- Investments made in the Guianas, including Venezuela as a bordering and Amazonian country, are not in line with the federal model of countries such as Brazil.
- In Venezuela, which is seen today as a failed state, military rule was declared in several states.
- In Suriname and Guyana, despite centralization in their limited territories, the national government can generate policies and provide basic services through local jurisdictions.
Venezuela has a long history of federal government, and twelve of its 22 constitutions have included the word ‘Federal’ in the title, including the first, in 1811. Most of these federal regimes were established in the nineteenth century, however, and an extended period of military rule between 1900 and 1958 established a centralized governing philosophy that continues to dominate political affairs in the country. Venezuela has all the trappings of a federal state, including regional assemblies and the direct election of regional authorities, but the reality is the predominance of a central government that is authoritarian in nature.
There was a brief period when federalist principles left a mark on the Amazonian states, when the country established the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) in 1960. This was followed by two decades of investment in hydropower, mining and industrial development. The legacy of these investments persists today in the county’s dependence on the Guri hydropower facility. The mining industry has been in decline for more than a decade and the metal refineries are barely functioning. In 2024, Venezuela is essentially a failed state, and the collapse of its formal institutions has led the national government to declare military rule in Bolívar and Amazonas states.
Guyana and Suriname are small, centralized republics where the national government is responsible for policy development and the delivery of basic services, although it may administer them via local jurisdictions, which are called Regional Democratic Councils in Guiana and Districts in Suriname.
Banner image: Guiana Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus). Image by Rhett A. Butler.
