Venezuela
Summary
Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Ecuador and New Granada, which became Colombia). For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms. Democratically elected governments have held sway since 1959, although the re-election of current disputed President Nicolas MADURO in an election boycotted by most opposition parties was widely viewed as fraudulent. Under Hugo CHAVEZ, president from 1999 to 2013, and his hand-picked successor, MADURO, the executive branch has exercised increasingly authoritarian control over other branches of government. National Assembly President Juan GUAIDO is currently recognized by more than 50 countries – including the United States – as the interim president while MADURO retains control of all other institutions within the country and has the support of security forces. Venezuela is currently authoritarian with only one democratic institution – the National Assembly – and strong restrictions on freedoms of expression and the press. The ruling party’s economic policies expanded the state’s role in the economy through expropriations of major enterprises, strict currency exchange and price controls that discourage private sector investment and production, and overdependence on the petroleum industry for revenues, among others. However, Caracas in 2019 relaxed some economic controls to mitigate some impacts of the economic crisis driven by a drop in oil production. Current concerns include human rights abuses, rampant violent crime, high inflation, and widespread shortages of basic consumer goods, medicine, and medical supplies. [1]
📷: Wikipedia
Statistics
From the The Joshua Project [2]
In the News
📷: Wikipedia
Prayer Guide
a) The upper and middle classes are under-evangelized but influenced by other religious groups. A number of missions and churches are concentrating efforts to reach these important groups.
b) Cities. Caracas, the capital, is one of the least-reached areas. Over one million live in the ranchos (slums), and gangs or drug barons control entire areas – but there are fewer than 300 churches in the city. Churches and missions are mobilizing to reach the cities in this most urbanized of Latin American countries.
c) Students, young people and children need more focused outreach. Fewer than 20 Christian student groups (CCCI, MUEVE/IFES) exist for 100 universities, despite over 40 years of campus ministry. Many children live in poverty and have little opportunity to encounter the genuine gospel. More needs to be done to evangelize and disciple this key sector of society.
d) Prisoners live with severe overcrowding, inhumane conditions, frequent violence, torture of detainees, lengthy pre-trial detention and seemingly untouchable criminals operating within the government, police and armed forces. VOCEP and others share Christ in these dangerous places, and significant numbers are coming to faith. Pray for the safety of believing prisoners, for their spiritual growth and for their integration into society and the Church upon release.
The unreached minorities:
a) The growing Arab community (more than 130,000) has become prominent in commerce. Most are Lebanese and Syrian. Many are Orthodox and Maronite Catholics, but most are Shi’a and Sunni Muslims. No direct effort to evangelize them has been made, although some ministries (WEC) have a vision for outreach. There are also growing numbers of Iranians and Turks.
b) The Chinese are mostly Cantonese and are growing in number. There are several congregations of believers for the 50,000-strong community. Several missions have a ministry among them (Mennonites, CMA and WEC).
c) Western immigrant groups, such as Italians, Portuguese and Spanish, have almost no evangelical believers or outreach focused on them. There is one Messianic Jewish assembly. [3]