VENEZUELA

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a country in South America with a capital of Caracas . Venezuela was first colonised by Spain in 1522 after fierce fighting with the indigenous peoples. Independence was declared in both 1811 and 1813 but both times the movements were crushed but in 1821 full independence was achieved under the command of Simon Bolivar under the name of Gran Colombia up until 1830 when a bloody rebellion gained independence as Venezuela. The colours of the Venezuelan flag are yellow, blue and red - yellow for the wealth of the land, blue for the wealth of the sea and red for the blood shed in gaining independence.  1998 saw a new Bolivarian revolution sweep Hugo Chavez to the presidency. he died in 2013.

Monetary units;

1 Bolivar = 100 Centimos 1879 - onward

The first of the notes above is the 10000 Bolivares note from 2004 with Antonio Sucre on the front and  the supreme court building on the back.. This note was a present from some american friends who were in Cuba at the same time as me in 2006, for Fidel Castro's 80 th birthday.

the second note above is a 100 Bolivares note from 1992 with a dashing Simon Bolivar on the front and the capitol building on the reverse.

This note is the 1 Bolivar note from the 1989 issue with a bust of Simon Bolivar on the front and the coat of arms on the reverse.

There are plans to introduce a regional currency for members of ALBA, to replace the US dollar as the currency of commerce. up until now it has been a "Virtual Currency" . there are plans for it to become a hard currency in the future. the currency is called the Sucre.