Bolívar is a municipality of Sucre, Venezuela. The capital is Marigüitar. It was founded in 1713 after many years of missionary work taking place in the area.
Name The municipality is one of several in Venezuela named "Bolívar Municipality" in honor of Venezuelan independence hero Simón Bolívar.
Geography The municipality lies about 12 meters above sea level, with its northern border on the Gulf of Cariaco. The Marigüitar River runs through the municipality into the gulf. Besides the capital, the municipality has seven main population centers: Guaracayar, Güirintar-Carenero, La Soledad, Sotillo, La chica, Golindano, and Petare. It is accessible by trunk road 09 that runs west-east from Cumaná to San Antonio del Golfo, and by sea from the gulf.
Despite bordering the coast, in 2019 the municipality began to suffer from severe water shortages. There have been infrastructure works since 2000 to improve the safe water flow in the municipality, works which have seen over 15,000 laborers from the local community and which have been largely funded by local export companies.
Economy The economy of this municipality is based primarily in fishing, but there is also some tourism. Combining both, the municipality also engages in promoting aquatourism.
Based in Marigüitar, are several large fish and seafood packaging companies.
The municipality has some hotel complexes and native cultural food outlets, for the national and international tourists that come because of its beaches and landscapes. There are also about 10 pharmacies in the municipality, which began selling suncream for tourists as well as providing medicines for the locals.
Government The municipality is governed by a mayor and a council, all of whom are elected and are affiliated with a national party. The current mayor is Héctor Frontado, who was previously the mayor of neighboring municipality Mejía from 2013-17. In 2017, Cabeza was arrested and later sentenced for a corruption scheme in which his used his office as mayor to illegally obtain expensive goods.
Mayors PeriodMayorPolitical affiliation% of votesNotes1989-92Manuel Neptalí YendizAD -First directly elected mayor1992-95Manuel Neptalí YendizAD -Reelected1995-2000Hector GarcíaCOPEI -Second directly elected mayor (next election was held early in 2000 due to the approval of the 1999 constitution)2000-04Hector GarcíaIPCN COPEI41.54Reelected2004-08Hector GarcíaPODEMOS52.59Reelected2008-13Carmen VillegasPSUV46.39Third directly elected mayor (the municipal elections scheduled for the end of 2012 were postponed by a year)2013-17Luis Daniel CabezaVP MUD55.82Fourth directly elected mayor2017–presentHéctor FrontadoPSUVWon 6809 votesFifth directly elected mayor
See also Bolívar Municipality (disambiguation)
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