Caripito

thumb|right|Nazareno monument on Caripito Caripito is a city in the state of Monagas, Venezuela. It has around 50,000 inhabitants. It is the third largest city in the state, after Maturín and Punta de Mata.

== History == Caripito is first recorded as a mission town, but the existence of this first settlement was short as it was destroyed by a major fire on 17 March 1783. Caripito has been known by a number of names, including La Palencia, San Juan, Caripe Horno, and finally Caripito, as a diminutive of the nearby Caripe. The town achieved political and territorial recognition when the Colón municipality was created in 1896. In 1910, the first school in Caripito was established. In 1924 the Standard Oil Company began oil exploration activities in the area and Caripito experienced a slight repopulation. When oil exploitation began in 1928 Caripito received an important boost to its urban development from the arrival of migrant labor, particularly from the Caribbean islands. In 1929, the Creole Petroleum Corporation (Standard Oil) began to build a storage yard and deep-water pier on the San Juan River and on October 15, 1930, the first tanker left the port with 20 thousand barrels of oil bound for Trinidad.