Punto Fijo is the capital city of the municipality of Carirubana in northern Falcón State,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. It is located on the southwestern coast of the

Paraguaná Peninsula The Paraguaná Peninsula () is a peninsula in Venezuela, situated in the north of Falcón State, and comprises the municipalities of Carirubana, Los Taques and Falcón. The island of Aruba lies to the north. Bonaire and Curaçao are slightly ...

. Its metropolitan area includes the parishes of Norte, Carirubana, Punta Cardón and the parish of Judibana in the municipality of Los Taques. Punto Fijo is the largest city in Falcón State.

History

Punto Fijo was founded in the early 1940s, on the outskirts of two refinery operations established by

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

and

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

during the 1940s. Despite the name of the 1958 Puntofijo Pact, Punto Fijo is unrelated to the pact (the pact was signed at Puntofijo Residence in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in th ...

). Punto Fijo has an estimated population of 270,000 (est. 2002

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

), mostly in the urban center. Punto Fijo's name is commonly attributed to the late Rafael González Estaba, former city historian, who said that the place where the city now stands was a common stop (the "fixed point") for passers-by and fishermen.

Economy

Punto Fijo has the world's third largest oil refinery complex, the

Paraguaná Refinery Complex The Paraguaná Refinery Complex ( es, Centro de Refinación de Paraguaná) is a crude oil refinery complex in Venezuela. It is considered the world's third largest refinery complex, just after Jamnagar Refinery (India) and (South Korea). The Pa ...

(CRP is its Spanish acronym), which consists of the Amuay and Cardón Refineries (both part of the CRP). The operation once refined around 1 million barrels per day, and all of these petroleum products were fuel for the local and regional economy. Also, Punto Fijo possesses the second most important fishing fleet in Venezuela, and has an industrial zone where electronics plants and light machinery plants are located. Punto Fijo includes a Free Zone for Touristic Investment allowing importation of goods free of tariffs. The progressive development that Punto Fijo is facing currently has given incentive to local, municipal, state and national authorities to carry out public building works that the city needed years ago. This includes the main bus station, repairs to public roads, and settlement of a new thermoelectricity energy plant "Josefa Camejo". The private sector has made investments as well, like the Sambil Mall Paraguaná, and Paraguaná Mall. These new complexes now join the

Centro Comercial y Recreacional Las Virtudes Mall Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

Transportation

Punto Fijo is crisscrossed from north to south and east to west by numerous avenues. A new bus terminal is under construction and expected to be ready by beginning 2010. The city is linked to Coro with a modern two-laned highway passing through the whole isthmus offering great views of the

Médanos de Coro National Park Médanos de Coro National Park (''Parque Nacional Los Médanos de Coro'') is a Venezuelan national park located in the state of Falcón, near the city of Coro on the road that leads to Paraguaná. The National Park was created in 1974. The park ...

as well as

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

found in this semi-arid region. The air transport needs of Punto Fijo's are served by Las Piedras Airport, also known as

Josefa Camejo International Airport Josefa Camejo International Airport , is an airport serving the Paraguaná Peninsula in Venezuela. The airport is named in honor of Josefa Camejo, a heroine of the Venezuelan War of Independence. On May 22, 2018, Aruba Airlines inaugurated wha ...

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, Punto Fijo has a

hot arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

, abbreviated as ''BWh''. The weather is hot year round. The majority of the scanty rain falls from August to December, but the city is the driest in South America outside the

Arid Diagonal upright=2.5, Map showing Köppens climate classification for South America. The arid diagonal can be seen in the form of the almost contiguous zone of BWh and BWk climate running from Ecuador to Southern Patagonia. The Arid Diagonal ( es, link=n ...

, receiving only around of rainfall per year – only a third as much as semiarid

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

and

Riohacha Riohacha (; Wayuu: ) is a city in the Riohacha Municipality in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia by the mouth of the Ranchería River and the Caribbean Sea. It is the capital city of the La Guajira Department. It has a sandy beach waterfr ...

References

External links