HAVING UNDERGONE GENUINE REFORM IN THE PAST THREE YEARS THROUGH A RESTRUCTURING PROGRAM KNOWN AS THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN, VENEZUELAN REGIONS SUCH AS ZULIA, BOLÍVAR AND MÉRIDA ARE NOW ENTERING A NEW ERA. IN THIS SECOND AND FINAL PART OF A SPECIAL REPORT ON THE COUNTRY, WE TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THESE THREE KEY REGIONS

Building bridges. Zulia is investing heavily in improved infrastructure.	Zulia is Venezuela’s most populated state, contributing 20% to the nation’s GDP.

There is huge geographic, ethnic and, above all, economic regional variety in Venezuela. Therefore, a development plan that adjusts to needs of individual regions and motivates each in the
direction of structural reform must also account for regional variations of scale and rhetoric. More remote areas of the south tend to refer to the Bolivarian revolution. Else-where in the densely populated townships of the north the spirit of change is more soberly referred to as the National Development Plan.
At present, every state administration in Venezuela is taking full advantage of new development opportunities. Each state has a fairly large autonomy in budgetary and policy matters and the central authorities have promised sufficient funding to launch new projects and see them through to completion.

“The development of our infrastructure reaches far into the interior,” says President Chávez. “We have national projects for a rail network, for freeways, telecommunications as well as housing and irrigation: projects that will help our people and also help develop tourism.”
Government funding of large-scale infrastructure projects filtered through to individual states last year. The reformed banking system is participating on a number of levels, one of which is to assist small-scale regionally based companies to serve the large-scale centrally funded projects, to stimulate regional economies and reduce unemployment.

However, the opening up of the fragile and virgin interior has to be carefully managed in order to avoid irreparable damage to Venezuela’s priceless natural environment. Also, the participation of the people is sacred to the Bolivarian constitution. The regional governors of Zulia, Bolívar and Mérida, among others, are committed to strengthening educational programs, in tourism above all.