Hugo Raphael Chaves Frias(1954 - 2013) - President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela from to years, paratrooper, reserve lieutenant colonel, head, Trotskyist, participant in the events of February 1992.
Biography
9) the wages of workers and employees were increased by 30 percent. Despite the fact that in the era of capitalist rule, the increase in the wages of Venezuelans did not exceed two percent.
10) the metallurgical industry was nationalized.
11) Several MAZ assembly plants began operating in Venezuela.
Colombia incident
2007 Chavez arrived in Colombia. Official figures describe Colombia as a prosperous and wealthy state, but there is one caveat. There are revolutionary armed organizations in Colombia that have been fighting the authorities for 40 years. Isn't it strange. The total number of armed oppositionists is over 20 thousand people. The ideology of these movements is leftist. They fight the authorities with all sorts of methods, including illegal ones. Because of the presence of such an ideology, they are hounded, declared "terrorist", and imposed all sorts of bans and sanctions. But they don't give up. So, in August 2008, Chavez offered his help for negotiations on the release of hostages captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces Colombia (FARC), demanding the release of associates from prisons. The situation is clearly not straightforward. On the one hand, of course, it is wrong, after all, people. On the other hand, where to go if they are being pressed like that. The government has declared an information war on the rebels. Chavez offered his help in the negotiations. But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe turned down Chavez's services. Well, how is it? Accept help from a socialist? Never! People don't care. He explained his refusal by saying that Chavez was interested in the rebels winning. Nevertheless, the revolutionaries released some of the hostages, in honor of Chavez's policies. They appointed a collection point, but set conditions that the hostages would be transported by representatives of Venezuela. And so it was, however, Uribe hardly agreed to it. Operation was successfully completed. The rebels publicly thanked the Venezuelan leader. Uribe also thanked him, despite his personal dislike. After all this, Chavez publicly called on the public to exclude the FARC from the list of terrorist organizations. This is how it happened, Chavez gave people freedom and life, guided by purely humanistic values. And again - not a drop of blood on his hands.
Personal life
Chavez has been married twice. Has five children.
Until recently, Chavez suffered from cancer, but now his swollen organ was removed and his life is not in danger, despite the endless ducks in the media. There is nothing surprising in the fact that Chavez suffered from such a disease. After all, one of the medical causes of cancer is nervous or mental overload. And not surprising. Throughout his life, Hugo Chavez has been fighting the enemies of the world and his homeland. In the summer he announced his complete recovery. And this is thanks to the best Cuban medicine in the world.
disadvantages
Obviously, Chavez has disadvantages. Firstly, he adheres to Totskisi beliefs and professes Roman Catholicism. In addition, in December 2011, Chavez announced that the rally in Moscow was the work of the United States. There are clear features of Putinism in this. Nevertheless, all this pales before all those merits not only to their Motherland, but also to the whole world.
Awards
Lieutenant Colonel (in reserve) (since 1990)
Order of the Star of Carabobo.
Cross of the Ground Forces.
Order of Francisco Miranda.
Order of Raphael Urdaneta.
Order of the Liberator Class V.
Laureate of the International Jose Marti Prize (2005, UNESCO)
Order of the Islamic Republic of Iran I degree (2006, Iran)
Order of Friendship of Peoples (2008, Belarus).
Order of Sandino (2007, Nicaragua)
Order "Uatsamonga" (July 7, 2010, South Ossetia) - in recognition of special merits in affirming justice and equality of rights of all nations and peoples in international relations, as well as for supporting the state independence of the Republic of South Ossetia and displayed courage.
National Order of Jose Marti (Cuba).
Order of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes (Cuba, 2004).
Umayyad Order, 1st Class (Syria)
On the night of March 6, the world learned about the death of the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. Last months he did not appear in public, and a few days before his death, Chávez's associates said that the national leader undermined his health, as “he completely gave his body and soul” to the country. Having gone from a failed conspirator to the leader of the Bolivarian movement in Latin America Chavez has become one of the most recognizable figures in the world. Being a bright, but controversial person, over the years of his presidency, he managed to earn both hatred and admiration.
Hugo Chavez was first elected President of Venezuela in 1998. He was re-elected in 2000 and 2006. In 2002, as a result of a coup d'état, he lost power for several days. Military by profession, from 1992 to 1994 he was in prison for an attempted coup. An adherent of "Bolivarian socialism", he is known for his anti-American and anti-globalization views.
Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias (Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias) was born on July 28, 1954 in the city of Sabaneta in the Venezuelan state of Barinas, in a large family of school teachers. Chavez's mother hoped that his son would become a priest, and he himself dreamed of a career as a professional baseball player. In 1975 he graduated with the rank of junior lieutenant from the Military Academy of Venezuela. According to reports, he also studied at the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas.
Chavez served in the airborne units, and subsequently became an integral part of his image. In 1982 (according to other sources - while studying at the academy) Chavez founded the underground organization COMACATE with his colleagues (an abbreviation made up of the first and second letters in the names of middle and junior officers). COMACATE was later reorganized into the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario), named after the hero of the Latin American War of Independence, Simón Bolívar.
In February 1992, Lieutenant Colonel Chavez led a military coup against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Perez, unpopular due to high levels of corruption and government spending cuts. The uprising, which killed 18 people and injured 60, was suppressed by the government. Chavez surrendered to the authorities and was placed in a military prison. In November 1992, Chavez's associates undertook a new, again unsuccessful, coup attempt. Chavez spent two years in prison, and in 1994 he was released under an amnesty. He reorganized his supporters into the Fifth Republic Movement (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 was not revolutionary. In the elections on December 6, 1998, Chavez won, gaining 56.5 percent of the vote. The policy of the Chávez government included a number of large-scale social programs, including the creation of systems of universal education and health care. The government established tight control over the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, whose profits were directed to the needs of society: building hospitals and schools, fighting illiteracy, carrying out agrarian reform, and others. Having thus won the support of the poor majority of the population, Chavez began to nationalize enterprises in various industries industry.
In 1999, a new Venezuelan constitution was adopted, which increased the presidential term from five to six years. In the ensuing presidential elections on July 30, 2000, Chavez won 60 percent of the vote. In the subsequent period, the political course of Chavez, called the "Bolivarian movement towards socialism", shifted to the left. The President made harsh statements against the "predatory oligarchs" - the leaders oil industry as well as the hierarchs of the Catholic Church and opposition journalists. In foreign policy, Chavez took an anti-American stance. In 2001, he condemned the US military operation in Afghanistan. According to the Venezuelan president, the Americans themselves used terrorist methods to fight terrorism. It is only natural that in the attempt to overthrow Chavez in 2002, many, including the Venezuelan leader himself, blamed the United States.
On April 11, 2002, as a result of a coup d'état, Chavez was stripped of power, but on April 14 he returned to the presidency with the support of loyal army units and numerous supporters. Until April 14, the state was headed by Pedro Carmona Estanga. He dissolved parliament, suspended the work of the attorney general and state controller, and also repealed legislation passed during the Chavez presidency that redistributed part of the national wealth in favor of the poor. The United States readily welcomed the coup "beneficial to Venezuelan democracy." After 2002, the opposition tried to fight Chavez with constitutional methods. In 2004, opponents of the president secured a referendum on confidence in the country's leadership. The majority of Venezuelans (more than 59 percent) then supported the president, and his power only strengthened.
Anti-Americanism and anti-globalism of steel business card Chavez. Under his leadership, Venezuela began to claim leadership in the US opposition in the Western Hemisphere. According to press reports, the Venezuelan government provided assistance to the Colombian guerrillas, spent considerable sums on aid to other Latin American states, and opposed the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Moreover, Chavez tried to win sympathy within the United States itself. His American opponents argued that Venezuela was allocating funds to lobby for its interests in Congress. Groups of supporters of the Venezuelan president have emerged on the territory of the United States. Chavez has agreed to supply fuel oil at a reduced price to low-income areas in the north of the United States.
Chavez's attacks on the United States won sympathy around the world. The Americans could not but be outraged by the list of foreign friends of Chavez, the alliance with whom he called the "axis of good": Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Cuban President Fidel Castro. Venezuela has developed particularly friendly relations with Cuba. Chavez by low prices sold energy resources to the island state and provided him with economic assistance. Castro responded by sending numerous Cuban specialists to Venezuela, in particular doctors, who played an important role in the implementation of the social programs of the Chavez government.
In July 2006, Chavez paid a visit to Russia, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two countries have entered into important agreements. First, an agreement was reached on the supply of Russian weapons and military aircraft to Venezuela. Secondly, a partnership in the energy field was outlined: in particular, the development of new oil fields in Venezuela was planned with the participation of Russian company Lukoil.
Before the 2006 elections, Venezuelan society was divided. Chávez's supporters, who are the majority among Venezuelans and who are mainly from the poor, saw him as a leader for the interests of the poor. Opponents of the president accused him of populism, a penchant for autocracy and attempts to imitate the communist regime in Cuba. Although Chavez's opponent, the governor of the oil-producing state of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, managed to rally the disparate opposition forces into a single whole, Chavez won the December 3, 2006 elections.
Even before the official announcement of the results of the vote, Rosales admitted defeat, and Chavez began to celebrate the victory, which he dedicated to his friend Castro, and proclaimed the beginning of a new era of the socialist revolution. Before the elections, Chavez announced plans to amend the Venezuelan constitution, allowing the president to be re-elected an unlimited number of times. Taking the presidential oath of office on January 10, 2007, Chavez promised to carry out intensive socialist transformations in Venezuela, including the nationalization of the largest energy and telecommunications companies.
In February, the promised 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 signed to purchase shares of the telecommunications giant CANTV, owned by the American Verizon Communications.
On May 1, 2007, Chavez announced the suspension of Venezuela's cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The president called the reason for this step a desire to distance itself from international institutions controlled by the United States. At the end of June, the Venezuelan leader visited Russia again. As in the previous time, the main topics of the visit were purchases of Russian arms by Venezuela and cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas industry.
In February 2008, after the declaration of independence of Kosovo, Chavez announced that he would not recognize the sovereignty of this republic, adding that such steps are aimed at weakening Russia, destabilizing the region and creating a number of dangerous precedents. According to Chavez, the United States also provoked unrest in Tibet in order to spoil the PRC's image on the eve of the Olympic Games.
Chavez was on the side of Russia and during the conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008. Chavez said that he supports Russia's recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, approved on August 26 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, but did not say whether Venezuela is going to recognize the independence of the republics. Chavez also accused the United States of escalating the conflict.
In January 2009, in response to Israel's armed operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador from the country, while Chavez called the actions of the Israelis aggression and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Israel. Bolivia has also taken similar steps. In response, Israel expelled the Venezuelan embassy from the country.
In January 2009, it became known that a referendum was scheduled for February 15 of the same year to abolish the limitation on the number of terms of office for the President of Venezuela and other elective offices. A similar proposal failed in a referendum in 2007, but this time the proposal to amend the constitution was supported by 55 percent of voters, thereby giving Chavez the right to run for a third six-year term in the next presidential elections in 2012. It is noteworthy that representatives of the US State Department said that the referendum in Venezuela met all democratic norms.
In June 2011, Chavez underwent surgery in a Cuban clinic. On June 30, the president admitted that during the operation he had a cancerous tumor removed. In mid-July of the same year, Chavez again went to Cuba to undergo chemotherapy. Before treatment, he transferred part of his powers to the country's vice-president, Elias Jaua, and the finance minister, Jorge Giordani.
After the end of the treatment course, in August 2011, Chavez announced the nationalization of the gold mining industry in Venezuela: before his decree, the largest company operating in this sector in the country was a Canadian firm with Russian capital Rusoro Mining. In December 2011, her representatives reported that the Venezuelan government had not approached her with proposals for a joint venture or compensation, and promised to file a complaint with international arbitration. In addition, in August 2011, Chavez announced the return to the country of the gold reserve, which was kept in banks in Europe and the United States (the bulk of which is in the UK). In total, it was reported that the Central Bank of Venezuela intended to repatriate from 160 to 218 tons of gold, and place part of its gold and foreign exchange reserves in banks in China, Russia and Brazil.
Meanwhile, the course of treatment that Chavez underwent in the summer of 2011 was not enough: in February 2012, doctors in Cuba performed another operation on him to remove a tumor.
In the October 7, 2012 presidential elections in Venezuela, Chavez was re-elected for a new six-year term, gaining 54.4 percent of the vote.
On the night of March 5-6, 2013, Hugo Chavez passed away. He left three children from his first marriage: Rosa Virginia, Maria Gabriela and Hugo Rafael, and one daughter from the second - Rosines.
The Venezuelan leader, who ruled the country for 14 years, was one of the brightest, charismatic and at the same time scandalous political figures of the first decade of the 21st century.
“We will be worthy sons of this giant man, what he was and what will remain forever in our memory, Commander Hugo Chavez,” said Vice President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro.
Name: Hugo Chavez
Age: 58 years old
Height: 173
Activity: statesman and politician, former president of Venezuela
Family status: was divorced
Hugo Chavez: biography
There is a category of people who argue that in order to achieve high-quality results, special conditions / skills / equipment are needed (this is not about the one threatening to turn the Earth over if there is an appropriate fulcrum). But there is another category of people who, in spite of everything, spread the beliefs of the former to smithereens with their examples. The biography of a Venezuelan statesman and politician is a vivid example of this.
Childhood and youth
The future speaker and leader of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias, was born in Sabaneta, a small village located in the state of Barinas. This event happened on July 28, 1954. The boy became the second of seven children of Hugo de los Reyes Chavez and his wife Helene Friaz de Chavez.
Hugo spent his early childhood in the village of Los Rastrojos, which, together with his older brother Adan, left after graduation. primary grades... The parents sent the boys to their grandmother in Sabanet, so that, while living with her, Hugo and Adan studied at the General Daniel O'Leary Lyceum.
Chavez, recalling his childhood, often said that he turned out to be poor, but happy. Then he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player when he grew up (in part, this dream came true in 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 adolescence Also, as a student at the military academy, Chavez was interested in life and sayings. national hero- general. Later he fell into the hands of the book "Diary", and Hugo caught fire with the ideas of the Latin American revolutionary. At the same time, Chavez drew attention to the poverty of the working class of Venezuela and decided in the future to correct this social injustice.
In 1974, the leadership of the academy sent its students to celebrate the one and a half century anniversary of the Battle of Ayacucho, which took place during the Peruvian War of Independence. The head of state Juan Velasco Alvarado made a speech 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 Chávez.
Young Hugo Chavez at the Military Academy Another significant event that happened to Chavez during his studies at the academy was his acquaintance with the son of the Supreme Commander of the National Guard of Panama, Omar Torrijos, and a visit to Panama. Velasco and Torrijos became the ideological inspirers of Hugo - on their examples the ideas formed by Chavez and the displacement 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.
Politics
While serving in an anti-partisan unit in Barinas, after another raid, the guy found a cache of communist literature (including works and). Hugo kept several books for himself and got acquainted with them in his free time. What he read made Chávez take root in his leftist views.
Two years later, in the state of Anzoategui, Hugo's squad fought against the Red Flag Party. After communicating with the captive members of the group, Hugo began to understand that not only the civilian government was thoroughly corrupted, but also the top of the military leadership. How else to explain the fact that oil revenues are not going to help the poor people of the country.
This revelation leads to the fact that in 1982, Chavez founded the "Bolivarian Revolutionary Party 200" (later became the "Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement 200"). The initial idea of the organization positioned the study of the military history of the state 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 the previous ideological models. In 1981, Hugo received the title of captain and for a semester he teaches at his former university, sharing his ideas with students and recruiting colleagues among them.
After that, 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 taken aback - instead, he made acquaintance with the Yaruro and Quiba tribes - the indigenous inhabitants of the lands that at that time belonged to the Venezuelan state of Apure.
Having made friends with the yaruro and quiba, Chavez realized that it was necessary to end the oppression of the indigenous population by the citizens of the country and revise the laws on the protection of the rights of indigenous people (which he would later implement). In 1986, Hugo Chavez was promoted to major.
Two years later, Carlos Andres Perez took the presidency. He managed to win the race during the elections thanks to promises announced in the election campaign. In particular, the promise to stop following the monetary policy of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In fact, Perez launched an even worse mechanism - a neoliberal model that would be more beneficial for the United States of America and the IMF. The citizens of Venezuela absolutely did not like it. People went to rallies, but by presidential decree, all mass protests were brutally suppressed with the help of the military. Chavez was in the hospital at that time, so when the news reached him, he realized that a military coup was needed.
According to the plan developed by Hugo and his team, the plan was to seize key military facilities and the media, eliminate Perez, replacing him with a proven candidate - Rafael Caldera (one of the former presidents of the country). Everything was ready for this.
But, nevertheless, the attempted coup d'etat made in 1992 was not crowned with success. Due to the small number of supporters, numerous betrayals, unverified data and other unforeseen circumstances, Chavez's plan failed. On February 5 of the same year, Hugo personally surrendered to the authorities and appeared on television with a request for his supporters to surrender, saying that so far he had lost.
This event was thoroughly reviewed by the media around the world (articles with photos of Hugo were in all major publications of the world) and brought fame to the imprisoned in the military prison of San Carlos Chavez. Also, these events did not pass by Carlos Andres Perez - for malfeasance and embezzlement of the state budget for personal and criminal purposes in 1993, the president was convicted and removed from office. He was replaced by Caldera.
Rafael Caldera freed Hugo and his supporters, dropping all charges, but forbidding him to serve in the ranks of the country's armed forces. After that, Chavez immediately went to promote his ideas among fellow citizens, as well as seek support abroad (then he met Fidel Castro).
During a tour of Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Cuba and Argentina, Chavez learned from his associates that the actions of the current President Caldera are not much different from those of Perez. Suspecting something was wrong, Hugo returned to his homeland.
Chavez understood that it was possible to come to power only by force, since the oligarchs would not let him win Caldera in the upcoming elections. However, Hugo decided to try to avoid armed conflict by founding in 1997 the Movement for the Fifth Republic (later to become the United Socialist Party of Venezuela), a left-wing socialist party.
In the 1998 presidential race, Hugo Chavez managed to bypass Rafael Caldera, Irene Sáez and Enrique Riemers, taking over as President of Venezuela in 1999.
Chavez's first presidential term lasted until 2001 and was marked by repairs to roads and hospitals, free treatment and vaccinations, provision of social assistance, revision of laws to protect the indigenous population, as well as the launch of the weekly program "Hello, President", in which any caller could talk with Chavez pressing question or asking 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 popular favorite, President Hugo Chávez, despite the 2002 putsch and the 2004 referendum.
Chavez's fourth presidential term began in January 2013 and ended in March of the same year due to the death of Hugo. In fact, the role of the head of state was played by the next president of Venezuela. And Hugo Chavez died at the age of 58.
Personal life
He was married twice. The first wife was Nancy Calmenares, from whom Chavez had daughters Rosa Virginia (1978) and Maria Gabriela (1980) and son Hugo Rafael (1983). After the birth of his son, Hugo parted ways with 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 - the second wife, Marisabel Rodriguez, gave birth to a daughter, Rosines. In 2004, the couple broke up.
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 cancer removed and he began to feel better. However, at the end of 2012, the pain again made itself felt.
On March 5, 2013, Hugo Chavez passed away. For a long time, the details were not disclosed, but later it was announced that the cause of death was a massive heart attack. It was rumored that in fact Chavez was poisoned by the Americans or by his former ally turned defector, Francisco Arias Cardenas.
Initially, they wanted to embalm Hugo Chavez, but for some reason they did not. Instead, the body of Chavez from the Military Academy, where he studied and taught, was carried to the Museum of the Revolution, where the president's farewell ceremony and funeral took place. The heads of delegations from different countries, including from the United States (despite the fact that at the session of the UN General Assembly, Chavez spoke unflatteringly about the inhabitants of the White House).
Memory
On March 7, 2016, in Sabanet, the village where Hugo Chavez was born, a monument was erected to him - a gift from friends from Russia (including).
Quotes
“Some remnants of steam that used to be water was recently discovered on Mars. It can be assumed that a civilization once existed on Mars. Mars is very similar to Earth. It even has speeds of rotation around the Sun and around its axis are similar to those of the Earth. So, recently, with a magnifying glass, I examined a photograph of a dead planet, which was sent by an American apparatus from Mars. And it seemed to me that on one of the Martian rocks I made out three letters: IMF. "
“Yesterday the devil spoke on this platform. And it still smells of sulfur here. "
“I swear, tirelessly, days and nights, all my life to build Venezuelan socialism, a new political system, a new social system, a new economic system ”.
It would be ridiculous to think that the past 20th century was poor in the birth of people who played a tremendous role in the history of the whole world. But at the mention of such, the imagination of the average man in the street often draws military and political figures, scientists and artists from Europe or the United States.
Meanwhile, serious passions were seething in Latin America at the same time, the results of which predetermined the development of the entire region for many years to come. Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías became one of the people who became famous precisely in the field of their political ambitions and achievements.
The initial stages of biography
He was born on July 28, 1954. The place of his birth, the village of Sabaneta, located in the state of Barinas, did not stand out in any way. The future president was born into the family of an ordinary school teacher. In addition to the newborn Hugo, his parents had several other children. However, the family was not the most ordinary, with glorious revolutionary roots.
So, one of the Chavez on the maternal side was an active participant Civil War 1859-1863. And his great-grandfather in 1914 managed to raise an uprising aimed at overthrowing the power of another dictator. It is not surprising that the stories about the deeds of the ancestors, transmitted by word of mouth in the Chavez family, had a significant impact on all his further actions and aspirations. As soon as the future President of Venezuela graduated from the course comprehensive school, then immediately entered the Military Academy. At the age of 21, he graduated from it, leaving the walls of the alma mater with the rank of senior lieutenant.
Creating your own organization
He served in parts of the Airborne Forces. It was from there that he went without which the Comandante subsequently did not appear in public. Already in 1982 (but many believe that at the academy) he creates own organization KOMAKATE. The decoding of the name is simple - this word means "senior lieutenant", being made up of the first letters of the middle military ranks. Of course, the future president of Venezuela immediately became its permanent leader. It is also not surprising that this organization almost immediately turned into an exclusively revolutionary one.
Failure on the road to power
In 1992, he tried to overthrow incumbent President Carlos Andrés Perez. To be fair, he really wasn't too much good ruler: the level of corruption was openly off scale, and government spending was constantly decreasing. Ideas Chavez pursued quite sound: he wanted to assemble a new Government from people who did not tarnish themselves with extortions and bribes, to rewrite the Constitution, which had a huge number of shortcomings. But the Peres government managed to prevent the coup attempt in time.
Lawful president
To his credit, Andrés Perez did not physically destroy his opponent. And this is a great rarity when it comes to Latin American dictators. Chavez himself surrendered to the authorities, having previously punished his supporters not to stage an armed coup. For this, the official authorities sentenced him to only four years in prison, and in 1994 he was released under an amnesty. After that, Chavez rejected the idea of an armed coup. In the cell, he pondered a lot on political topics, and therefore firmly decided to seek power exclusively through legal means.
In 1998, just before the upcoming presidential elections, Hugo began his election campaign. Unlike many of his rivals, his slogans were simple, and the candidate himself was a person who was already remembered by the potential electorate for his actions, and not for his absence. In addition, Chavez vowed to finally end corruption in the country. Unsurprisingly, he achieved his goal. Venezuela's new president won a little over 54% of the vote, but it was a real triumph.
Democratic rulers of the country
By the way, how many heads did the country have? Unfortunately, it is impossible to give a complete list of Venezuelan presidents here, since there were 48 of them. So we will limit ourselves to a list of those heads of state who have held this post since 1952 (around that time Chavez himself was born). So, here they are:
- Marcos Jimenez, who held this position from 1952 to 1958.
- Wolfgang Ugueto. He ascended the "throne" in 1958 as a result of a military coup. I didn’t have time to be president even for one year.
- Edgar Sanabria. Provisional ruler, lawyer.
- Romulo Betancourt. He was president from 1959 to 1964.
- Raoul Leoni. In office from 1964 to 1969.
- Raphael Caldera, who ruled from 1969 to 1974.
- The same Carlos Andres Perez, who once put Hugo behind bars. He held his post from 1974 to 1979.
- Luis Herrera Campins. Rules from 1979 to 1984.
- Jaime Lusinci. The period of his presidency is from 1984 to 1989.
- And… again Carlos Perez. He was again president from 1989 to 1993.
- From June 1993 to 1994, Octavio Lepage and Ramon Jose Velazquez alternately pulled the burden of the presidency. Were
- Finally, Rafael Caldera. He held the post from 1994 to the end of 1998.
So, the presidents of Venezuela, the list of which we have given in the article (even if it is incomplete), ruled for an average of five years. Before them, people rarely held the presidency for more than two or three years, and especially during revolutionary periods, this post was replaced by three or four people per year. So his "sworn friend" Andres Perez is a unique phenomenon in the political environment of Venezuela. The former spent almost 12 years in office, while Peres a total of nine years.
Economic and political innovation
What did Hugo Chavez do after taking office? First of all, he established tight state control over the oil company Petroleos de Venezuela: all its profits were directed to social programs. So, the money went to the construction of new schools and hospitals, educational programs for the masses, the development of agricultural programs in the country. Hugo knew what to do: since at least 70% of the country's population at that time lived below the poverty line, the support of the electorate was automatically guaranteed. Relying on the support of the people, Venezuelan President Chavez prepared projects for the nationalization of other enterprises.
A year after his election, he created a draft of a new Constitution, and in 2000 he again won the last elections, this time gaining 60% of the votes at once. But to consider Chavez another "small-town tsar" who "left" for competent work with the electorate, it's not worth it: Hugo really did a lot for the country.
Black blood of the economy
With the United States heavily dependent and still dependent on South American oil, and given the favorable environment in energy markets in the early 2000s, it should come as no surprise that the president made a decision to change the country's political course. In just a few years, a poverty-stricken, corrupt Venezuela has become a major and influential player in the region. Due to the stable financial situation, as well as thanks to the sharp criticism of the United States, the former president of Venezuela was able to consolidate more or less large countries Latin America.
Re-election history
The country's opposition was very unhappy and frightened by Hugo's actions, and therefore repeatedly tried to get rid of the politician by all available means. On April 12, 2002, he was overthrown as a result of a coup d'état, but the junta lasted only two days: on April 14, Chavez was again returned to the presidency by the military units loyal to him. In 2006, another re-election takes place.
Thus, the President of Venezuela (whose biography is discussed in the article) has become one of the most "long-playing" politicians in the world. What can we say about Latin America, where presidencies rarely last more than a year!
In 2007, Chavez creates the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, under whose wing he gathers almost all of his like-minded people and simply talented politicians. Five years after that, in 2012, he is once again re-elected as the country's president.
Beginning of the End
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has suffered from cancer for a long time. In any case, he underwent treatment at least four or five times both in his country and in Cuba. It is difficult to say how many operations and chemotherapy procedures he had to endure. The surgery, which was performed in 2012 at a Cuban clinic, was suddenly complicated by a severe lung infection.
It is for this reason that the next inauguration of Chavez in January 2013 was recognized as valid, although the “newly-made” president himself was not there. It would seem that everything worked out: already in February, the president, using Twitter, announced his return. Only since then he has not left the military hospital in Caracas.
Then everyone was on their guard. As it turned out, it was not in vain: on March 6, 2013, he said that the former President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, died of a serious cancer. Although many citizens of the country initially suspected the possibility of such a sad event, it nevertheless became a heavy shock for them.
Behind-the-scenes talents
This man was remembered by the whole world for his inexhaustible optimism and enthusiasm, ebullient thirst for activity and all-round hobbies. What could this President of Venezuela do? The most interesting thing is that many Latin Americans, being ardent Catholics, are far from always able to accurately quote some passage from the Bible. Hugo could. Moreover, he read huge passages from Scripture by heart, easily returning to an interrupted conversation after an hour or more. The President adored Bolivar's works, was fond of watercolors, loved music, and in this area, too, his interests were extremely diverse.
So, at the end of 2007, a collection of songs that he performed personally, and which before that listeners could appreciate in the framework of a radio program, saw the light of day. A year later, he recorded a number of compositions of his own composition, which were included in a collection called "Musica Para la Batalla" ("Music for the fight"). Deeply respected sports. Since childhood, he was a good baseball player, even at the end of his life he always found time to throw a couple of balls.
Personal life
How many times has Chavez Hugo been married? The biography (in which the president of Venezuela appears to be almost an ascetic) really shows him as an exemplary family man. But in his personal life, he was still not very lucky. So, in 1992, when Ugo was behind bars, his first wife broke up with him. The second life partner was Marisabel Rodriguez, a fairly well-known journalist.
It is she who is one of the founders of the new Constitution of the country. For unknown reasons, which the president himself never discussed, they divorced in 2002. At the same time, the ex-wife publicly criticized all the reforms of her ex-husband... Chavez has five children: four from the first, and one daughter from the second marriage.
End of an era
Who is Venezuela on now? President Maduro, a loyal associate of the late Chavez, has been in office since March 2013 to this day. Taking into account the fact that in the period from 2011 to 2013 in the country almost all the duties of the president were already on him, Nicolas Maduro can already be considered a political long-liver.
He follows the same course as Hugo. True, under Maduro, many industries (especially the oil industry) were significantly relaxed. Many skeptics believe that under Nicholas, Venezuela has every chance of becoming a country that has absolutely no influence in the region. Well, we can only guess. Time will tell how right the bearers of such views were.
If the new president does not go too far and continues the social programs that his predecessor started, he will certainly achieve impressive success. In any case, the people of Venezuela warmly received the news of his presidency. Of course, the majority in votes was only 1%, but he is a rather experienced politician, knowing all the needs and problems of his state.
President of Venezuela, first elected in 1998. In 2000 he was re-elected in connection with the adoption of the new constitution of the country. In 2002, as a result of a coup d'état, he lost power for several days. Military by profession, in 1992 he led an unsuccessful coup attempt, after which he spent two years in prison. An adherent of "Bolivarian socialism", he is known for his anti-American and anti-globalization views. In 2006 he was re-elected to another six-year presidential term.
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias was born on July 28, 1954 in the city of Sabaneta in the Venezuelan state of Barinas, into a large family of school teachers. Chavez's mother hoped that his son would become a priest, and he himself dreamed of a career as a professional baseball player. Chavez has kept his hobby for baseball to this day. As a child, he painted well, and at the age of twelve he received his first prize at a regional exhibition. In 1975 he graduated with the rank of junior lieutenant from the Military Academy of Venezuela (Academia Militar de Venezuela). According to reports, he also studied at the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas.
Chavez served in the airborne units and the paratrooper's red beret later became an integral part of his image. In 1982 (according to other sources - while studying at the academy) Chavez founded the underground organization COMACATE with his colleagues (an abbreviation made up of the first and second letters in the names of middle and junior officers). COMACATE was later transformed into the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario), named after the hero of the Latin American War of Independence, Simon Bolivar.
In February 1992, Lt. Col. Chavez led a military coup against Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, unpopular due to high levels of corruption and government spending cuts. The uprising, which killed 18 people and injured 60, was suppressed by the government. Chavez surrendered to the authorities and was placed in a military prison. In November 1992, Chavez's associates undertook a new, again unsuccessful, coup attempt. Chavez spent two years in prison, and in 1994 he was released under an amnesty. He reorganized his supporters into the Fifth Republic Movement (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 was not revolutionary. In the elections on December 6, 1998, Chavez won, gaining 56.5 percent of the vote. The policy of the Chávez government included a number of large-scale social programs, including the creation of systems of universal education and health care. The government established tight control over the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, whose profits were directed to the needs of society: building hospitals and schools, fighting illiteracy, carrying out agrarian reform, and others. Having thus won the support of the poor majority of the population, Chavez began to nationalize enterprises in various industries.
In 1999, a new Venezuelan constitution was adopted, which increased the presidential term from five to six years. In the ensuing presidential elections on July 30, 2000, Chavez won 60 percent of the vote. In the subsequent period, the political course of Chavez, 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 stance. In 2001, he condemned the US military operation in Afghanistan. According to the Venezuelan president, the Americans themselves used terrorist methods to fight terrorism. It is only natural that in the attempt to overthrow Chavez in 2002, many, including the Venezuelan leader himself, blamed the United States.
On April 11, 2002, as a result of a coup d'état, Chavez was stripped of power, but on April 14 he returned to the presidency with the support of loyal army units and numerous supporters. Until April 14, the state was headed by Pedro Carmona Estanga. He dissolved parliament, suspended the work of the attorney general and state controller, and also repealed legislation passed during the Chavez presidency that redistributed part of the national wealth in favor of the poor. The United States readily welcomed the coup "beneficial to Venezuelan democracy." When Chavez returned to power, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice advised the Venezuelan president to learn from recent events. After 2002, the opposition tried to fight Chavez with constitutional methods. In 2004, opponents of the president secured a referendum on confidence in the country's leadership. The majority of Venezuelans (more than 59 percent) then supported the president, and his power only strengthened.
Anti-Americanism and anti-globalism have become Chavez's trademarks. Under his leadership, Venezuela began to claim leadership in the US opposition in the Western Hemisphere. According to press reports, the Venezuelan government provided assistance to the Colombian guerrillas, spent considerable sums on aid to other Latin American states, and opposed the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Moreover, Chavez tried to win sympathy within the United States itself. His American opponents argued that Venezuela was allocating funds to lobby for its interests in Congress. Groups of supporters of the Venezuelan president have emerged on the territory of the United States. Chavez has agreed to supply fuel oil at a reduced price to low-income areas in the north of the United States.
Chavez's attacks on the United States won sympathy around the world. The Americans could not help but outraged the list of foreign friends of Chavez, the alliance with whom he called the "axis of good": Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Cuban President Fidel Castro. Venezuela has developed particularly friendly relations with Cuba. Chavez sold energy resources to the island state at low prices and provided it with economic assistance. Castro responded by sending numerous Cuban specialists to Venezuela, in particular doctors, who played an important role in the implementation of the social programs of the Chavez government.
On August 22, 2005, there was a scandalous incident associated with the name of Chavez. On this day, American "televangelist" Pat Robertson publicly called on the US authorities to assassinate Chavez, which could turn Venezuela into a "springboard for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism" on the American continent. Although Chávez himself expressed indifference to the incident, other Venezuelan officials demanded that the American authorities hold Robertson to account. A spokesman for the US State Department said that Robertson, as an individual, has the right to any kind of speech, stressing that the official position of the United States does not correspond to the opinion of the preacher.
In July 2006, Chavez paid a visit to Russia, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two countries have entered into important agreements. First, an agreement was reached on the supply of Russian weapons and military aircraft to Venezuela. Secondly, a partnership in the energy field was planned: in particular, it was planned to develop new oil fields in Venezuela with the participation of the Russian company Lukoil.
Chavez's speech at the UN General Assembly in September 2006 was widely known: the Venezuelan leader called US President George W. Bush a devil and predicted the collapse of the "American empire." During the 2006 election campaign, which Chavez led under the slogan "in the name of love" (por amor), he promised his "main rival" Bush - "Mr. Devil" that "candidates from imperialism will be ground to dust."
Before the 2006 elections, Venezuelan society was divided. Chávez's supporters, who are the majority among Venezuelans and who are mainly from the poor, saw him as a leader for the interests of the poor. Opponents of the president accused him of populism, a penchant for autocracy and attempts to imitate the communist regime in Cuba. Although Chávez's opponent, the governor of the oil-producing state of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, managed to rally the disparate opposition forces into a single whole in the December 3, 2006 elections, Chávez prevailed.
Even before the official announcement of the results of the vote, Rosales admitted defeat, and Chavez began to celebrate the victory, which he dedicated to his friend Castro, and proclaimed the beginning of a new era of the socialist revolution. Before the elections, Chavez announced plans to amend the Venezuelan constitution, allowing the president to be re-elected an unlimited number of times. Taking the presidential oath of office on January 10, 2007, Chavez promised to carry out intensive socialist transformations in Venezuela, including the nationalization of the largest energy and telecommunications companies.
Later in January 2007, parliament granted Chavez expanded powers for a year and a half. The president was given the opportunity to govern the country with the help of decrees, bypassing the legislative branch. In February, the promised 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 signed to purchase shares of the telecommunications giant CANTV, owned by the American Verizon Communications.
On May 1, 2007, Chavez announced the suspension of Venezuela's cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The president called the reason for this step a desire to distance itself from international institutions controlled by the United States. At the end of June, the Venezuelan leader visited Russia again. As in the previous time, the main topics of the visit were purchases of Russian arms by Venezuela and cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas industry.
In July 2007, Chavez announced his intention to submit to parliament a bill that would allow Venezuela's president to be re-elected an unlimited number of times. Chavez explained that citizens should not be deprived of the right to choose the leader they like as many times as they want.
On December 2, 2007, the citizens of Venezuela did not support the constitutional amendments proposed by Chavez. In total, 69 amendments were submitted to the referendum: in addition to abolishing the limitation on the number of presidential terms of office, it was supposed, for example, 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, grant voting rights to sixteen-year-old citizens and introduce a six-hour working day. At the same time, Chavez initiated only 33 amendments, united in the "A" block, while the other 36 amendments, united in the "B" block, were proposed by the parliament. As a result of the referendum, the first block of reforms was supported by only 49.3 percent of voters, and the second - 48.9 percent, respectively, 50.7 and 51.1 percent of voters voted against.