LA GUAIRA, a town and port of Venezuela, in the Federal district, 23m. by rail and eight m. in a direct line N. of Caracas. Pop. (1927), 6,000. It is situated between a precipitous mountain side and a broad, semicircular indentation of the coast line which forms the roadstead of the port. The harbour has been im proved by the construction of a concrete breakwater running out from the eastern shore line 2,044ft., rising I9Ift. above sea-level. This encloses an area of 8oac., having an average depth of nearly 28 feet. The harbour is further improved by 1,87oft. of concrete quays and 1,397ft. of retaining sea-wall, with several piers (three covered) projecting into deep water. These works were executed by a British company, known as the La Guaira Harbour Corpora tion, Ltd., and were completed in 1891 at a cost of about one million sterling. Further additions were begun in 1928 on a two-year building programme which calls for a million dollars outlay. The concession is for 99 years and the additional charges which the company is authorized to impose are necessarily heavy.
These improvements and the restrictions placed upon the direct trade between West Indian ports and the Orinoco have greatly increased the foreign trade of La Guaira. Coffee, cacao, hides, sugar and cotton-seed oil are among the chief exports. The city stands on sloping ground stretching along the circular coast line with a varying width of 130 to 33oft. and having the appearance of an amphitheatre. The port improvements now in progress will add many acres of reclaimed land to La Guaira's area and the port's facilities for handling cargo will be doubled.
La Guaira was founded in 1588, was sacked by filibusters under Amias Preston in 1595, and by the French under Grammont in 1680, was destroyed by the great earthquake of March 26, 1812, and suffered severely in the war for independence. In 1903, pending the settlement of claims of Great Britain, Germany and Italy against Venezuela, La Guaira was blockaded by a British German-Italian fleet.