March 28, 2007
Venezuela issues electronic passports

(El Universal) - "The Bureau for Venezuelans and Foreigners' Identification (Onidex) started issuing electronic passports, but only in five offices nationwide, said Onidex head José Javier Morales.

Onidex offices in Plaza Caracas; La Trinidad, southeast Caracas; Los Ruices, northeast Caracas; Catia, northwest Caracas, and Maracay, central Aragua state, are issuing the document. However, within the next 40 days the fingerprint-capture machines necessary for passports will be in place in 25 offices nationwide, Morales said. He added that in two months they will be able to issue 240,000 passports a month, 180,000 units above the current number.

'We are going up from 600,000 passports a year to over 3.5 million passports a year,' Morales said.

(...) Venezuelan passports now have a 72-Kb chip built in for 'increased security' and a polycarbonate sheet where the holder's personal data and a black-and-white picture are imprinted.

Minister of the Interior and Justice Pedro Carreño stressed that electronic passports are issued only in six countries around the world. 'Venezuela has become the first country in the hemisphere to issue' electronic passports, Carreño added.

Venezuela invested USD 119 million in this project".