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New Flags for Venezuela The election for the National Assembly in Venezuela in December 2005 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the supporters of President Chavez. So great was the victory that it was apparent that any law the President desired was likely to be passed almost immediately. The first such was that the flag and coat of arms were changed on 10 March 2006. The new Assembly also changed the country’s name. It is now the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a compliment to the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, who freed Venezuela and much of South America from Spanish rule in the early 19th century.

Since 1863, the flag of Venezuela has borne seven stars on the blue stripe. Originally these were in a circle of six, with one in the centre. In 1905 this changed to a circle of seven. In 1930 the present form was adopted, with the stars in an arc. Now an eighth star is to appear. This to recognise the part played by the Guyana region in the birth of the nation. On 20 November 1817, Bolivar himself issued a decree that the flag should have eight stars. Never enacted until now, the star is added to the arc. The national coat of arms has also changed. The essential design remains unvaried, but alterations are made to the horse in the base of the shield and the inscription on the scroll. Hitherto the horse has been depicted as trotting to the observer’s right, with its head turned as though looking back to the left. The change turns the horse, so that is is moving to the left, and its head is looking in the same direction. An immediate criticism was that this was a purely party political move, as President Chavez and his supporters are to the political left of the former administration. The lower band of the scroll formerly read “Republica de Venezuela”. It will now read “Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela”. This is something of a departure in Latin American iconography. Throughout most of the 20th century, even if revolution unseated an unpopular government, national symbols remained, even in as fundamental a revolution as in Cuba. In Haiti the flag was changed in 1964 but reverted to the present form in 1986. There is one possible problem. If this is seen as a part of Venezuela’s long-standing claim to part of Guyana, that country may object, just as Greece did to the Star of Vergina on the first flag of independent Macedonia.