Caracas - Venezuela's Capital

By Julio Herrera Velutini

Introduction

When Julio Herrera Velutini was a student at Universidad Central de Venezuela, he took a job as a stockbroker in Caracas even before he graduated. This fulfilled a family tradition that stretches back more than a century to 1880, when his ancestor, Julio Cesar Velutini Couturier, a lawyer by training and trade, assumed the presidency of Banco Caracas. All generations of the family have since been involved in banking. Honoring the tradition, Julio Herrera Velutini has participated in the leadership of many leading banks in the Americas and today heads an international banking organization.

Caracas

Caracas, officially Santiago de Leon de Caracas, is Venezuela’s capital city and occupies a strikingly dramatic setting about 3,000 feet above sea level in a long valley flanked on both sides by rugged hills. The northern hills are uninhabited because the land is home to Avila National Park, and the southern hills are heavily settled with suburban communities that overlook the city.

Caracas’ subtropical climate is very pleasant, the result of the city’s elevation and its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, just 15 kilometers to the north.

Conclusion

Unlike northern hemisphere countries, which generally enjoy three or four seasons annually, the entire country experiences only two seasons a year - the dry season from December until April, and the wet season from May until November. Rain does not last long during the wet season, and Caracas enjoys sunshine about 340 days every year.

Caracas’ economy, like Venezuela’s, is deeply rooted in the oil industry. Much of the city’s modern architecture and development, as well as its status as the nation’s primary business center, stems from the wealth generated by the 1970s oil boom.