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Spain’s colonization of Venezuela began in 1502 when it established its first settlement in the present-day city of Cumana. 

In the 16th century, the priority for Spanish settlers was to strike it rich by mining gold. Still others searched high and low for the fabled lost city of El Dorado, supposedly brimming with treasure. The first economic success story of Venezuela involved the raising of livestock, supported by the grassy plains known as llanos. The result was a feudal society of widely dispersed Spanish landowners and Native-American horse herdsmen. In the 17th century, the cash crop in Venezuela became chocolate, as demand grew in Europe, and subsequently coffee. But the real boon for Venezuela’s economy lay with its extensive oil reserves. By 1928, Venezuela had become the world’s leading exporter of oil. President Juan Vicente Gomez opened up the country’s oil reserves to foreign companies as a way to mitigate the dept acquired after World War I. There followed cycles of nationalization and privatization in response to falling oil prices and debt, which had severe impacts on the economy and wellbeing as oil represented a quarter of the country’s GDP and does to this day. 

Venezuela was ruled by the Spanish empire until 1821 when the country’s hero Simon Bolivar won independence for the country. Before that, when the colony was still connected to Spain, the ruling class was a small number of Creole elites. Creoles are people of mixed European and African or indigenous ancestry. These creoles based their claims to power based on blood linkages to Spanish royalty. The new aristocracy they created in Venezuela earned them the name of “Mantuanos” or noblemen. However, the relationship between these elites and the Spanish empire began to deteriorate in the 18th century. The creoles sustained their supremacy through brutal suppression and exploitation of the indigenous and black population, and brutal modes of governance have been hallmarks of Venezuelan statesmanship ever since – most attributed to president Juan Vicente Gomez in the early 20th century. Today the Venezuelan government is set up in the same fashion as democracies all over the world, with a popularly voted president, Congress, and a Chamber of Deputies not unlike the House; and executive, legislative and judicial branches. It wasn’t until 1969 in Venezuela when the transition between two democratically elected presidents peaceably occurred.

Venezuela has been able to sustain a national identity that imitates its Spanish colonial heritage. The country has maintained a white, European national ethos and its top positions have typically been occupied by lighter-skinned citizens, with an overwhelming amount of political and economic power held by just 10% of the population. In this way, the colonization of Venezuela followed the same pattern of colonization in Africa and Southeast Asia whereby white Europeans assumed their automatic superiority based on the color of their skin and their more industrialized background and subsequently sought to “enlighten” the colonized people while simultaneously taking the most power and privilege for themselves in the lands where the colonized people had been living.

The following are 5 examples of the ways in which the legacy of colonialism is still apparent in Venezuela today.

In many ways, Venezuela’s status as a major oil-exporting country and all the indirect economic and social unrest that this has caused in the country is a result of colonialism, and its modern manifestation, imperialism.

Spanish influence is apparent in Venezuelan architecture, especially in cities like Caracas. The style of buildings in Venezuelan cities is attributed to “a blend of modernist aspirations tempered with local traditions” (everyculture.com).

Catholicism, which 90% of the population practices, is an import from Spain that has deep roots in modern Venezuelan culture. Well-to-do Catholic schools provide an avenue for the middle and upper class to give their children a more prestigious education than the public sector is able to provide.

Not only Spanish influence, but American influence is evident in the skyscrapers of wealthy urban centers. These are not traditional building styles and are rather attempts to conform to the superficial indicators of prosperity in wealthy nations like the US. Though not pictured, urban slums often occur near and juxtapose with these shining displays of wealth in Venezuela and similar countries. The stark, visual divide between the wealthy and the poor is also an artifact of class divisions designed and perpetuated by colonizers and their descendants. It is also a status quo maintained by overt and covert manipulations by foreign powers interested in having a stake in Venezuela’s oil reserves, e.g. the US-backed coup attempt against President Chavez who was implementing social reforms to help the poor and was not playing along with US interests.

Of course, one of the main legacies of colonialism in Venezuela, and one that does not receive all that much attention, is racism. The ruling class of Venezuelans had been predominantly white until the popular election of Hugo Chavez in 1998. This was the first time that the country’s majority mestizo population saw one of their own ruling the country. He was regarded as their hero. After him, Nikolás Maduro, also mestizo, took office in 2013. But in 2019, members of the white, wealthy elite took to the streets to protest his re-election, echoing the unrest of right-wing groups resisting the diversifying of white spaces in the US and Europe. The western media outlets covered the demonstrations heavily, pointing to them as indicators that Maduro is an unpopular president in addition to the economic ruin he has brought to the country. What they did not cover is the massively more attended counter-protests in support of Maduro led by the poor, mestizo population of Caracas. Maduro’s challenger, Juán Guaidó, is supported by the white population as well as the western powers, who have refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election and, as of Trump’s acknowledgment, consider Guaido to be the president even though he did not run in any sort of election. So effectively Venezuela has two presidents, each representing not only the class but racial dichotomy and struggle of the country. This dichotomy is entrenched in Venezuelan culture but was originally established by the Spanish colonizers and their Creole descendants, and is continuing to cause problems in the form of political unrest, social inequality, and violence today.

Sources:

Wikipedia Contributors. (2021, November 2). Colonial Venezuela. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Venezuela#:~:text=Spain’s%20colonization%20of%20mainland%20Venezuela,in%201515%20by%20Franciscan%20friars.

‌Culture of Venezuela – history, people, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social. (2012). Everyculture.com. https://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Venezuela.html

‌What was Venezuela’s colonial economy like? (2015, November 6). Caracas Chronicles. https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2015/11/06/what-was-venezuelas-colonial-economy-like/

Palast, G. (2019, February 7). In Venezuela, White Supremacy Is a Key Driver of the Coup. Truthout; Truthout. https://truthout.org/articles/in-venezuela-white-supremacy-is-a-key-driver-of-the-coup/

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