulation of the electoral environment. With a turnout of over 74 percent, voters gave the opposition a tenuous supermajority in the National Assembly.

Articles

Right and Simple, by Charley Reese, 30 Dec 2006
Discusses the proposition that "the right thing to do is both simple to state and simple to understand" in the context of the drug war and the political situation in Venezuela, Colombia and the United States
Usually, the right thing to do is both simple to state and simple to understand ... The right thing to do, for example, in regard to Venezuela is to buy Venezuelan products, primarily oil, and refrain from interfering in the country's internal affairs. It is of no concern to Americans if Venezuela opts for a socialist government ... It's because interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs is the wrong thing to do that you get all of this hogwash from the government—that Venezuela isn't doing its part in the war on drugs, that its president is causing "instability" in the region.
Trump’s Support and Praise of Despots Is Central to the U.S. Tradition, Not a Deviation From It, by Glenn Greenwald, 2 May 2017
Discusses recent criticism of Donald Trump that claims that his foreign policy towards known dictators and tyrants constitutes a major shift, when in fact that has been standard U.S. policy since at least the end of World War II
When a right-wing coup in 2002 temporarily succeeded in removing Venezuela's ... Hugo Chávez, the New York Times ... cast it as a victory for democracy: "With yesterday's resignation of President Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator. Mr. Chávez, a ruinous demagogue, stepped down after the military intervened and handed power to a respected business leader." ... [T]he Times announced that Chávez's "removal was a purely Venezuelan affair," even though it was ... thereafter revealed that neocon officials in the Bush administration played a vital role.
Venezuela Reminds Us That Socialism Frequently Leads to Dictatorship, by Marian Tupy, 4 Apr 2017
Comments on the political events and economic situation in Venezuela, and Hayek's warnings against central planning
On March 29, the Supreme Court of Venezuela dissolved the country's elected legislature, allowing Venezuela's top court to write future laws. The court is filled with allies of Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, while the legislature is dominated by Maduro's opponents, and the court's ruling was seen as the latest step on Venezuela's descent into a full-fledged dictatorship ... [B]etween 1999, when Hugo Chavez took over as President, and 2016, average per capita income in Venezuela rose by 2 percent. In the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean, it rose by 41 percent.
Related Topics: F. A. Hayek, Socialism, Zimbabwe

The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Venezuela" as of 16 Sep 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.