 Hi, welcome to the Venezuela Pavilion. My name is Juliano. Well, I'm gonna make you the guy to the pavilion. So here the expo, what are we greeted with at the entrance? What is the symbolize? Well, the main concept of the pavilion is the design of this sound frequency. And they belong to the one of our most popular songs is like a second national anthem. We call it Alma Janera. It's like a soul from the savannah. So what you see behind me is the sound frequency of the beginning of this song. And it's what you can see outside of pavilion and the colors and the shape of this sound wave. It's also inspired in a group of artists from Venezuela that they do kinetic art. So they are very colorful and they do this kind of like they play with your perception. Yeah, there's a brief about what you will find in the pavilion and what you will find in the country. Venezuela is one of the 17 mega diverse countries in the world. Not only geographically, but also cultural. And that is what it's all about in the first row. What does it mean mega diverse? It means we have, you can go ahead. It means we have cultural heritage for many places. And also geographically, we have many, many different biosystems which make us a very diverse country. And I will explain you this in the next room. Here what we're trying to show is all the different kinds, color, skin, faces and bodies of the Venezuelan people. We are very proud of our diversity. So we have cultural heritage for the indigenous people from our country, from Africa, from Europe, from Middle East. And everybody is equal. Everybody is equal and we are very proud of what we are as a nation. And we are like, we gave very really importance to all of these different cultural heritage. So there's big, big screens in there showing this. And then where are we going to here? Okay, so this is a brief about four regions of Venezuela. Geographical regions, but also cultural. Because what we are trying to show here is these four regions connect us to the entire continent. For example, what you are seeing now is the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela is the northest country of Latin America, of South America. So all the north of the country is the Caribbean coast. And that's not only beautiful beaches and islands, but also a culture. A culture with their own traditions, with their own history. Almost, there's different languages there. So it's one of our most important tourist places in our country. Have you produced this graphic, this big video? Yeah, it's produced in Venezuela also. And the design of the screens also, it's everything from Venezuela. So you have a lot of artists and designs and technology in the country? Yeah, I think like every country. Venezuela is a very modern country. Most of the population lives in the cities. So we have as many designers and videographers and movie makers as I think any country in the world. So what you can find here is now the tropical savannah. This is the center of the country. So this is where we have this cowboy culture that is very, very typical from all America. From Canada to Argentina, so every country has their own traditions. But it's a culture linked to the horse, to the cows, to the landscape. And this is what we are showing here. And also we are part of the Amazon Forest and the Andes, which is a chain of mountains that goes across from Argentina to Venezuela and end up in the Caribbean Sea. So we are part of Los Andes, which means an entire and very important culture from South America. And we have high mountains, we have snow, we have a little part of the Amazon Forest. So we have the Caribbean Sea. We are part of the cowboy culture of all America. So we even have a small piece of desert. So Venezuela is known to have a little bit of everything. We have lots of wildlife, birds and many, many species of animals. I think Venezuela is one of the countries that has more natural reserves in the world. How vast are those natural reserves? How big are we talking? Some of them are really, really large. One of them is almost the size of Great Britain. And some of them are smaller, but we have plenty. In every region of the country we have many, many national parks which preserve our natural environments and the animals and rivers. And you have mountains? Yeah, we have snow. 1,200, that's pretty. Yeah, almost 5,000 meters is a tallest mountain. And we have the longest and the tallest cable train in the world. So you can go to this mountain and play with the snow and be a little wild there. You can ski? No, we don't have enough snow to ski, but you can climb. And there are really good spots to climb there in Venezuela. So the professional climbers are good customers, they come often? Yeah, in Latin America and South America you have tallest and more difficult mountains. So we are not the preferred destination for climbers. I think Ecuador and Argentina and Chile has Peru also. Venezuela has the youngest part of Los Andes. So it's a little bit like the Alps. Yeah, it's like the Alps, it's like Chain of Mountain or like the Himalayas. Many countries have a piece of Los Andes. How many people in Venezuela? Almost 33 million. We are a small population for the territory we have. We have a million and 200 kilometers square. So we are a very big country. 33 million is a lot. But you have nearly like France or something? No, France is a third of the territory or less. And they have I think, I don't know, 60, 70 million. So this room shows our national resources. Venezuela has been for more than 100 years an oil producing country. But recent research told us that we are the number one reserve of diamonds in the world. And the second reserve of gold after Australia. Where do you have the gold? Over there. And what is this one? Cobalt. That's an average smartphone. Yeah, in every smartphone you can find, in the battery you can find cobalt. In my camera. Yeah, in your camera also. On my microphones. It's very important for the modern industry. We have lots of cobalt. As much as Congo? No, not as much. No, but we have the number one reserve of heavy oil in the world. It's the biggest crude reserve in the world, no? Yes sir. Bigger than Saudi? Bigger than every country. But it's bigger, yes. And it's heavy oil. So it's a little bit more difficult to produce, but not to produce, to mine. To mine, yeah. Actually as far as I understand, many oil, what do you call it, petrol providers need the crude with their, what do you call it, they have to mix it to actually make it usable. Yes. And that process we have to make it in Venezuela, or at least part of that process, because we need to get this oil out to the ports. So it's really thick. So we make the first, like, how do you call it? The first version, the first stage. Because we need to liquefy the oil, so the oil gets to the pipes and we send it to the ports, and then it continues the way to other countries. Couldn't you just have the pipe going up north to the countries up there? Well, it goes by ship. By ship? Yeah, by ship. You could have the pipeline going all the way down. I think we guess we were building a pipe to the south, to Brazil and Argentina, yeah. The big customers? Yeah, they are big allies. In that moment, at least, now the relations, they are not that good. And that project, I think, it was the main, like, the ones that go ahead with the project is Venezuela. I wouldn't want to get into, there's so much politics with this, and with your friends in USA and stuff, they need to, they want to buy oil, don't they? Yes, they want. Why don't they just, like, make a deal and buy it and stuff? Well, I wish it was that easy, yeah. For many years, US was our first client, like, previous to the Second World War. It was our first client already. But for many years, they have so many power in Venezuela that our legal system made that we only win 3% of all the oil that comes out of our country. Which is a percentage that no country will accept, never. So 3% profit margin? Yeah, only for Venezuela, being the owners. So you cannot accept that kind of deal. So we make some changes in our oil policy, and then we start winning, I think, almost 30%, which is a little bit more fair. And we have the condition that every company that wants to produce oil, to mine oil in Venezuela, they need to make a new company with Venezuela. And in every company, we will have at least 51%, because the oil belongs to the Venezuelan people. Well, and that is not very pleasant for many people and countries and companies, but I think it's fair. What do other countries do? Like, let's say the Emirates or Qatar or Iraq or what is the percentage that they keep? I'm not an oil expert. I know some things about our... I know the secrets, right? Yeah, of course, of course. It's a very complex industry, the oil. But, well, we are trying... For example, at this moment, we cannot sell our oil because we have US sanctions. So we only sell it to countries that I think only in my personal opinion, sorry, they have enough power to not be afraid of the United States, Russia, China... But China and Russia is so far away. Is there a problem not to ship all this stuff over there? I mean, I think the main... I think it's not about quantity of the oil reserves in Venezuela, or at least not only about that. But the fact that it's very near to the United States, so the shipping cost goes really, really down. If you consider taking oil from the Middle East and then consider the cost from taking it from Venezuela, it's, you know, really, really close. I hope you figure it out and just make some kind of pipeline or something. A deal with the Americans just become like friends somehow. Yeah, Venezuela has never had the intention to be in a fight with the United States. Like I told you, they were our primary clients. And for us, it's also benefit because it's not only close to the United States, it's close for us. As producers, we have refineries in the United States also. Now, they took it away from us, but we have refineries in the United States that belong to Venezuela. And they refine oil only for the United States. And we have never had a position of... Like we don't want relations with the United States. What we are trying to make a point is we want relations that to be fair. And we are not going back if they are not fair. And who decides who is fair? Well, the people that has the oil. So you have a lot of oil, but hopefully you also have other things, right? We have many other resources. You need to not just rely on this source of potential future revenue, right? Yeah. Not Venezuela and not any country must depend on one resource. Not any man or woman or family must depend on one resource. That is very fragile. And I think our economy shows the fragile of being dependent on one resource. So we are trying to explore some other things. Not only minerals, but vegetables and animals. And zinc. Yeah. So there is a lot of minerals, mineral wealth, silver, gold. How much gold did you say there would be? We are the second reserve of gold after Australia in the world. And you know exactly where it is? You can just go and take it from the ground? Yeah. In fact, I think ten years ago the state made a company to try to industrialize the gold. Surely China would like to buy a whole bunch of tons, right? Everybody. Not only China. Everybody. We cannot commerce with a variety of countries that we will want to, because the US doesn't let us or doesn't let them actually to buy anything from the US, from the Venezuela. What is the issue of water here? Well, many people don't think of water as a resource. But it is one of the most important. And Venezuela, I think if I don't get it wrong, is the ninth country with fresh water reserves. Not only in the surface, but on the ground also. What do you do with all this fresh water right now? Well, we drink it, we… You export it? No. Just for Venezuela? Yeah. Only for Venezuela and for now. And it's for, you know, our rivers. We have lots of rivers that our biosystems depend on this water. With fish? Yeah. And the oil industry takes a lot of water also. Coffee. Before we went to an oil-producing country, we were one of the biggest export countries of coffee and cacao. And our cacao and our coffee is on the top list of the best cacos and coffees in the world. So we are trying to get this back in the dimension it should have. For now, it's small families that have brands of very good chocolate and coffee. What is a brand of the good Venezuelan chocolate? Well, let's see. Do you have partnerships with Switzerland, send them the cacao, and they make the cacao? With Switzerland, with Italy, with Belgium. But not the state, I think, not now. Yeah, the company. Our cacao goes to Switzerland, Belgium, France, Italy, many places. So many of the chocolate that the world is eating, it comes from cacao from Venezuela, yeah. All right. And there's a lot more around here. And then flowers, tropical fruits. But the most important resource is humans, right? Yeah, of course. So what do you talk about the human resource in Venezuela? What do you say about that? Well, Venezuela is a very young country. We have the percentage, I think, we are like the percentage of age is 27 years old. So we are a very young country. 27? Yes, 27 is the average age. So we are on the, how you say... I had to be such a low average, that's crazy low. That's like some cities in China where everybody only goes there to work in a factory and that's a little bit unnatural. But you have it as a natural average age, 27. I don't know the explanation of this. Perhaps in all South America you have a similar percentage, average. So we are a very young country. We have lots of resources and we have a very resistant population, very creative population. Very kind and very... I think it's not easy for a Venezuelan to be like totally sad or depressed. We always are trying to move things and change things and create things. So I think that's our best value. What is creativity going on here? All this room is inspired by a group of artists from Venezuela. They work with kinetic art. This is a replica of a work of art by Jesus Soto, which is an important artist from Venezuela. He's one of the most important artists from the Kinetic Art Group. And there we have a work of art from Juvenal Ravello, which is an apprentice. He was an apprentice of Carlos Cruz Díez, which is, I think, the biggest name in this group of artists. So he came here, he gave us the work for the pavilion, and he came here. He was a week with us here. He gave us the work, but he left it on complete on purpose in the center because he liked people to participate in the finishing of this art. So he came to the pavilion, and with the visitors he finished this work. Where does the door go to the future? There's a storage. For what they told me, it's only to try to take away just a little part of this work of art. The colors and the shapes are also inspiring in this group of Kinetic Artists. The idea is to make different shapes. It's a mobile stage for the bands and the musicians of Venezuela to come here. How often do you have concerts going on during the expo? Well, for a week. In our national day it was the 7th of November. And now we are expecting more musicians to come here. Is the World Expo an opportunity for Venezuela to speak with all the countries in the world and find new solutions to all the weird problems that are going on? Yes, of course. It's a window to let us see, to make Venezuela visible to other countries. It's of course an opportunity for every country. So there are meeting rooms and stuff like that somewhere around here where people go sit down and start talking with the heads of state that come by or something like that? Yes, of course. Like in every pavilion we have rooms for the visitors who want to just stay a little bit and talk about Venezuela. What is the music we're hearing? It's a group of songs that some of our musicians made for the pavilion. Alright, thanks a lot. Thanks for the tour. You're welcome. You're welcome anytime you want to the Venezuela pavilion. And how can people get to Venezuela? Are there flights going from a whole bunch of countries? Not right now a whole bunch of countries, but you can go to Venezuela as any other country. It depends. Like any country, it depends. I think, I don't know how you say it, a bilateral thing. If I need visas of Venezuela to go to one country, they need visas to come to our country. So it depends. Where are you from? And what is the relation between your country and Venezuela? There are direct flights from Europe? Yes, I think so. From Spain. From Madrid maybe? Yeah, perhaps I think so. And otherwise people can fly from all the countries around? Yeah, one of the most important airports in the region is the Panama airport. If you go to Panama, then you can go to Venezuela and to many places. It's very near, right? Maybe it's a cheap flight from Panama? Yeah, it's very near. I think one hour and something. Alright, thanks a lot. You're welcome, sir.