Strength and Sovereignty
VEN89, 2007-2016, 5 VEF

Slot Comment:

Bolivares Fuertes (Strong Bolivar)

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Note Details

  

Set Details
Note Description: 5 Bolívares Pick Unlisted 2014 - Printer: CMV
Grade: 67 EPQ
Country: Venezuela
Note Number: VENUNL5a
Signatures/
Vignettes: 		- Wmk: P. Camejo & 5
Certification #: 8046637-009
Owner: Revenant
Set Category: World
Set Name: Strength and Sovereignty
Slot Name: VEN89, 2007-2016, 5 VEF
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

At the time it was announced and placed into circulation, at least officially, this note was worth about US$2.30.



A new Constituent Assembly, formed after Chavez’s successful referendum in April 1999, put together a new constitution that was itself put to referendum in Dec 1999. The new constitution, among other things, gave the president more powers, lengthened the presidential term to 6 years and allowed the president to have two consecutive terms, where, previously, a president had to wait 10 years to run again.



The bicameral Congress was replaced by a unicameral Assembly and Chavez was given the power to put military officers in charge of economic and financial matters. The military was manded to ensure public order and aid national development - previously forbidden under the old constitution. I can’t imagine how any of that could go badly in a democracy…



The new constitution renamed the country from the “Republic of Venezuela,” to the “Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” (República Bolivariana de Venezuela) at Chávez's request - Chavez was seemingly obsessed with attaching himself to the legacy, perceived legitimacy and respectability of Simon Bolivar.



Chavez won the presidency and his supporters won control of the National Assembly in the first elections under the new constitution. The 1999 Constitution eliminated most checks and balances. Chávez's party would now control every branch of the Venezuelan government for over 15 years - until the Venezuelan parliamentary election in 2015. The new assembly helped Chavez pass 49 social and economic “decrees” in a short period of time. This helped spark complaints from his opposition.



The first organized protest against the Chavez government occurred in January 2001, when the administration tried to implement educational reforms through the proposed Resolution 259 and Decree 1.011, which would have seen the publication of textbooks with a heavy “Bolivarian” bias (bias towards the new government). Parents noticed that the textbooks were Cuban books (filled with propaganda) outfitted with different covers. A protest movement of primarily middle-class parents whose children went to private schools marched to central Caracas shouting out the slogan “Con mis hijos no te metas” ("Don't mess with my children"). The protesters were denounced by Chávez, who called them "selfish and individualistic", but they were successful enough that the government retracted the proposed education reforms and instead started a consensus-based educational program with the opposition.



Later in 2001, an organization known as the Coordinadora Democrática de Acción Cívica (CD) was founded, under which the Venezuelan opposition political parties, corporate powers, most of the country's media, the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the Institutional Military Front, and the Central Workers Union all united to oppose Chávez's regime. The prominent businessman Pedro Carmona was chosen as the CD's leader. They collectively accused the new government of trying to make the democracy a dictatorship - the problem is, when you are right about these things, the would-be dictator is not going to take complaining well.



The Bolivares Fuertes notes were mostly issued in two 6-note series that can basically be thought of as a "Series 1" and "Series 2". The "Series 2" notes use the same designs, in the same order of ascending denominations, but with different color schemes and face values. The “Series 1” notes released in 2007 alongside a new group of 7 coins, which included a 1 Bolivar coin. This is the reason the lowest note in this series is the 2 Bolivar note. The government had intended that the "Series 1" notes - which were basically worthless by the time "Series 2" came out (in 2016) - would be withdrawn from circulation. So, these two groups of notes were not meant to circulate together and so there was less perceived risk with people getting the notes confused with each other. The “Series 2” notes came out with new 10 Boilvar, 50 Bolivar, and 100 Bolivar coins that were supposed to replace VEN90, VEN92, and VEN93 with coins. As a result, VEN89 and VEN95 look essentially the same.



The front of this note features a portrait of Pedro Camejo. The back of the notes shows a Giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) with the plains of Los Llanos in the background. For more information on the design of this note and the significance of the things in it, look at my description for VEN95.



In case anyone ever wonders, the words “pagaderos al portador en las oficinas del banco” under the denomination translate to “payable to the bearer at the bank’s offices.”

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