CARACAS, Venezuela -- By 6:30 a.m., a full hour and a half before the store would open, about two dozen people were already in line. They waited patiently, not for the latest iPhone, but for something far more basic: groceries. ''Whatever I can get,'' said Katherine Huga, 23, a mother of two, describing her shopping list. She gave a shrug of...
CARACAS, Venezuela -- The 17-story-tall white-tiled mausoleum being built to hold the remains of the national hero Simón Bolívar looks to many people here like the world's biggest skateboard ramp. To others, it evokes a parking garage, a shopping mall, a bridal veil, a sailing ship or a drive-in movie screen. Some simply call it an outrage. But...
CARACAS, Venezuela AS he slowly walked through the adoring and bubbling crowd of young people, the frail elderly man brushed a cheek, clasped an arm, bestowed a smile. He lingered affectionately with members of a choir composed of disabled youngsters. For anyone who observed Pope John Paul II in action amid third-world crowds during the later years...
Caracas er Venezuelas hovedstad og største by med ca. 4,6 millioner indbyggere. Byen er placeret i den nordligste part af landet nær det caribiske hav, beliggende i en bjergdal. Det meste af byen ligger derfor i en højde af 760 til 910 meter over havets overflade.
Byen har blandt andet en ret veludviklet undergrundsbane, indviet i 1983, og landets største lufthavn.
Caracas blev grundlagt i 1567 under navnet Santiago de León de Caracas af den spanske opdagelsesrejsende Diego de Losada. Tidligere, i 1562, havde en spansk kolonist forsøgt at etablere byen, men var hurtigt blevet udstødt af de lokale stammer, der på det tidspunkt befolkede området.
Et jordskælv den 26. marts 1812 ødelagde byen.
Med den øgede udvinding af olie i første halvdel af det 20. århundrede, voksede byen frem som et økonomisk center. Fold ud