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Home  >  World  > South America  > Venezuela General Information Area: 912,050 sq km (352,144 sq miles). Population: 23,706,000 (1999). Population Density: 26 per sq km. Capital: Caracas. Population: 1,975,787 (2000). GEOGRAPHY: Venezuela is bounded to the north by the Caribbean, to the east by Guyana and the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by Brazil, and to the west and southwest by Colombia. The country consists of four distinctive regions: the Venezuelan Highlands in the west; the Maracaibo Lowlands in the north; the vast central plain of the Llanos around the Orinoco; and the Guiana Highlands, which take up about half of the country. Government: Republic. Gained independence from Spain in 1830. Head of State and Government: President Hugo Chávez Frías since 1999. Language: Spanish is the official language. English, French, German and Portuguese are also spoken by some sections of the community. Religion: 92 per cent Roman Catholic. Time: GMT - 4. Electricity: 110 volts AC, 60Hz. US-style two-pin plugs are the most commonly used fittings. Communications:   Telephone IDD is available. Country code: 58. Outgoing international code: 00. Mobile telephone GSM 900 network. Operators include Corporación Digitel (website: www.digitel.com.ve), Digicel (website: www.digicel.com.ve) and Infonet. Coverage is limited to around Caracas and major cities. Fax Available at the larger hotels. Internet ISPs include CantvNet (website: www.cantv.net), Internet Venezuela (website: www.internet.ve) and Compuserve Venezuela (website: www.csi.com.ve). E-mail can be accessed from Internet cafes in most urban areas. Telegram Services are available from public telegraph offices. Post There is an efficient mail service from Venezuela to the USA and Europe. Airmail to Europe takes three to seven days. Internal mail can sometimes take longer. Surface mail to Europe takes at least one month. Press The English-language daily newspaper is The Daily Journal, published in Caracas. Spanish-language dailies include El Nacional, El Universal, Meridiano and Ultimas Noticias. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 17.79 15.19 12.10 5.975 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 13.79 9.455 6.130 5.995 Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd. Terms and Conditions apply.