"El excremento del diablo" : Salvador de la Plaza y el petróleo de Venezuela

Abstract

This essay examines the link, in the work of historian and economist Salvador de la Plaza, between economics and the oil in Venezuela, highlighting the most significant elements of the palpable contradiction in the country’s productive structure created by the ambiguous role of oil, both the source of a remarkable wealth and the foremost cause of subjugation to North American economy and to the interests of multinational corporations. De la Plaza’s theoretical and political-practical approach brings the Venezuelan scientific and cultural debates together, establishing two paths for research and consideration: the nature of economic development and the process of media coverage of Venezuela’s national economy and politics.