Venezuela

Area: 916,445 sq km (353,841 sq mi)

Population (2006 est.): 27,216,000

Capital: Caracas

Head of state and government: President Hugo Chávez Frías

Venezuelans elected Hugo Chávez to a second consecutive six-year presidential term on Dec. 3, 2006. Chávez received 63% of the balloting, with the largest number of votes coming from his Fifth Republic Movement (MVR). Four other organizations supporting him also won votes: "We Are Able" (610,000), the Fatherland over All (461,000), the Venezuelan Communist Party (284,000), and the People's Electoral Movement (75,000). The opposition, united behind Zulia Gov. Manuel Rosales , received only 37% of the vote.

President Chávez cast the 2006 presidential election as a key juncture on the Venezuelan path to "Twenty-first Century Socialism." Throughout the campaign he promised that if victorious he would change the country's political institutions in 2007. The day after his reelection, Chávez stated that the assorted groups that supported his presidential candidacy should dissolve themselves and integrate into the single revolutionary party that he was creating. He also informed his countrymen of his intention to call for a referendum that would empower a Constituent Assembly to draft a new socialist constitution to replace the Constitution of 1999. This announcement led Rosales to appoint a commission to orient the upcoming constitutional debate along social democratic lines. Specifically, high priority was to be given to guaranteeing minority rights, safeguarding private property, and protecting political pluralism. Some disagreement did exist within the Bolivarian Movement over the operational characteristics of 21st-century socialism; many in the opposition, however, feared that Venezuela 's political and economic system was on the cusp of a transformation into Cuban-style communism.

Venezuela 's economy grew from an annual rate of 9.2% between the second quarters of 2005 and 2006 to 10.2% in the third quarter of 2006, but it was expected to close in 2006 only at the level of per capita GDP that existed in 1998. Of even greater concern, the UN Human Development Report of 2006 estimated that Venezuela 's per capita income of Venezuela 's population lived in extreme poverty, subsisting on one dollar a day.$6,043 fell far short of the $8,255 recorded in 1977. Furthermore, the UN report found that 8.3% of

Increased income from petroleum provided additional resources for the Venezuelan government "missions" that focused on alleviating poverty and building support for the government. In the third quarter the price of a barrel of Maracaibo crude approached an all-time high of International Energy Agency, OPEC, and the United States Energy Information Administration estimated that Venezuelan oil production stabilized at 2.5 million bbl a day. This decrease reflected the impact of poor maintenance on a large number of producing wells. In 2006 PDVSA, Venezuela 's state petroleum company, intensified negotiations with the state oil companies of Iran , Russia , China , and Brazil to provide the technical expertise and capital that would raise Venezuela 's production capacity to 6.8 million bbl per day.$70 a barrel before stabilizing at just under $60. This facilitated a positive trade balance that was 37% higher than in 2005. It also allowed Venezuelan foreign reserves to surpass $30 billion. Proven domestic reserves of liquid petroleum stood at 86.7 billion bbl and, with the inclusion of viscous oil reserves from the Orinoco Tar Sands, approached 260 billion bbl. The

President Chávez intensified his campaign during 2006 to create a confederation of South American states that would serve as a counterweight to U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere. He boasted of having pumped Latin America , since taking power in 1999. On April 29 Chávez joined Bolivian Pres. Evo Morales ( Pres. Fidel Castro for a tripartite summit in Havana . At this gathering Bolivia joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). The stated purpose of ALBA was to advance "the process of integration," including "the exchange of goods and services which best correspond to the social and economic necessities of its members." On more than one occasion, however, Chávez referred to ALBA as an organization focused on reducing U.S. influence in Latin America . Within two days of his reelection as president, Chávez journeyed to Brazil , Uruguay , and Argentina , where he urged leaders to strengthen the South American Common Market (Mercosur). On December 8, while attending the South American continental summit in Cochabamba, Bol. , Chávez again voiced opposition to U.S. plans for a free-trade zone in the Americas.$16 billion of oil profits into three dozen countries, mostly in see Biographies) and Cuban

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