The oil exodus in Venezuela
Since the discovery of the first oil well in Venezuela, at the beginning of the 20th century, another stage began in this country, which led to an important mobilization of entire families to the main oil cities. This is due to the material conditions in which the families lived in the countryside: precarious roads, poor educational and health services, unstable housing, among others.
Venezuela, at the beginning of the 20th century, goes through very difficult situations, the naval blockade carried out by European countries against the nation, under the government of Cipriano Castro, the difficult wars that left entire populations desolate, the imposition of leaders who assumed political power in the country in the last 30 years of the 19th century, they exacerbated the economic and social situation in a nation that achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire, under the leadership of the Giant Simón Bolívar, Liberator of five Latin American nations.
The incipient oil industry begins with great rhythm in the Bolivarian nation and the investments of large transnational companies begin, drilling wells and extracting the hydrocarbon that transformed the economic and social relations of this country.
Venezuela was a rural country at the beginning of the 20th century. Coffee production was the main export product which was quickly replaced by oil. This product (coffee), which only in 1915 represented the then important income of 154 million bolivars from exports, gradually declined, being replaced by the fossil mineral.
The fall in agricultural production with the consequent deterioration of the quality of life in the countryside and the increase in oil activity in different areas of the country leads to the abandonment of rural activity and people assume the growing demand for labor that they require. the big oil transnationals. In this way, there is an increase in population density in some cities, where they also offer better quality of life, better salaries, access to public services, among other considerations. Likewise, the oil rush is increasing, generating concern and hope in the general population. Just to cite a few examples of peasant migration we can cite (according to figures from the Statistics Office of the time), cities like Maracaibo had only about 39,000 inhabitants in 1915, and in 1926 it reached 100,000. And Caracas, the capital of the country, had a population of 230,342 inhabitants in 1936, which rose to 399,030 in 1941; 495,064 in 1950, to 786,863 inhabitants in 1961.
Even with all this situation, the socioeconomic panorama of the country was not encouraging at all, the backwardness of society, the poverty in the oil cities, the conformation of neighborhoods with unstable housing, because the governments privileged the profits of the transnational hydrocarbon companies at the cost of national investment. This deepened a national debate on the issue of rent, subsoil ownership and the State's share in the profits of this growing business.
These were the reasons for the oil exodus in Venezuela, which produced important transformations in the economic and social dynamics and that there are still many consequences to be discussed over time and, also, by the passage of the different perspectives of the governments that it has had our nation to date. Debates and consequences of which I will write in the next post. I also recommend reading the second edition of the book Servir al Pueblo, by Ali Rodríguez Araque, a deceased Venezuelan oil expert.