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Venezuela - GENERAL INFORMATION
 
Population - Local time - Languages - Religion - Political system - Climate - Tourism - Food



Population



Main Cities Population
Caracas   3,500,000  
Maracaibo   1,200,000  
Valencia   1,034,000  
Maracay   255,000  
Barquisimeto   504,000  
Ciudad Guyana   140,000  



Total population (millions): 26.1
Source: World Bank 2004

Urban population: 88%
Source: World Bank 2004

Average annual population growth: 1.7%
Source: World Bank 2004

Surface area (km²) : 912,050


Population origin

Origin of the population% Of the population
Half-caste67
Native European21
African10
Amerindian2


Local time


It is %T:%M %A in Caracas


GMT-4


Languages


Official language: Spanish
Business language: English is fluently spoken

Free translation tools in Venezuela :
Babel Fish
Free English-Spanish-English translation of texts and web pages

Systran
Free French-Spanish-French translation of texts and web pages

Dictionarios.com
Free Spanish-Catalan-English-French Dictionary



Religion


Religious practises : Catholics 96%
Protestants 2%
Others 2%.


Political system


Venezuela's regime is democratic and presidential. The President holds the executive power and the National Congress is composed of the Senate and the House of deputies. Both executive and legislative powers are elected for five years.
The capital is Caracas.
Head of State: President Hugo Rafael Chavez Friaz, since February 2,1999, relected in July 2000.


Climate

 


Tourism

Number of visitors in Venezuela 2002 2003 2004 World rank
Number of visitors (1000) 432   337   492   n.a.
Source : World Tourisme Organization, data available in November 2005

 

Tourist sites


The city of Caracas must be visited, even though a big part of the old centre has been destroyed by the earthquake in 1812 ; however, the Cathedral, the "Panteon Nacional" and the Parliament have been preserved.

For more information about tourism in Venezuela , check out the following web site(s) :
Venezuelan Tourism Board


Food


Traditional dishes


The venezuelan food is famous for being very aromatic. Most dishes are indeed sprinkled with saffron and cumin on top.
Local culinary specialties:
Tequenos: fried cheeses fritters
Arepas: traditional bread
Tostadas: Hot cheese, spicy meat, chicken, salad and local cooked pork meats sandwiches.
Guasacaca: flavoured roasted meat
Pabellon criollo: minced meat served with fried plantain, rice and black beans.
Hallaca: Christmas and New Year's Day dish: pork, beef, ham and green peppers sprinkled with corn flour on top, which is then used as a stuffing in banana skins. This preparation is then cooked in a stock.
Parrilla criolla: barbecued marinaded beef.
Puree of apio: venezuelan puree.
The coffee is excellent in Venezuela.
Merengada: soft drink made of pulps of fruits with ice cubes, milk and sugar blended together. The batido is a similar drink but water replaces the milk.
Pousse-caf? liqueur of the country.

Food-related taboos


No specific culinary taboos in Venezuela.

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Last modified in October 2005
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