5 Bolivares 2007, Venezuela
| in Krause book | Number: 89 |
| Years of issue: | 24.05.2007 |
| Edition: | 51 975 000 |
| Signatures: | Presidente BCV: Gastón Parra Luzardo, Primer VicePresidente BCV: José Ferrer Navas |
| Serie: | 2007 Serie |
| Specimen of: | 20.03.2007 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 157 x 69 |
| Printer: | Casa de la Moneda de Venezuela, Av. José Casanova Godoy, Hacienda La Placera, Maracay |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Portrait of Pedro Camejo and electrotype "5".
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is based on a brozen bust done in 1930 by Antonio Rodríguez del Villar and it's located in Monument to Carabobo.
Victor Bellera, better known as "Negro Primero", or "The First Black" (1790 - June 24, 1821) was a student who at first fought with the royal army, only to later go over to the rebel army during the Venezuelan War of Independence, reaching the rank of lieutenant.
The nickname of Negro Primero was inspired by his bravery and skill in handling spears, and because he was always in the first line of attack on the battlefield. It is also attributed to his having been the only officer of colour in the army of Simon Bolívar.
Bellera was a slave of Vicente Alonzo in Apure. At the beginning of the movement for independence he was part of the royalist army. He joined the cause of liberation in 1816, entering the ranks, in Apure, of General José Antonio Páez with whom it is said he struck up a great friendship. In 1818, when the General-in-Chief Simón Bolívar arrived in San Juan de Payara, during the Campaign of the Centre, he saw Camejo for the first time. The bravery and robustness of the warrior, together with the recommendation given by General Páez, awoke Bolívar's interest, and he then struck up a brief conversation, formulating some questions which Pedro Camejo answered with ingenuity and simplicity, explaining that while he had initially joined the ranks of the republican army out of greed, he had later understood that the struggle had other, higher purposes.
He was one of the 150 lancers who participated in the Battle of Las Queseras del Medio, and on that occasion he received the Order of Liberators of Venezuela. In the Battle of Carabobo, he fought with one of the cavalry regiments of the first division commanded by José Antonio Páez. Eduardo Blanco, in his book Venezuela Heroica, describes the moment when, gravely wounded, Camejo presented himself before General Páez and, with an unfailing voice said to him: "My general, I come to tell you goodbye, because I am dead". It is curious that José Antonio Páez in his autobiography does not describe the well-known actions of Camejo in the Battle of Carabobo, but rather limits himself to saying that Camejo fell mortally wounded with the first shots. 
On the background are the Venezuelan flag.
The current flag of Venezuela was introduced in 2006. The basic design includes a horizontal tricolor of yellow, blue, and red, dating to the original flag introduced in 1811, in the Venezuelan War of Independence. Further modifications have involved including a set of stars, multiple changes to the placement and number of stars and inclusion of an optional coat of arms at the upper-left corner.
The flag is essentially the one designed by Francisco de Miranda for his unsuccessful 1806 expedition to liberate Venezuela and later adopted by the National Congress of 1811. It consisted of three equal horizontal stripes of yellow, blue and red. Miranda's flag is also the inspiration for the flags of Colombia and Ecuador. This original design was first flown on March 12, 1806 at Jacmel, Haiti as Miranda's expedition prepared to make the final leg of its voyage to Venezuela. The flag was first flown over Venezuelan soil at La Vela de Coro, on August 3. Until August 3, 2006, Flag Day was celebrated in Venezuela on March 12. Since 2006 it has been celebrated on August 3.
Miranda gave at least two sources of inspiration for his flag. In a letter written to Count Semyon Vorontsov in 1792, Miranda stated that the colors were based on a theory of primary colors given to him by the German writer and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Miranda described a late-night conversation he had with Goethe at a party in Weimar during the winter of 1785. Fascinated with Miranda's account of his exploits in the United States Revolutionary War and his travels throughout the Americas and Europe, Goethe told him that, "Your destiny is to create in your land a place where primary colors are not distorted.” He proceeded to clarify what he meant by this:
"First he explained to me the way the iris transforms light into the three primary colors […] then he proved to me why yellow is the most warm, noble and closest to [white] light; why blue is that mix of excitement and serenity, a distance that evokes shadows; and why red is the exaltation of yellow and blue, the synthesis, the vanishing of light into shadow.
It is not that the world is made of yellows, blues and reds; it is that in this manner, as if in an infinite combination of these three colors, we human beings see it. […] A country starts out from a name and a flag, and it then becomes them, just as a man fulfils his destiny."
After Miranda later designed his flag based on this conversation, he happily recalled seeing a fresco by Lazzaro Tavarone in the Palazzo Belimbau in Genoa that depicted Christopher Columbus unfurling a similar-colored flag in Veragua during his fourth voyage.
In his military diary, Miranda gave another source of inspiration: the yellow, blue and red standard of the Burgers' Guard (Bürgerwache) of Hamburg, which he also saw during his travels in Germany. The idea of the flag is documented in his 1801 plan for an army to liberate Spanish America, which he submitted unsuccessfully to the British cabinet. In it Miranda requested the materials for "ten flags, whose colours shall be red, yellow and blue, in three zones."
The symbolism traditionally ascribed to the colors are that the yellow band stands for the wealth of the land, the red for courage, and the blue for the independence from Spain, or "golden" America separated from bloody Spain by the deep blue sea.
During the first half of the XIX century, seven stars were added to the flag to represent the seven signatories to the Venezuelan declaration of independence, being the provinces of Caracas, Cumaná, Barcelona, Barinas, Margarita, Mérida, and Trujillo.
In 2006 the President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez announced plans to add an eighth star to the flag of Venezuela to bring about a much belated fulfillment to Bolívar's 1817 decree. The eighth star represents the Guayana Province, one of the Provinces of Venezuela at the time of the declaration of independence.
Across all field of banknote, on the background, are charging horsemen.
The motive is taken after the bas-relief on the arch, at the entrance to the monument of Carabobo. It is relief, where José Antonio Páez and Pedro Camejo were represented during the battle of Carabobo.
Centered, on background, a little to the right, are the Giant Armadillo and the star.
Centered, on the left side, are two triangles for visually impaired people.
Denominations in numeral and in words are at the top. In numerals are twice at lower part of banknote.
Revers:
Centered are Giant Armadillos.
The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), colloquially tatou, ocarro, tatu-canastra or tatú carreta, is the largest living species of armadillo (although the extinct glyptodonts were much larger). It was once found widely throughout the tropical forests of South America and now ranges throughout varied habitat as far south as northern Argentina. This species is considered vulnerable to extinction.
The giant armadillo prefers termites and some ants as prey, and often consumes the entire population of a termite mound. It also has been known to prey upon worms, larvae and larger creatures, such as spiders and snakes, and plants
On background are the palm trees Mauritia vinifera in Los Llanos.
Mauritia is a genus of fan palms which is native to northern South America and to the Island of Trinidad in the Caribbean. There are only two currently accepted species. Mauritia flexuosa is widely distributed across northern South America as far south as Bolivia, extending north to Trinidad, while M. carana is restricted to the Amazon regions of Brazil, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia.
Los Llanos ("The Plains") is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the flooded grasslands and savannas biome.
The Llanos' main river is the Orinoco, which forms part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela and is the major river system of Venezuela.
At the top and lower lane are the national flowers of Venezuela - orchid Cattleya mossiae.
The national flower is the orchid Cattleya mossiae, known as Flor de Mayo ("May Flower"). It was first discovered in the northern land in 1849 and was given the status of National Flower on 23 May 1951.
On the left side is Venezuelan coat of arms.
The current coat of arms of Venezuela was primarily approved by the Congress on April 18, 1836, undergoing small modifications through history, reaching the present version.
The coat of arms was established in the Law of the National Flag, Shield and Anthem (Ley de Bandera, Escudo e Himno Nacionales), passed on February 17, 1954, by the military governor of Venezuela, Marcos Pérez Jiménez. The shield is divided in the colors of the national flag. In the dexter chief, on a red field, wheat represents the union of the 20 states of the Republic existing at the time and the wealth of the nation. In sinister chief, on a yellow field, weapons (a sword, a sabre and three lances) and two national flags are tied by a branch of laurel, as a symbol of triumph in war. In base, on a deep blue field, a wild white horse (perhaps representing Simón Bolívar's white horse Palomo) runs free, an emblem of independence and freedom.
Above the shield are two crossed cornucopias (horns of plenty), pouring out wealth. The shield is flanked by an olive branch and another of palm, both tied at the bottom of the coat with a large band that represents the national tricolour (yellow for the nation’s wealth, blue for the ocean separating Venezuela from Spain, and red for the blood and courage of the people). The following captions appear in golden letters on the blue stripe:
19 de Abril de 1810 (April 19, 1810) 20 de Febrero de 1859 (February 20, 1859)
Independencia (Independence) Federación (Federation)
República Bolivariana de Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela)
On the right and left sides are the Venezuelan cuatro.
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute families. Many cuatros are smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings. The cuatro is found in South America, Puerto Rico and other territories of the West Indies, and certain variants are considered the national instrument of some countries (e.g., Venezuela). Its XV century predecessor was the Portuguese Cavaquinho, which, like the cuatro had four strings. The cuatro is widely used in ensembles in Jamaica, Mexico, and Surinam to accompany singing and dancing. In Trinidad & Tobago it accompanies Parang singers. In Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the cuatro is used as an ensemble instrument for both secular and religious music as well as parties and traditional gatherings.
The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (A4,D5,F#5,B4) or (A3,D4,F#4,B3). It is similar in shape and tuning to the ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the traditional D tuning of the ukulele, but the B is an octave lower. Consequently, the same fingering can be used to shape the chords, but it produces a different transposition of each chord. There are variations on this instrument, having five strings or six strings.
Micro print "Banco Central De Venezuela" is a little to the right from center.
Lots of denominations in numerals are on the left and right sides. In numeral and in words in lower right corner, only in words in lower left corner.
Comments:
Security thread with abbreviations of Bank - BCV.
The banknote printer name is shown as "Casa de la Moneda - Venezuela", however banknotes are printed at many foreign printers and Venezuelan Mint. At the beginning, there were to cover the print production requirement for the Monetary Redenomination, later reason is unknown.
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