In February, Southern Star Immigration featured Venezuela as our Country of the Month.  The following article was prepared by Andreina Alicea, our Legal Assistant (and a Venezuelan native).

Venezuela is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America.  Its northern coastline of roughly 1,700 miles includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea.  Venezuela’s territory covers around 353,841 square miles, with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 and established its independence in 1821.  The country enjoys an annual temperature from 53ºF to 93ºF.  Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos (plains) and the Caribbean coast in the center, and the Orinoco River Delta  in the east.  The world’s highest waterfall, Angel Falls (Salto Ángel), plummets nearly 1,000 meters (15 times higher than Niagara Falls) from the top of a tepui in Parque Nacional Canaima  (World Heritage Site by UNESCO), and was the inspiration for the Disney movie “UP”.  Venezuela has been a leading exporter of oil with some of the world’s largest oil reserves.  Agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa also top the list of Venezuela’s exports.  The people of Venezuela come from a variety of heritages, but the majority of the population is of mestizo, or mixed, ethnic backgrounds (Amerindian and European).  Venezuela’s racial structure can be classified as 68% mestizo, 21% White, and 10% African.  Indigenous people account for only 1% of the total population.  (Sources:  www.venezuelatuya.com and www.wikipedia.org)