The book is in Spanish, but richly deserves translation into other languages, especially English. However, those of you who read Spanish and have an interest in the massive industrial works of Venezuela’s interior and their catastrophic decline in recent decades, or have an interest in understanding how seemingly eternal, gargantuan enterprises can indeed be short-lived, will find this book of great interest.

Although its subject matter includes pretty technical themes (lots of engineering and mining, and capacity and waste, etc.), the author has a certain talent for making such esoterica comprehensible for those of us who are not versed in those professions but who do have an interest in Guayana (southeastern Venezuela, mostly the Venezuelan state of Bolivar) either because we were born there, or because we love Venezuela, or we simply want to understand what has happened in an area so critical for the well-being of a country

A few excerpts from chapter 11 will have to suffice to give an idea of the treasures inside, which will amply reward the interested reader:

“Sixty years ago, in what today is the industrial emporium of Guayana, all we had [there] was what Venezuelans would refer to as ‘bush and snakes’. Old San Felix was a small, ramshackle embarcadero for cattle driven from southern villages like Upata and Guasipati, to be shipped across the Orinoco to Ciudad Bolivar and from there to Trinidad, Carupano, or La Guaira [Caracas port]. Puerto Ordaz did not exist….

“From the years of [Medina Angarita and Perez Jimenez] steps were taken to conceptualize and realize a massive steel project with an experienced and renowned Italian enterprise and to begin construction of a small hydroelectric dam, today’s Macagua I, with 360 MW generating capacity….

“Later, towards the end of the 1960’s, a major expansion and modernization, Plan IV, were launched.

 “Those who have never visited Guayana have no idea of the magnitud of the wondrous Sidor. A look at the data at the end of the 1990’s, taken from one of the brochures that were then handed out to visitors who in those years engaged in ‘industrial tourism’ will give the reader an idea: ‘CVG Siderúrgica of the Orinoco, C.A., located on the right riverbank of the Orinoco River, in the Matanzas Industrial Zone, in Ciudad Guayana, Bolivar [state], 200 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean, sprawls over an area of 2,838 hectares of which 87 are covered. It includes 17 KM of perimeter fencing: 2 KM along the Orinoco River; 70 KM of paved roads; 132 KM of internal railroads; 13 mess halls; 19 production plants; 1 port with all modern facilities. For perspective: 2,838 hectares are about 28 square kilometers, which is double the municipality of Chacao [one of the larger municipalities of the Caracas area, the federal district]. It’s internal roads and highways covered 70 KM in length. Placed linearly, this would cover two round trips from Caracas to La Guaira [the capital city, in the northern mountains, to the major port on the coast]. Its 132 kilometers of railways would be enough to travel from Caracas to Maracay and some 20 kilometers beyond that. Or to go from Ciudad Bolivar [the state’s capital] to El Tigre [in another state]….

“All schools, hospitals, commercial buildings, manufacturing plants, universities, housing, buildings, stadiums, museums, theaters, and transportation infrastructure that exist in Venezuela and which were built in the last 50 years, were erected with rods supplied by Sidor or Sevensa-Sidetur [the private venture associated with Sidor]. That datum alone indicates how important Guayana is to Venezuela; but there is much more….”

The book is: Guayana: El Milagro Al Revés: El fin de la soberanía productiva (Guayana: The Reverse Miracle). I found it in Amazon.