In the seventies, modernity also came by way of asphalt. Public projects were constantly being developed. This policy included building bridges, viaducts, highways and connectors.

In the midst of these innovations emerged the Centipede, given that name by Caracas natives, who also labeled other similar highway connectors as the Octopus or the Spider. Even today, more than three decades after its inauguration, its grandeur is still being recognized; in 2007, the union of concrete producers included it among the list of 21 Venezuelan marvels made out of cement.

From its inauguration, the Centipede has been the eternal neighbor of the Guaire River. Today, it connects Baruta and Chacao Municipalities.

A color-filled year
1972 was an eventful year in Venezuela, especially in the economy. President Caldera had denounced that the Trade Agreement between Venezuela and the United States was not in the best interest of the nation.

Amidst the uncertainty created by that announcement, the Minister of Mining and Hydrocarbons Hugo Pérez La Salvia confirmed that Venezuelan crude-oil exports to the US markets would remain unaffected and would actually aid in the development of the oil sector.

It was, nonetheless, a good year for oil. The Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (CVP) performed its first drilling in the Orinoco Oil Belt and obtained positive results.

In November, CVP managed to drill twenty wells and obtain a total reserve of 104 million oil barrels, with a gravity greater than 10 API degrees. Two oil fields were activated at the Oil Belt.

As a sample of advances in medicine, in October, the cardiovascular surgery services of Hospital Miguel Pérez Carreño, ascribed to the state healthcare system Seguro Social, inserted the first atomic pacemaker in a 42-year-old patient. It was the first time that such a complex operation was performed in Latin America.

The device worked on atomic energy derived from a plutonium battery. The advantage of those pacemakers over traditional devices was that they lasted longer, approximately 10 years.

The arts, however, did not end the year unscathed. In May, a deranged man who affirmed being Jesus Christ attempted to destroy Michelangelo's The Pietà by striking it repeatedly with a hammer. The figure of the virgin suffered the most, as its left arm, nose and left ear, were destroyed. The figure of Christ in its lap, however, remained intact.