Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela’s planned city from the 1960’s in anguish

In early 1960, a group of U.S. planners arrived in southeastern Venezuela to design an industrial city imagining it as the “Pittsburgh of the tropics”, at the confluence of two rivers and vast resources minerals. But 50 years later, Ciudad Guayana, the only planned city in the country, nestled between the Orinoco and Caroni, with significant deposits of gold, iron and bauxite, is far from the dream of its designers. And critics accuse the government of socialist President Hugo Chavez, who led a wave of nationalization of large industries, from telecommunications to electricity, not investing for years, to increase business costs and make companies profitable in deficit. “All companies (metals in the region Venezuelan) Guayana are in complete lack of investment debacle,” said Ruben Gonzalez, secretary general of FMO workers union, which extracts, processes and exports iron ore. Read Article