Conventional Long Form Name of Country: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Capital City: Caracas
Type of Government: federal presidential republic
Date of Independence: 5 July 1811 (from Spain)
National Holidays: independence Day, 5 July (1811)
Chief of State: President Nicolas MADURO Moros
Head of Government: President Nicolas MADURO Moros
Description of Executive Branch/Powers: Council of Ministers appointed by the president.president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a 6-year term (no term limits); election last held on 14 April 2013 - a special election held following the death of President Hugo CHAVEZ Frias on 5 March 2013 (next election expected in late 2018 or early 2019 pending official convocation by the country's electoral body)
Description of Legislative Branch/Powers: unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (167 seats; 113 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 51 directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote, and 3 seats reserved for indigenous peoples of Venezuela; members serve 5-year terms)
Description of Judicial Branch/Powers: Supreme Tribunal of Justice, Superior or Appeals Courts (Tribunales Superiores); District Tribunals (Tribunales de Distrito); Courts of First Instance (Tribunales de Primera Instancia); Parish Courts (Tribunales de Parroquia); Justices of the Peace (Justicia de Paz) Network. judges proposed by the Committee of Judicial Postulation (an independent body of organizations dealing with legal issues and of the organs of citizen power) and appointed by the National Assembly; judges serve non-renewable 12-year terms.
Suffrage: 18 years of age; Universal
Name of THEIR Ambassador to the U.S.: Ambassador (vacant) (since July 2014); Charge d'Affaires (vacant) (since March 2016)
Location of THEIR embassy in the U.S.: 1099 30th Street NW, Washington, DC 20007
Locations of THEIR consulates in the U.S.: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico)
Name of U.S. Ambassador to THEM: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Lee MCCLENNY (July 2014)
Location of U.S. embassy THERE: Calle F con Calle Suapure, Urbanizacion Colinas de Valle Arriba, Caracas 1080
Locations of U.S. consulates THERE: Carcas, Venezuela
Name of THEIR representative to UN: Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño
Description of the Symbolism of flag: three equal horizontal bands of yellow (top), blue, and red with the coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band and an arc of eight white five-pointed stars centered in the blue band; the flag retains the three equal horizontal bands and three main colors of the banner of Gran Colombia, the South American republic that broke up in 1830; yellow is interpreted as standing for the riches of the land, blue for the courage of its people, and red for the blood shed in attaining independence; the seven stars on the original flag represented the seven provinces in Venezuela that united in the war of independence; in 2006, then President Hugo CHAVEZ ordered an eighth star added to the star arc - a decision that sparked much controversy - to conform with the flag proclaimed by Simon Bolivar in 1827 and to represent the historic province of Guyana
National Symbols: troupial (bird); national colors: yellow, blue, red
Descriptions of International Disputes: 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 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 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; US, France, and the Netherlands recognize Venezuela's granting full effect to Aves Island, thereby claiming a Venezuelan Economic Exclusion Zone/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
Quantity of refugees inside country AND countries of origin of refugees: 173,673 (Colombia) (2015)
Quantity of Internally Displaced Persons: N/A
Quantity of Stateless Persons: N/A
Description of current human trafficking issues related to this country: Venezuela is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Venezuelan women and girls, sometimes lured from poor interior regions to urban and tourist areas, are trafficked for sexual exploitation within the country, as well as in the Caribbean; Venezuelan children are exploited, frequently by their families, in domestic servitude; people from South America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa are sex and labor trafficking victims in Venezuela; thousands of Cuban citizens, particularly doctors, who work in Venezuela on government social programs in exchange for the provision of resources to the Cuban Government experience conditions of forced labor.
Description of Illicit Drug trafficking/use: small-scale illicit producer of opium and coca for the processing of opiates and coca derivatives; however, large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transit the country from Colombia bound for US and Europe; significant narcotics-related money-laundering activity, especially along the border with Colombia and on Margarita Island; active eradication program primarily targeting opium; increasing signs of drug-related activities by Colombian insurgents on border.
Capital City: Caracas
Type of Government: federal presidential republic
Date of Independence: 5 July 1811 (from Spain)
National Holidays: independence Day, 5 July (1811)
Chief of State: President Nicolas MADURO Moros
Head of Government: President Nicolas MADURO Moros
Description of Executive Branch/Powers: Council of Ministers appointed by the president.president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a 6-year term (no term limits); election last held on 14 April 2013 - a special election held following the death of President Hugo CHAVEZ Frias on 5 March 2013 (next election expected in late 2018 or early 2019 pending official convocation by the country's electoral body)
Description of Legislative Branch/Powers: unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (167 seats; 113 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 51 directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote, and 3 seats reserved for indigenous peoples of Venezuela; members serve 5-year terms)
Description of Judicial Branch/Powers: Supreme Tribunal of Justice, Superior or Appeals Courts (Tribunales Superiores); District Tribunals (Tribunales de Distrito); Courts of First Instance (Tribunales de Primera Instancia); Parish Courts (Tribunales de Parroquia); Justices of the Peace (Justicia de Paz) Network. judges proposed by the Committee of Judicial Postulation (an independent body of organizations dealing with legal issues and of the organs of citizen power) and appointed by the National Assembly; judges serve non-renewable 12-year terms.
Suffrage: 18 years of age; Universal
Name of THEIR Ambassador to the U.S.: Ambassador (vacant) (since July 2014); Charge d'Affaires (vacant) (since March 2016)
Location of THEIR embassy in the U.S.: 1099 30th Street NW, Washington, DC 20007
Locations of THEIR consulates in the U.S.: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico)
Name of U.S. Ambassador to THEM: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Lee MCCLENNY (July 2014)
Location of U.S. embassy THERE: Calle F con Calle Suapure, Urbanizacion Colinas de Valle Arriba, Caracas 1080
Locations of U.S. consulates THERE: Carcas, Venezuela
Name of THEIR representative to UN: Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño
Description of the Symbolism of flag: three equal horizontal bands of yellow (top), blue, and red with the coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band and an arc of eight white five-pointed stars centered in the blue band; the flag retains the three equal horizontal bands and three main colors of the banner of Gran Colombia, the South American republic that broke up in 1830; yellow is interpreted as standing for the riches of the land, blue for the courage of its people, and red for the blood shed in attaining independence; the seven stars on the original flag represented the seven provinces in Venezuela that united in the war of independence; in 2006, then President Hugo CHAVEZ ordered an eighth star added to the star arc - a decision that sparked much controversy - to conform with the flag proclaimed by Simon Bolivar in 1827 and to represent the historic province of Guyana
National Symbols: troupial (bird); national colors: yellow, blue, red
Descriptions of International Disputes: 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 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 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; US, France, and the Netherlands recognize Venezuela's granting full effect to Aves Island, thereby claiming a Venezuelan Economic Exclusion Zone/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
Quantity of refugees inside country AND countries of origin of refugees: 173,673 (Colombia) (2015)
Quantity of Internally Displaced Persons: N/A
Quantity of Stateless Persons: N/A
Description of current human trafficking issues related to this country: Venezuela is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Venezuelan women and girls, sometimes lured from poor interior regions to urban and tourist areas, are trafficked for sexual exploitation within the country, as well as in the Caribbean; Venezuelan children are exploited, frequently by their families, in domestic servitude; people from South America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa are sex and labor trafficking victims in Venezuela; thousands of Cuban citizens, particularly doctors, who work in Venezuela on government social programs in exchange for the provision of resources to the Cuban Government experience conditions of forced labor.
Description of Illicit Drug trafficking/use: small-scale illicit producer of opium and coca for the processing of opiates and coca derivatives; however, large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transit the country from Colombia bound for US and Europe; significant narcotics-related money-laundering activity, especially along the border with Colombia and on Margarita Island; active eradication program primarily targeting opium; increasing signs of drug-related activities by Colombian insurgents on border.
Chief of State and Head of Government President Nicolas MADURO.
Venezuela National Anthem