Economy (highlights from this article)

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/...

Oil accounts for about 90% of the export income, 50% of government earnings, and 30% of the gross domestic product. Venezuela is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States.

The government has used oil revenues to stimulate manufacturing industries.

Despite government reform programs, Venezuela's wealth remains in the hands of a small minority. A disproportionately high percentage of the population lives in poverty; after the end of the oil boom in the early 1980s, the percentage of poor Venezuelans has increased dramatically, from 28% to 68% in 2003. Many cities have squalid shanty towns, and in the countryside many people are still tenant farmers.