Boom to Bust: The Fall of Venezuela

The political, social, and economic fall of Venezuela (Refer to Exhibit I For Overview Of The Economy) could be traced to 1999 when Hugo Chavez (Chavez) became President of the country. Chavez came to power on the strength of three main promises that he made to the public: writing a new constitution and improving the state, fighting poverty and social exclusion, and eliminating corruption. In 1999, Chavez set up a Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution. The members of this Assembly were all Chavez’s followers; and they went on to dissolve the democratically elected Congress and dismiss all the members of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, the General Comptroller, and most of the judges in the country. All these positions were filled with bureaucrats loyal to the President. Corruption in government became worse than ever before...