(Hugo Chávez Frías; Sabaneta de Barinas, 1954 - Caracas, 2013) Venezuelan military and politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. The influence of this politician often accused of being a populist transcended the borders of his country by fostering the emergence in Latin America of a new batch of left-wing leaders, opposed like him to economic neoliberalism and US interference and concerned about the most disadvantaged classes and indigenous minorities.

Biography

Hugo Chávez attended primary and secondary school in Sabaneta and higher education at the Venezuelan Military Academy, where he obtained the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1975. He also graduated in Military Sciences and Arts, Engineering branch, mention in Terrestrial. He held various positions in the Venezuelan Armed Forces, the last of which was commander of the Colonel Antonio Nicolás Briceño Parachute Battalion (1991-1992). In December 1982 he created, with two other Army captains, the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement-200, of nationalist and leftist orientation.

In 1989 the then president of Venezuela, Carlos Andrés Pérez, applied a shock plan with neoliberal measures under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to face the serious economic and financial crisis affecting the country in those years. The popular classes of Caracas mobilized massively against the government's plan, in a movement known as Caracazo. The President ordered the army to repress the demonstrations, which provoked strong discontent within the Armed Forces.

In 1992, Hugo Chavez led as military commander a coup attempt to overthrow the government of Carlos Andres Perez. In spite of being favorably received by part of the population, the coup failed and Chávez was arrested, tried and sentenced to two years of imprisonment in Yare prison (1992-1994). }

From the army to politics

In May 1993, the Parliament dismissed President Carlos Andres Perez, accused of embezzlement of public funds. Fulfilling his electoral promise, in 1994, the new President, Rafael Caldera, agreed the dismissal of the process opened against Chávez. After being released, Chávez left the army and entered fully into the political struggle; he founded the V Republic Movement (MVR) and began to travel around the country explaining his proposals.

Chávez based his speech on the denunciation of the corruption of the system and of the main political parties. Three percent of Venezuela's population was upper class, 17 percent was middle class and the remaining 80 percent was destitute or marginalized.

His opponents accused him of populism and of selling rhetorical hopes empty of real content, but this would only accentuate Chavez's tendency to present a society divided into two sides, the people on one side and the "decadent oligarchy" on the other, and to confront without avoiding tension with the media, aligned in part with the opposition, and with one of the main institutions of the country, the Church.

In the presidency

At the head of the V Republic Movement and with the support of several leftist parties, Chavez presented his candidacy to the presidential elections of December 6, 1998 and was elected with 56.2% of the votes, winning over the consensus candidate of the traditional parties (COPEI and Accion Democratica). Following his program, the new president promoted the election of a Constituent Assembly in charge of drafting a new constitutional text, which would later be approved in a referendum. After the approval of the new constitution in 1999, in July 2000 Chavez was reelected President of Venezuela for the 2000-2006 period with a wide margin over his adversaries.

Two years later, on April 11, 2002, the Chávez government was the object of a failed civilian-military coup that elevated Pedro Carmona, the president of the employers' association Fedecámaras, to the presidency. Imprisoned for two days in the Orchila Island, Hugo Chavez was reinstated thanks to the action of fractions of the National Army and his supporters, and the country returned to constitutional order. The opposition organized new demonstrations that led to a general strike between December 2002 and February 2003. Conflicts with the opposition did not cease, and in August 2004, Chavez faced a recall referendum of his presidential mandate, from which he emerged strengthened by obtaining 59% of the votes, and which enabled him to govern until the end of his term. Two months later, Chávez's party achieved a resounding triumph in Venezuela's regional and local elections.

In view of the possibility of a presidential replacement offered by the elections at the end of 2006, the opposition was able to gather wills and unite around a single candidate, the social democrat Manuel Rosales. The elections were held on December 3 in a climate of total normality and with a participation of 70% of the electorate; Venezuelans once again gave their approval to Chavez, who became President for the third time for the 2007-2013 period after obtaining 63% of the votes.

During his third term, he advanced in the proposal to deepen the called "socialism of the XXI century", for which, among other decisions, he extended the nationalization process of numerous service companies. Presidential reelection was one of the hottest issues among those exposed to political debate during 2007. In November of that year, the Venezuelan parliament approved a controversial constitutional reform bill which contemplated, among other aspects, the elimination of the autonomy of the Central Bank, the reduction of the working day to six hours and the creation of the presidency for life of the Republic. The project was submitted to a popular referendum on December 2 and the results showed a majority opposition to it.

After the defeat, Hugo Chávez maintained his intention of submitting again to popular consultation a constitutional reform that would allow him to remain in power. Thus, supporters and opponents of the same confronted each other in an intense electoral campaign which, in spite of the radical polarization in which Venezuelan society was immersed, was carried out normally and without violence. On February 15, 2009, the new electoral appointment took place, which with 54% of the votes approved the unrestricted nature of the number of presidential reelections.

The presidential elections were held on October 7, and in them only two figures had a chance of victory: the incumbent President Hugo Chávez, candidate of the Gran Polo Patriótico; and Henrique Capriles, representative of the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, a coalition around which almost all the opposition to Chavism was agglutinated. The ballot boxes once again confirmed Chávez in power.

The key to what would be Chavez's last reelection (for the 2013-2019 term) was the social achievements of his government, as reflected in the drastic reduction of illiteracy, the increase of university students from popular social backgrounds, the expansion of public health coverage and the creation of popular markets with basic necessities at prices subsidized by the State.

After the electoral triumph, Chávez appointed Nicolás Maduro as Vice President of the Republic, who had been serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position in which he was also ratified. The President's decision was interpreted as the will to deposit in Maduro the inheritance of his leadership, taking into account that Chavez's health had deteriorated since he was diagnosed with cancer in June 2011.

On the day scheduled for his investiture (January 10, 2013), the President could not be present in Caracas because he was in Havana receiving oncological treatment. Vice President Maduro remained at the head of the government, receiving directives from his President from Cuba.

Chavez passed away on March 5, without being sworn in as President. Vice President Maduro remained at the head of the executive on an interim basis, until the celebration of new elections. Chavez's funeral, attended by more than thirty heads of state from all over the world, lasted three days; at the end of the funeral it was announced that his body would be embalmed and exhibited in a mausoleum, where Venezuelans could go to pay homage to the leader.

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