Hugo Chavez was a former Army Lieutenant Colonel and President of Venezuela. A populist, Chávez instituted what he calls a "Bolivarian Revolution" in Venezuela, where key industries were nationalized and oil revenues were used in social programs for the poor.
Background
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was born on July 28, 1954, in the town of Sabaneta in the province of Barinas, to Hugo de los Reyes Chávez and Elena Frías de Chávez.
Both parents were teachers, and they struggled to make ends meet, as Chávez recalled in an interview with Lally Weymouth of Newsweek. "I had to go with my father in the wee hours of the morning to help him fish to be able to eat. I sold sweets that my grandmother baked in the public square to have money to buy shoes and notebooks."
Education
Hugo Chávez attended the Julián Pino Elementary School.
Chávez graduated from the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences when he was 21 and was commissioned as an officer. He attended college while in the military but did not get a degree.
After his studies, he was assigned to a counter-insurgency unit, the start of a long and noteworthy military career. He also served as head of a paratrooper unit.
Chávez was a skilled officer, moving up in the ranks quickly and earning several commendations. He eventually reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He spent some time as an instructor in his old school, the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences. During his time in the military, he came up with "Bolivarianism," named for the liberator of northern South America, Venezuelan Simón Bolívar. Chávez even went so far as to form a secret society within the army, the Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario 200, or the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement 200. Chávez has long been an admirer of Simón Bolívar.
Chávez was only one of many Venezuelans and army officers who were disgusted by corrupt Venezuelan politics, exemplified by President Carlos Pérez. Along with some fellow officers, Chávez decided to forcibly oust Pérez. In the morning of February 4, 1992, Chávez led five squads of loyal soldiers into Caracas, where they were to seize control of important targets including the Presidential Palace, the airport, the Defense Ministry, and the military museum. All around the country, sympathetic officers seized control of other cities. Chávez and his men failed to secure Caracas, however, and the coup was quickly put down.
Chávez was allowed to go on television to explain his actions, and the poor people of Venezuela identified with him. He was sent to prison but vindicated the following year when President Pérez was convicted in a massive corruption scandal. Chávez was pardoned by President Rafael Caldera in 1994 and soon entered politics. He turned his MBR 200 society into a legitimate political party, the Fifth Republic Movement (abbreviated as MVR), and in 1998 ran for president.
Chávez was elected in a landslide at the end of 1998, racking up 56% of the vote. Taking office in February 1999, he quickly began implementing aspects of his "Bolivarian" brand of socialism. Clinics were set up for the poor, construction projects were approved and social programs were added. Chávez wanted a new constitution and the people approved first the assembly and then the constitution itself. Among other things, the new constitution officially changed the name of the country to the "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela." With a new constitution in place, Chávez had to run for re-election: he won easily.
Venezuela's poor loved Chávez, but the middle and upper classed despised him. On April 11, 2002, a demonstration in support of the national oil company's management (recently fired by Chávez) turned into a riot when the demonstrators marched on the presidential palace, where they clashed with pro-Chavez forces and supporters. Chávez briefly resigned and the United States was quick to recognize the replacement government. When pro-Chavez demonstrations broke out all over the country, he returned and resumed his presidency on April 13. Chávez always believed that the United States was behind the attempted coup.
Chávez proved to be a tough and charismatic leader. His administration survived a recall vote in 2004 and used the results as a mandate to expand social programs. He emerged as a leader in the new Latin American leftist movement and had close ties with leaders such as Bolivia's Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Cuba's Fidel Castro, and Paraguay's Fernando Lugo. His administration even survived a 2008 incident when laptops seized from Colombian Marxist rebels seemed to indicate that Chávez was funding them in their struggle against the Colombian government. In 2012 he easily won re-election in spite of repeated concerns over his health and his ongoing battle with cancer.
Much like his mentor Fidel Castro, Chávez gained much politically from his open antagonism with the United States. Many Latin Americans see the United States as an economic and political bully who dictates trade terms to weaker nations: this was particularly true during the George W. Bush administration. After the coup, Chávez went out of his way to defy the United States, establishing close ties to Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other nations recently unfriendly towards the United States. He often went out of his way to rail against US imperialism, even once famously calling Bush a "donkey."
Hugo Chavez died on March 5, 2013, after a long battle with cancer. The final months of his life were full of drama, as he disappeared from public view not long after the 2012 elections. He was treated mainly in Cuba and rumors swirled as early as December 2012 that he had died. He returned to Venezuela in February of 2013 to continue his treatment there, but his illness eventually proved too much for his iron will.
Hugo Chávez served as president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. During his presidency, he sold oil to Cuba and resisted efforts to stop narcotic trafficking in Colombia and subsequently strained relations with the United States.
Although many people criticized Chávez as appearing unprofessional or even buffoonish for his fiery rhetoric and his penchant for slinging insults at world leaders, he was in fact a very astute politician and a remarkable strategist. With his charisma and gift as an orator, he arguably did more than any other Latin American leader in half a century to unite many of the countries in the region, largely by capitalizing on the widespread feelings of neglect and frustration felt by the masses.
(This book tells the story of Hugo Chávez's life up to his...)
2016
Religion
Hugo Chávez was a devout Catholic, although he clashes with the Catholic hierarchy from time to time.
Politics
Chávez was an anti-imperialist Bolivarian, democratic socialist. The first two parts of that equation come from Venezuelan pro-democracy revolutionary Simón Bolívar and emphasize economic self-sufficiency. The second part contains the Chávez brand of socialism, which he called "Socialism of the 21st Century," distinguished from the Marxism of the Soviet Union and Communist China in its emphasis on participatory democracy.
Chávez has been called "the poor people's president" and supporters point to the establishment of state-run education and literacy programs, and accessible health care for the poor, which is mostly possible because of the country's rich oil resources. Critics see Chávez as a corrupt autocrat overseeing a wasteful government and a society still riddled with crime and poverty.
Chávez views North American capitalism as an evil, or as he said, "the biggest menace to our planet," to which he and his country are the antitheses. He was particularly critical of former American President George W. Bush, and when his administration expressed a willingness to improve its relationship with Chávez, the Venezuelan said, "I'm ready to talk. But if you're going to talk to the devil, you have to have strong morals because the devil has many ways to tempt you.
Personality
Blessed with charisma, Chavez could be folksy and funny, and it helped him build an almost mystical connection with poor Venezuelans.
Interests
Painting, singing
Politicians
Simón Bolívar
Connections
In 1977 Hugo Chávez married Nancy Colmenares. The couple divorced in 1995. They had two daughters, Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela, and one son, Hugo Rafael.
In 1997 he tied the knot with Marisabel Rodríguez but the marriage ended in divorce in 2004. They had one daughter together, Rosines.
