Petare

Petare is a city in Miranda, Venezuela, and is part of the urban area of Caracas. It is the located in the Sucre Municipality, one of the five divisions of Caracas. The city was founded in 1621 under the name of San Jose de Guanarito. It grew to become a part of the greater Caracas area as the latter expanded in area and population.

The city is traditionally considered to be a suburb of Caracas, but has developed its own commercial core. Two universities are located in Petare: Universidad Santa Maria and Universidad Metropolitana. Poverty remains a major limitation to the city's development. The population of Petare is 369,000.^[1]

In this city there are many people selling on the street called "Buhoneros", which roughly translates into Informal Salesperson. They sell many things including food, clothing, electronics, and they are always located on the side walks or even in the middle of the streets trying to sell to anyone currently on the street.

History

Colonial period

On February 17, 1621, captain Pedro de Lugo Gutiérrez and priest Gabriel Mendoza founded the town of Dulce Nombre de Jesús de Petare on a small hill surrounded by the Oro (gold) creek and the rivers Caurimare and Guaire. Precisely Petare is a word that derives from the Carib language meaning Face to the river. The Mariches group belonging to the indigenous Carib tribe, lived in these lands until 1573, when his principal chief, Tamanaco, died killed by Spanish conqueror Pedro Alonso Galeas. From then began the subjugation of the aborigines and the distribution of parcels by Diego de Losada, Juan Gallegos, Sebastián Díaz Alfaro and Francisco Fajardo.

The founders, mostly from the Canary Islands, built the village following the Spanish colonial urban planning, a central square surrounded by a church, the government buildings and the houses of the most notable families. In this the fertile valley proliferated haciendas of coffee, cocoa, maize and sugar cane, the latter was processed in the nearby sugar mills. These crops not only supplying food to the people of Petare, also to its neighbors villages: Bolea, Los Marrones, La Urbina, Los Ruices, El Marqués, Macaracuay and Güere-Güere.

The fertility and climate of the town attracted eminent personalities from Caracas, Andrés Bello, José Félix Ribas, José Antonio Rodríguez Domínguez, Manuel de Clemente and Marquis Francisco de Berroterán, among others. The Caminos Reales (King's Highway) also contributed to the development of the local economy. This extensive network of roads, convert the village into a stop for travelers and traders from Caracas, El Hatillo and Baruta, Guarenas and Mariches. The social structure was composed by the slaves (Africans and Indians), the common people (peasants and artisans), traders and landowners. This order remained for centuries. The society was wealthy but not aristocratic, with sufficient resources to build valuable monuments, like the Church of Dulce Nombre de Jesús and the Chapel of Santa María Magdelena.

Law and government

Petare has one municipality: Sucre Municipality, Venezuelan law specifies that municipal governments have four main functions: executive, legislative, comptroller, and planning. The executive function is managed by the mayor, who is in charge of representing the municipality's administration. The legislative branch is represented by the Municipal Council, composed of seven councillors, charged with the deliberation of new decrees and local laws. The comptroller tasks are managed by the municipal comptroller's office, which oversees accountancy. Finally, planning is represented by the Local Public Planning Council, which manages development projects for the municipality.^[2]

References

1. ^ City Population website, available online at [1], accessed on August 24, 2006
2. ^ Law and government

External links