VENEZUELA WEALTHY, RICH IN OIL

By Bob Van Leer

  (CARACAS, BRAZIL, OCT. 15, 1990) - Betty and I arrived in Caracas in the wee hours of the morning with our NNA Study Mission group after a 2.5 hour flight on Aero Boliviano. Around the world it doesn't matter much what country's airline you fly on. Most of them fly Boeing airplanes. This one was a 727-200.

  We left Manaus at 2:25 a.m. and arrived in Caracas a little before our scheduled 4:55 a.m. arrival time. We were bused to our hotel, the Caracas Hilton, which one of our party said is the largest hotel in South America. The Amazonas Hotel in Manaus tried hard, but it is an old hotel and just doesn't compare to the Caracas Hilton.

  A week ago we would have described the weather in Caracas as hot. But after a few days in the sweltering heat of the humid Amazon rain forest, Caracas is cool. The hotel is really first class and the air conditioning tends to keep the room too cool, a problem we didn't have in Manaus.

  After checking in, the dining room was open and we had breakfast before heading for bed. There was time for only three hours sleep before our first appointment at noon.

Newspaper Day

  Today was to be newspaper day. Our first appointment was at the office of Diario El Universal, a large daily newspaper. On the walls near the newspaper were graffiti reading, "Gringos Out of Panama" and "Panama Si - Yanki No".

  Venezuela is a wealthy country, it is rich in oil. The country overextended itself with foreign debt but, just recently, appears to have gotten this under control. The country has a population of about 20 million in an area of 350,000 square miles, the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined. So the population density is not high except that about 8 million of these live in the capital city, Caracas, according to our guide. The country has a growth rate between 2 and 3 percent and half of the population is 22 or younger.

   Venezuela has two seasons, dry and rainy, and the rainy season is just starting. Caracas is dominated by mountain peaks named Avila which rise to 3500 meters. Andres de Armas, general manager of El Universal and president of the country's principal press association, said the country has full freedom of the press. He said Venezuela is rapidly modernizing and a free press is part of this. A military dictatorship was thrown out in a coup in 1958 and the press has been free since then.

  Louis Teofila Nunez, owner of El Universal and former president of the Inter American Press Association, said most of Venezuela's newspapers are family owned. Several of the dailies have national circulation. He said Venezuela's newspapers receive no government subsidy. Income is mainly from advertising and also from circulation.

Gulf Dangerous

  He said U.S. newspapers don't do enough coverage of South America. The Persian Gulf situation is considered very dangerous, he said. Higher oil prices bring in more money to Venezuela but also will raise prices the country has to pay for what it buys.

  Nunez said Venezuela is capable of producing enough food to feed itself but is not now doing so. He said once Venezuela exported rice, sugar and meats.

  Nunez said feelings in Venezuela were divided on the U.S. invasion of Panama. The government was a little against it but Gen. Noriega's activities in drugs affected us too.

  In spite of the graffiti, Nunez said Venezuela has good relations with the U.S. He said Venezuela supplies 10 percent of the U.S. oil market and the majority of it is refined, rather than crude oil. He said Venezuela owns four refineries in the U.S. (Citgo is one). The country also has a joint venture in Germany and is buying a refinery in Czechoslovakia.

  Nunez said unemployment in Venezuela is 11 percent and he said this is good for South America. Schooling in the country is free to college level and mandatory to the sixth grade. The illiteracy rate is 20 percent. The members of our party were all bushed and no activity is planned for the evening.

  Tomorrow we are fortunate in having a meeting scheduled with President Carols Andres Perez of Venezuela. Betty and I have been in a number of countries on these study missions but this is the first time we have ever been privileged to be received by the president, himself.