Alejandro Velasco

the timeline of this tension and paradox just by looking out into the valley of Caracas.

By all accounts, before 1914, when the first oil well begins pumping oil in Venezuela,

as well as pretty much a backwater state in the rest of Latin America.

Its primary source of revenue is coffee.

It had gone through first the cacao and then a coffee cycle in the 19th century after independence.

There had been efforts at modernization in the late 19th century through enlightened dictatorships.

Some incipient efforts at urbanization, at trying to bring immigration from Europe especially,

But none of those really took.

And, you know, most of Venezuela was rural at the time.

Its capital city, Caracas, was very, very modestly sized relative to other capital cities elsewhere in Latin America.

And the center of its politics were not in cities, but rather in this region in the Andes, who had had sort of control over the nation's politics for almost 40 years.

A dictator named Juan Vicente Gomez came from this region, installed himself in power in 1908,

was known to speak very little and rule very strongly, speak softly and in folkloric terms.

And his vision for the nation at the time when he came to power in 1908 was essentially just to keep things as they are.

There was no real vision of progress, growth, modernity.

It was under his rule, of course, that oil then begins to become this thing that seems like it might be a ticket somewhere, but it's unclear where.

And so once people understand the power of oil, what begins to change?

What happens?

It took a while, right?

And so it's not like 1914, oil gushes out, everything changes.