Venezuela: What good did Hugo Chavez do? Beginning of political activity

Travel notes, day 7

Today Venezuela has sunk to the bottom. Crime is rampant here, and Caracas is rightfully considered the most dangerous city in the world. There are no essential products here, and people stand in line for hours to buy something. There is terrible inflation here, and money will soon be weighed on scales, since the largest bill today is equal to our 3 rubles.

In Caracas, I tried to buy a T-shirt with Hugo Chavez as a gift for a communist friend. But you can’t find a T-shirt with Chavez... There are no portraits of the late leader either in the city or at the airport.

The miracle of the great Bolivarian revolution collapsed along with oil prices. The country approached the crisis with a dead economy and complete dependence on oil sales (95% of Venezuela’s foreign exchange income from oil sales). That's all.

With the arrival of Chavez, minimum wages increased. Many Venezuelans have managed to escape poverty. Salaries were increased due to the fact that the state gained control of the national oil company and distributed high oil revenues to the benefit of the poor. If in 1999 the number of poor in the country was 48.6%, then in 2013 it decreased to 32.1%.

Expenditures on social needs have increased. This also happened due to the sale of oil. Over the decade, spending in this area has increased by 60%.

The health care system has improved. If in 1998 there were 18 doctors per 1000 people, then in 2012 there were already 58. During the years of Chavez’s rule, 13.7 thousand clinics were built, which is 169% more than over the previous 40 years. In 2011 alone, 67 thousand Venezuelans received expensive medicines for free. In addition, the country has a network of state-run pharmacies that sell medications at a 35-40% discount. The problem is that you can't get any of this today.

The drainage system in the hospital is on the ceiling. Interesting solution. Early in his rule, Chavez strengthened his ties with Cuba by entering into an agreement to supply the country with 53,000 barrels of oil per day at a preferential rate in exchange for 20,000 Cuban doctors and teachers who would work in Venezuela. Subsequently, daily supplies were increased to 90,000 barrels, and another 40,000 Cuban doctors and teachers arrived in Venezuela.

Came to get vaccinated against yellow fever...

A nurse is looking at information on her phone about protests against Chavez’s successor Maduro, and is about to go overthrow the regime. Now doctors have no salary, and hospitals have no medicine. They say that now there are not even basic antibiotics and painkillers.

Everything that was acquired through backbreaking labor is slowly falling apart.

Under Chavez, illiteracy was eliminated in the country. The authorities spent more than 6% of GDP on education. Education became free, 10 new universities and thousands of schools appeared in the country. In terms of the number of students in the country, Venezuela ranked second among countries in 2012 Latin America and fifth worldwide. In terms of the number of people reading, Venezuela was in third place in its region.

In May 2007, the leader of Venezuela canceled entrance exams for higher education. educational establishments. All this was done as part of flirting with the poor population.

Several cable cars were built under Chavez. One in the slums, the other on the top of the mountain. They wanted to make another line to the sea, but the money either ran out or someone stole it.

The lift price for locals is 0.65 dollars, for foreigners 15!

Cable car station

There are very few people. Only a few can afford such a trip. The average salary is $30, remember?

Caracas

Even under Chavez's rule, food became more accessible to the poor. In 1998, 21% of the country's population was hungry. Therefore, the authorities began to create chains of grocery stores and supermarkets. In addition, Venezuela has issued about half a million loans to agriculture to stop depending on imported products. Five million Venezuelans began receiving free food.

Again, none of this helped. Everything was stolen; today Venezuela cannot even provide itself with bread and milk.

Under Chavez, a large amount of social housing was built. Today this housing is turning into a ghetto worse than a slum.

Above the clouds

People come here for the view.

There are also some shops and some very bad restaurants.

Cat Martha

The roads were paved with stone, just like in the good old days.

Caracas

Chavez actually bought himself votes and popular support. The economy cannot work properly when you have free gas, free utilities, free (or at fixed prices) products. Chavez built his 21st century socialism, but miracles do not happen. Instead of using the favorable time for the development of the country, all the money was simply stolen, and the poor people were fed scraps from the master’s table.

Perhaps if oil prices had not fallen, Venezuela would have survived for another 5 or 10 years. Today in Venezuela there are a huge number of completely unmotivated, lazy and embittered people. Why work when they give you everything for free? Why study when there are no exams and education is also free? Why save up for something when you can take a gun, kill someone and take the thing you like for yourself?

What Venezuela should do with these today is completely unclear.

Continue tomorrow…

Travel notes:

There is a category of people who claim that in order to achieve high-quality results, special conditions/skills/equipment are needed (we are not talking about the one that threatens to turn the Earth upside down if there is an appropriate fulcrum). But there is another category of people who, in spite of everything, destroy the beliefs of the former with their examples. The biography of one Venezuelan statesman and political figure is a vivid example of this.

Childhood and youth

The future speaker and leader of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, was born in Sabaneta, a small village located in the state of Barinas. This event took place on July 28, 1954. The boy became the second of seven children of Hugo de los Reyes Chavez and his wife Helen Friaz de Chavez.

Hugo spent his early childhood in the village of Los Rastrojos, which he left with his older brother Adan after graduation. primary classes. The parents sent the boys to their grandmother in Sabanet so that, while living with her, Hugo and Adan studied at the Lyceum named after General Daniel O'Leary.

Chavez, recalling his childhood, often said that it turned out to be poor, but happy. Then he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player when he grew up (this dream partially came true during his student years). After graduating from the Lyceum, Hugo entered the military academy. In parallel with his studies, the guy played baseball and softball - this led him to participate in the national championships in these sports.

Hugo Chavez in childhood and youth

Also, as a student at the military academy, Chavez was interested in the life and statements of the national hero - the general. Later, he came across the book “Diary”, and Hugo became interested in the ideas of a Latin American revolutionary. At the same time, Chavez drew attention to the poverty of the Venezuelan working class and decided to correct this social injustice in the future.

In 1974, the academy's leadership sent its students to celebrate the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Battle of Ayacucho, which took place during the Peruvian War of Independence. Head of State Juan Velasco Alvarado spoke at the event. The president's speech about the need for military action in the interests of the working class due to the corruption of the ruling class made a strong impression on twenty-year-old Hugo Chavez.

Young Hugo Chavez at the Military Academy

Another significant event that happened to Chavez while studying at the academy was meeting the son of the Supreme Commander of the National Guard of Panama, Omar Torrijos, and visiting Panama. Velasco and Torrijos became Hugo's ideological inspirers - the ideas formed by Chavez and the removal of civilian power by the military leadership were based on their examples. In 1975, Hugo graduated with honors from a military university and joined the army.

Policy

While serving in an anti-partisan unit in Barinas, after another raid, the guy found a cache of literature of a communist nature (including works and). Hugo kept several books for himself and read them in his free time. What he read caused Chavez to become more deeply rooted in his leftist views.

Two years later, in the state of Anzoategui, Hugo’s detachment fought the Red Flag Party group. After communicating with the captured members of the group, Hugo began to understand that not only the civil authorities were thoroughly corrupt, but also the top of the military leadership. How else can we explain the fact that oil revenues do not go to help the poor people of the country.

This revelation leads to Chavez founding the Bolivarian Revolutionary Party 200 (later to become the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement 200) in 1982. The initial idea of ​​the organization was to study military history states in order to create a new personal system of warfare.

Later, political scientist Barry Cannon argued that the “Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement 200” was in fact the formation of a new ideology that absorbed all the best from previous ideological models. In 1981, Hugo received the rank of captain and taught at his former university for a semester, sharing his ideas with students and recruiting colleagues among them.

After this, Chavez was sent by the leadership to the city of Elors. Hugo began to suspect that this was a link, as the military leadership began to worry about his actions. Chavez was not at a loss - instead, he made acquaintance with the Yaruro and Cuiba tribes, the indigenous inhabitants of the lands that at that time belonged to the Venezuelan state of Apure.

Having become friends with the Yaruro and Quiba, Chavez realized that it was necessary to stop the oppression of the indigenous population by the country's citizens and revise the laws protecting the rights of indigenous people (which he would later implement). In 1986, Hugo Chavez received the rank of major.

Two years later, Carlos Andres Perez took over the presidency. He managed to win the race during the elections thanks to the promises announced in the election campaign. In particular, a promise to stop following the monetary policy of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In fact, Peres launched an even worse mechanism - a neoliberal model more profitable for the United States of America and the IMF. The citizens of Venezuela categorically did not like this. People went out to rallies, but by order of the president, all mass protests were brutally suppressed with the help of the military. Chavez was in the hospital at the time, so when the news reached him, he realized that a military coup was necessary.

According to the plan developed by Hugo and his team, it was necessary to capture key military facilities and assets mass media, eliminate Peres, replacing him with a proven candidate - Rafael Caldera (one of the country's former presidents). Everything was ready for this.

But nevertheless, an attempt coup d'etat, produced in 1992, was not successful. Due to the small number of supporters, numerous betrayals, unverified information and other unforeseen circumstances, Chavez's plan failed. On February 5 of the same year, Hugo personally surrendered to the authorities and went on television asking his supporters to surrender, saying that for now he had lost.

This event was covered in detail by the media around the world (articles with Hugo’s photo were in all major publications in the world) and brought fame to Chavez, imprisoned in the military prison of San Carlos. Also, these events did not bypass Carlos Andres Perez - in 1993, the president was convicted and removed from office for malfeasance and embezzlement of the state budget for personal and criminal purposes. He was replaced by Caldera.

Rafael Caldera released Hugo and his supporters, dropping all charges, but prohibiting them from serving in the country's armed forces. After this, Chavez immediately set out to propagate his ideas among his fellow citizens, as well as seek support abroad (that’s when he met Fidel Castro).

During a tour of Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Cuba and Argentina, Chavez learned from associates that the actions of the current President Caldera were not much different from the actions of Perez. Suspecting something was wrong, Hugo returned to his homeland.

Chavez understood that he could only come to power by force, since the oligarchs would not allow him to win Caldera in the upcoming elections. However, Hugo decided to try to avoid armed conflict by founding the Fifth Republic Movement in 1997 (later to become the United Socialist Party of Venezuela), a left-wing socialist party.

In the 1998 presidential race, Hugo Chavez managed to beat Rafael Caldera, Irene Saez and Enrique Raemers, taking office as President of Venezuela in 1999.

Chavez's first presidential term lasted until 2001 and was marked by the repair of roads and hospitals, free treatment and vaccinations, the provision of social assistance, the revision of laws protecting the indigenous population, and the launch of the weekly program "Hello, President", in which anyone who called could discuss with Chavez urgent question or ask for help.

The first presidential term was followed by a second, third and even a short fourth. The oligarchy was never able to overthrow the people's favorite President Hugo Chavez, despite a coup in 2002 and a referendum in 2004.

Chavez's fourth presidential term began in January 2013 and ended in March of the same year due to Hugo's death. In fact, the role of head of state was played by the next president of Venezuela. And Hugo Chavez died at the age of 58.

Personal life

Was married twice. His first wife was Nancy Calmenares, with whom Chavez has daughters Rosa Virginia (1978) and Maria Gabriela (1980) and son Hugo Rafael (1983). After the birth of his son, Hugo separated from Calmenares, continuing to take care of his children.

From 1984 to 1993, he was in an unregistered relationship with Erma Marksman, his colleague. In 1997, he married again and became a dad for the fourth time - his second wife, Marisabel Rodriguez, gave birth to a daughter, Rosines. In 2004, the couple separated.

Death

In 2011, Chavez learned that he had cancer. Then, by personal invitation, he arrived in Cuba to undergo a course of operations. Hugo had his malignant tumor removed and began to feel better. However, at the end of 2012, the pain made itself felt again.

On March 5, 2013, Hugo Chavez died. For a long time, details were not disclosed, but later it was announced that the cause of death was a massive heart attack. There were rumors that Chavez was actually poisoned by the Americans or his former comrade-in-arms turned defector, Francisco Arias Cardenas.

Initially, they wanted to embalm Hugo Chavez, but for certain reasons they did not do this. Instead, Chavez's body was taken from the Military Academy where he studied and taught to the Museum of the Revolution, where the farewell ceremony and funeral took place. Speeches were made by the heads of delegations from different countries, including from the United States (despite the fact that at a session of the UN General Assembly, Chavez spoke unflatteringly about the inhabitants of the White House).

Memory

On March 7, 2016, in Sabaneta, the locality where Hugo Chavez was born, a monument was erected to him - a gift from friends from Russia (including).

Quotes

“Some remains of steam, which used to be water, were recently discovered on Mars. It can be assumed that there was once a civilization on Mars. Mars is very similar to Earth. It even has rotation speeds around the Sun and around its axis that are similar to those on Earth. So, recently I was looking at a photograph of a dead planet with a magnifying glass, which was sent by an American apparatus from Mars. And it seemed to me that on one of the Martian rocks I distinguished three letters: IMF.”

“Yesterday the devil spoke at this podium. And it still smells of sulfur in here.”

“I swear, tirelessly, day and night, all my life to build Venezuelan socialism, a new political system, a new social system, a new economic system."

CHAVEZ FRIAS, HUGO RAFAEL(Chavez Frias, Hugo Rafael) (1954-2013), Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela.

Hugo Chavez was born in Sabaneta on July 28, 1954. His parents were school teachers. From 1971 to 1975 he studied at the Military Academy of Venezuela. He graduated with the rank of junior lieutenant.

Served in airborne units. He was fond of reading the literature of leftist theorists: K. Marx, V. Lenin and Mao Zedong.

In the 1980s, he organized an underground organization called COMACATE, and subsequently, on the basis of this organization, the underground Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (MBR - Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario) was also created.

Since 1990, there has been some economic recovery, partly as a result of feverish privatization; in 1991 economic growth reached 10%, and in 1992 – 9%. However, by the end of 1992, growth slowed and inflation remained at 30%.

The crisis in the country continued to deepen. There was an outflow of capital, and a number of banks declared insolvency. Crime increased sharply, and prisoner riots occurred every now and then in overcrowded prisons. Former President Jaime Lusinchi, accused of corruption in 1993, was acquitted, but ex-president Perez was placed under house arrest, and in 1996 the Supreme Court found him guilty of illegally spending public funds.

Chavez spent two years in prison after his failed military coup attempt, was released and began to build his own electorate, appealing mainly to the poor for support. His supporters united in the so-called “Fifth Republic Movement” (FRM). In addition to the DPR, Chavez's candidacy for the presidential elections in December 1998 was also supported by MAS and a coalition of small left-wing groups.

In the parliamentary elections in November 1998, the Patriotic Pole coalition, which supported Chavez, consisting of his Fifth Republic Movement (MRF), the Movement towards Socialism (MAS), the Homeland for All Party and other groups, received about 34% of the votes and won 76 of 189 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 17 of the 48 Senate seats. The DD remained the largest of the individual parties (55 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 19 in the Senate). KOPEY received only 27 deputy and 7 Senate seats. In the elections of governors of the states and the capital district, Patriotic Pole and DD won 8 posts each, KOPEY – 5.

The presidential elections that followed in December 1998 turned out to be a real political earthquake. They demonstrated the decline of the influence of the DD and KOPEY, which dominated the country for almost 40 years. The result of their rule was corruption, increased poverty and a sharp deterioration in basic public services, including health and education. Despite Venezuela's oil wealth, more than 80% of the population lived in poverty, 40% even below the subsistence level. The economic downturn that began as a result of falling oil prices, errors in financial policy and political instability, led to a drop in gross domestic product in 1998 by 0.7% (in 1999 the crisis continued, despite the fact that oil prices rose again).

On the wave of general discontent, Hugo Chavez won the presidential election (56.2% of the vote), far ahead of his rivals - banker and former governor Enrique Salas Roemer (39.9%) and “Miss Universe 1981” Irena Saez (2.8% ). The traditional parties DD and COPEY refused to nominate their own candidates and expressed support for Salas.

Having assumed the presidency on February 2, 1999, Hugo Chavez refused to take an oath on the 1961 constitution, declaring it “dead.” He announced his intention to achieve the adoption of a new constitution, which was supposed to provide for a profound reform of the entire political, legal and economic system, and the fight against poverty and corruption. Chavez proclaimed the beginning of a “peaceful revolution” and threatened to dissolve Congress and the Supreme Court if they resist the planned changes.

Chavez's socio-economic policy did not provide for a fundamental rejection of market mechanisms, the regime of "austerity" and economic orientation towards the United States, and did not imply the nationalization of major industries and finance. At the same time, the new authorities sought to increase state intervention in the economic and social sphere. Chavez introduced the Bolivar 2000 Plan, according to which 70 thousand military personnel and 80 thousand government employees were sent to infrastructure development projects, health care, and education Agriculture and road construction. At the same time, the government continued its policy of further reducing government spending, including for social needs, limited salary increases in the public sector, so that it lagged significantly behind the growth of inflation, introduced a tax on banking transactions, etc.

Chavez's rise to power led to a sharp polarization of political forces. Turned around intense struggle between his authoritarian regime and the old party, legal, business and trade union elites. The President immediately went on the offensive against the legislative and judicial authorities of Venezuela. On February 17, 1999, he demanded the adoption of a law granting him emergency powers. At the end of March, Congress was forced to recognize the president’s rights to legislative measures to improve the budget for a period of 180 days, and on April 15, after Chavez’s threats to introduce a state of emergency, additional emergency powers in the economic field.

In April 1999, Chavez held a referendum, during which 90% of the participants (only 47% of voters voted) were in favor of convening a Constituent Assembly to develop a new constitution for the country. Assembly elections took place in July; 120 of the 128 seats (another three seats were reserved for Indian communities) were won by supporters of the president, and he was re-confirmed in office. The Supreme Court tried to limit the powers of the Constituent Assembly by ruling that it did not have the power to dissolve democratically elected bodies. However, on August 12, the assembly, ignoring the opinion of the courts, announced the assumption of emergency powers to reform government bodies, and on August 19 introduced a “state of emergency” in the field of justice. It also decided to conduct an investigation into the activities of all judicial authorities in the country, including the Supreme Court, and also to purge them of persons involved in corruption. After this, the resistance of the Supreme Court was broken, and its chairman, Cecilia Sosa Gomez, resigned. The authorities opened cases against 75 judges at various levels on charges of abuse of office and corruption.

Now the main blow of the Chavez government was directed at the opposition National Congress. August 25, 1999 constituent Assembly decided to deprive Congress of legislative powers; its meetings were banned and a commission was appointed to investigate the activities of deputies and senators. The severity of the conflict was mitigated by mediation catholic church(Hugo Chavez himself is a deeply religious Catholic). According to the compromise reached, Congress was able to resume its meetings on October 1, 1999, but was forced, in essence, to accept its own powerless situation. The Supreme Court rejected the claim of parliamentarians who sought the repeal of emergency laws passed by the Constituent Assembly. Finally, both the assembly and the congress approved the text of the new constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and on December 15 it was approved by a popular referendum. The provisions contained in the text, which provided for the expansion of government intervention in the economy, caused discontent among business organizations.

After the constitution came into force in January 2000, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved and replaced by a temporary congress committee until new elections.

The next conflict arose between the Chavez government and the press. By order of the authorities, an opposition television magazine was closed, which caused violent protests by journalists who accused the regime of violating press freedom. Venezuela's private television channels openly opposed the president.

The presidential elections on July 30, 2000 were won by a large margin by Hugo Chavez, who received more than 59% of the votes and began a new term in office on August 19. The president's main rival this time was his former comrade-in-arms in the 1992 military uprising, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Arias Cardenas, who has now joined the opposition against Chavez. Having united around himself the opponents of the current president, Arias Cardenas collected more than 37% of the votes. 3% went to another opposition candidate, Claudio Fermin. The Patriotic Pole also won the parliamentary and gubernatorial elections, winning 99 seats in the National Assembly and 13 governorships.

The economic situation in the country was aggravated by rising unemployment, falling living standards and capital flight abroad. Civil servants and trade unions responded with mass protest demonstrations and threats of strikes.

In area foreign policy Chavez sought to expand contacts with oil-producing countries and establish cooperation with Cuba, but at the same time did not want relations with the United States, the main consumer of Venezuelan oil, to deteriorate.

Throughout 2001, the confrontation between President Chavez and his opponents from among the old elites grew, and the following year resulted in open confrontation. Dissatisfaction among some of the top military circles increased, some of whose representatives publicly called on Chavez to resign. In April 2002, the government replaced the entire leadership of the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, and in response, opposition leaders of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers called for an indefinite general strike. The speech of oil workers and trade unions was supported by entrepreneurs' unions. After clashes between hundreds of thousands of supporters and opponents of the president took place in Caracas, during which dozens were killed and wounded, military commanders carried out a military coup on April 11; Chavez was forced to resign and was arrested. At the head of the transitional government, the rebel generals installed the President of the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Associations (the largest association of entrepreneurs), Pedro Carmona. However, most of the army remained loyal to the president, and many hundreds of thousands of his supporters, mobilized by the Bolivarian Committees, took to the streets, mainly in poor areas of cities. As a result of the counter-coup, Chavez returned to power; his leading opponents were arrested.

The failure of the April coup did not end the political crisis in Venezuela. During the year, the opposition, taking advantage of growing economic difficulties and inflation, organized four general strikes against the government of President Chavez. The largest of them began in early December 2002 and lasted more than 2 months. The protests were organized by the leaders of the trade union Confederation of Workers of Venezuela and the political bloc “Democratic Coordination”. They demanded Chavez's resignation and a referendum on his presidency. But this strike (like the previous one, in October 2003) ended in failure.

In 2004, a referendum was held in which the main issue was the question of confidence in the president of the country. Over 59% of the population supported Chavez that he should remain in office.

Chavez strengthened cooperation with Cuba because... an understanding arose that it was necessary to unite against the imperialist encirclement. In 2006, Chavez coined the term "Axis of Good" and he tried to consolidate countries like Cuba Bolivia. Later, Iran, Nicaragua, and Belarus joined the axis of good as potential allies.

On December 4, 2006, Hugo Chavez again won a convincing victory over the candidate from the Venezuelan opposition, the governor of the state, in the next presidential election. Zulia M. Rosales.

In early January 2007, Hugo Chavez announced the nationalization of Venezuela's largest telecommunications and electricity companies - Compania Nacional de Telefonos de Venezuela (СANTV) and EdC, controlled by American firms.

On January 18, 2007, the country's parliament adopted a law granting U. Chavez emergency legislative powers for the next year and a half.

On October 7, 2012, the next presidential elections took place. 6 candidates took part in the presidential race. The largest number of votes was received by Hugo Chavez (55.26%) and Henrique Capriles Radonski, the single opposition candidate (approx. 45%). Chavez was re-elected president of the country for the fourth time.

After his re-election, Chavez changed the composition of the government. He appointed Nicolás Maduro, a former foreign minister, as vice president.

A few months before the elections, Hugo Chavez underwent several operations because... He was diagnosed with cancer. After his re-election, he underwent treatment in Cuba and, in fact, the country was led by the vice president. Chavez realized the seriousness of his situation, so in one of his speeches he announced a successor to N. Maduro, in case it was necessary to hold early elections.

Chavez died on March 5, 2013 in Venezuela after long treatment, including in Cuba for cancer.

Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias(Spanish: Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías) - Venezuelan socialist politician, military man, President of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013.

Place of Birth. Education. Born on July 28, 1954 in the state of Barinas in southeastern Venezuela into a large family of school teachers - Hugo de Los Reyes Chavez and Elena Fries. The mother hoped that her son would become a priest, but he himself dreamed of a career as a professional baseball player, as part of a Spanish team. Criollitos de Venezuela participated in the national baseball championship. He maintained this hobby as president. His great-grandfather General Pedro Perez Delgado was an active participant Civil War 1859-1863, and in 1914 he raised an anti-dictatorship uprising again. As a child, Hugo drew well, and at the age of 12 he received his first award at a regional exhibition.

In 1975 he graduated from the Military Academy (Spanish: Academia Militar de Venezuela) with the rank of junior lieutenant with a degree in Military Sciences, Ground Forces Engineer. Chavez served in the airborne units, and the red beret of the paratroopers subsequently became an integral part of his image.

In 1982 (according to other sources, while studying at the academy, in 1977), Chavez and his colleagues founded the underground organization “Bolivarian Army of the People of Venezuela” COMACATE (an abbreviation made up of the first and second letters in the names of middle and junior officer ranks). COMACATE was later transformed into the "Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement" (Spanish: Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario) - RBR-200, named after the hero of the Latin American War of Independence, Simon Bolivar.

From 1989 to 1990 he studied at the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, majoring in Political Science. In the same year he received the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Political career. On February 3, 1992, Lieutenant Colonel Chavez led a military coup against Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, unpopular due to high level corruption and government spending reduction policies. The purpose of the coup was to force the resignation of the president and government, to end corruption, neoliberal reforms and the use of the armed forces against the people of Venezuela. The uprising, which killed 18 people and injured 60, was crushed by the government a day later. Chavez surrendered to authorities and was placed in a military prison. In November 1992, Chavez's associates launched a new, again unsuccessful, coup attempt.

Chavez spent two years in prison and was released in 1994 under an amnesty by President Rafael Caldera. He reorganized his supporters into a left-wing political party - the Movement for the V Republic (Spanish: Movimiento V Republica) and moved from armed struggle to legal political activity.

In 1998, Chavez ran for president under the slogan of fighting corruption. At that time, he refrained from radical political rhetoric, and the reform program he proposed could not be called revolutionary. In the presidential elections on December 6, 1998, Chavez won with 56.5% of the votes. The policies of the Chavez government included a number of large-scale social programs, including the creation of general education and health care systems. The government established tight control over the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, whose profits were directed to the needs of society: the construction of hospitals and schools, the fight against illiteracy, agrarian reform, etc. Having thus won the support of the low-income part of the population, Chavez began the nationalization of enterprises in various industries.

In 1999, a new constitution was adopted in Venezuela, which increased the presidential term from five to six years and provided the opportunity for re-election to a second term. In the next presidential election on July 30, 2000, Chavez won 59.76% of the vote. In the subsequent period, Chavez's political course, called the "Bolivarian movement towards socialism", shifted to the left. The president made harsh statements against the “predatory oligarchs” - the leaders of the oil industry, as well as the hierarchs of the Catholic Church and opposition journalists. In foreign policy, Chavez took an anti-American position. He was the initiator of changing the name of the country to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (in honor of Simon Bolivar).

Chavez's rule was accompanied by discontent and protests by the right-wing opposition, mainly from the wealthy sections of the country's population. On August 15, 2004, opponents of the president achieved a referendum on confidence in the country's leadership. The majority of Venezuelans (59.10% of those who voted) then supported the president, and his power only strengthened.

During the 2006 election campaign, which Chavez waged under the slogan “in the name of love,” he promised his “main rival” Bush, “Mr. Devil,” that “candidates from imperialism will be ground into powder.” Chavez won the elections on December 3, 2006. Taking the presidential oath of office on January 10, 2007, Chavez promised to carry out intensive socialist reforms in Venezuela, including the nationalization of the largest energy and telecommunications companies.

In January 2007, parliament granted Chavez expanded powers for a period of one and a half years: to govern the country through decrees, bypassing legislative branch. In February, the nationalization of corporations in key industries began. Venezuela bought the assets of the largest energy company Electricidad de Caracas (EDC) from the American AES Corporation. An agreement was concluded to purchase shares of the telecommunications giant CANTV, owned by the American Verizon Communications.

On May 1, 2007, Chavez announced the termination of Venezuela's cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - a desire to distance itself from international institutions controlled by the United States.

In July 2007, Chavez announced his intention to introduce a bill to parliament that would allow the President of Venezuela to be re-elected an unlimited number of times.

On December 2, 2007, Venezuelan citizens did not support the constitutional amendments proposed by Chavez in a referendum. A total of 69 amendments were submitted to the referendum: in addition to abolishing the limit on the number of presidential terms of government, it was proposed to increase the term of office of the head of state from six to seven years, abolish the autonomy of the Central Bank of Venezuela, give voting rights to sixteen-year-old citizens and introduce a six-hour working day. At the same time, Chavez initiated a total of 33 amendments, combined into block “A”, while the other 36 amendments, combined into block “B”, were proposed by the parliament. According to the results of the referendum: block of reforms “A” was supported by 49.3% of voters, 50.7% voted against. Reform bloc "B" - 48.9%, against - 51.1%.

Chavez continued to consolidate power. Back in 2006, he announced the creation of a new party. The first congress of the new United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Spanish: Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) was held in January-March 2008. The new political organization was headed by Chavez himself, calling it “the party of social struggle and defense of the fatherland.”

Performance assessment. Hugo Chavez enjoyed the support of the majority of Venezuela's poor population and was re-elected president of the country twice, most recently on January 10, 2007. On the international stage, Hugo Chavez was an implacable critic of globalism, imperialism, US policy and personally. Outside of Venezuela, he also enjoyed wide popularity among the population of Latin America and other countries of the world. He repeatedly supported the regime in Cuba and personally Fidel Castro, whom he considered his friend. He proposed plans for integration and cooperation in the southern hemisphere of the American continent. In December 2005, he received the UNESCO José Martí International Prize for his contribution to the unification and integration of Latin America and the Caribbean. He also expressed support for regimes critical of US policy, such as Iran, Libya, and Belarus. For his support of Iran, he received the Order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1st degree, in July 2006.

Family. Chavez was married twice. He divorced his first wife, Nancy Colmenares, in 1992 and lived with common-law wife- Hermoy Marksman. His second wife was journalist Marisabel Rodriguez Oropeza. Marisabel helped Chavez create the 1999 Constitution, but already in 2002 she filed for divorce and in 2007 condemned the reforms carried out ex-husband. Chavez has three children from his first marriage: Rosa Virginia, Maria Gabriela and Hugo Rafael and one daughter from Marisabel - Rocines.

Illness and death. President Hugo Chavez died on March 5, 2013 at 16:25 (22:55 Kyiv time). It is known that Chavez died of cancer. The first reports of the president’s serious illness appeared in 2011. In December 2011, Hugo Chavez suggested that the United States could deliberately infect not only him with cancer, but also several other Latin American leaders who opposed Washington's policies. Just during his tour to Cuba, Chavez underwent two operations to remove a malignant tumor. Then the authorities said that the operation went well and the country's leader was recovering. Already on June 30, 2011, Chavez himself announced his illness. From July 22, 2011 to December 11, 2012, Chavez underwent chemotherapy four times. On February 18, it was reported that Chavez had returned from Cuba to Venezuela. He was sent to a military hospital, where he died.

Career

• In 1975, he graduated from the Military Academy of Venezuela with the rank of junior lieutenant. Served in airborne units.
• In 1982, Chavez and his colleagues founded the underground organization COMACATE, which was later transformed into the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario).
• On February 4, 1992, army columns under the command of Hugo Chavez took to the streets of the capital Caracas. More than a hundred officers and almost a thousand soldiers took part in the conspiracy. The high command declared its support for the president and gave orders to suppress the rebellion. Already at noon on February 4, Hugo Chavez surrendered to the authorities, called on his supporters to lay down their arms and took full responsibility for organizing this operation. Chavez and a number of his supporters ended up in prison.
• Two years later, in 1994, Chavez was pardoned by President Rafael Caldera. Immediately after his liberation he created the “V Republic Movement”.
• In the November 1998 parliamentary elections, the Patriotic Pole coalition, which supported Hugo Chavez and was led by the Fifth Republic Movement, gained about 34% of the votes and won 76 of 189 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 17 of 48 seats in the Senate. In the 1998 presidential elections, Chavez won with more than 55% of the vote.

Hobbies of Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez wrote poetry and stories, and was fond of painting since childhood. At the end of 2007, Chavez published a collection of songs, which included popular Venezuelan and Mexican songs performed by the president.