“Comrades, unfortunately we have not yet been able to achieve our objectives in the capital. Wherever you are, you have done a good job. New opportunities will arise to steer the country towards a better future,” said an unknown Hugo Chávez on February 4, 1992 in front of the camera of Venezuelan TV stations about his failed coup. Venezuela would never forget the name of this lieutenant colonel with the red beret. Seven years later, in February 1999, he came to power. Hugo Rafael Cháves Frias was born on July 28, 1954 in Sabaneta, a village in western Venezuela. His parents were both teachers in a nearby village and grandmother Rosa raised Hugo and his older brother Adan. Grandma liked to tell the boys about the resistance struggle of the small farmers against the large landowners in the nineteenth century. Little Cháves was inspired by his grandmother and began to delve into history.
Military career
After high school, Chávez opted for a career in the military. Here he could make a career with his Indian, black and white ancestors, unlike in many other areas in society. For Chávez, who was ambitious, this was an important reason for choosing the army. In July 1975 he left the military academy in the capital Caracas as one of the best students.
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After graduating, Chávez got a position in his native region as an officer who had to fight guerrillas. Since there were few guerrillas to fight, he had a lot of time to read, of course about history. He studied Simón Bolívar (1783 -1830). This man was known as the liberator from Spanish rule over northern South America. Bolívar advocated one strong state in northern South America. Chávez also liked that: Venezuela, Colombia and Peru would continue together as one nation.
Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement
With a number of comrades he founded the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement. This secret society reflected on the poverty, corruption and political stagnation in Venezuela. Military intelligence found out about the secret society and arrested Chávez. However, the military leadership did not consider firing him because, although he was rebellious, he was also highly motivated. Chávez was exiled to a rural town on the Colombian border but was brought back to Caracas after three years as a teacher at the military academy.
Coup d’état
Now Chávez could convey his thoughts to his recruits. In 1991 he took command of his units. He became a colonel-lieutenant and commander of the paratroops. The first attempted coup took place in February 1992. It went completely wrong due to bad luck. However, his television appearance cited in the introduction to this article gives Chávez hero status among the Venezuelan people. He was particularly charmed by him because he took responsibility for the failure in his TV speech.
President
When Chávez was released by pardon after two years, he responded during a press conference to the question what are you going to do now with the typical coming to power. Now through the political route. He renamed his society, the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement, the Movement of the Fifth Republic. He won the elections in December 1998 with 56 percent, and would be sworn in as president on February 2.
Oil
The oil in the soil of Venezuela ensures that the population is slightly better off than those of the surrounding countries. Venezuela was dominated by two parties until Chávez’s arrival; the social-democratic AD and the Christian-democratic COPEI. They mainly stood up for the wealthy white upper classes who only became richer from the export of oil. The population noticed little of this wealth of oil. There was an uprising in 1989, but it was suppressed.
When Chávez became president in 1999, he said he found it a mathematical mystery that in a country with so much natural wealth, 80 percent of the population lives in poverty. A few weeks later he became immortally popular with his Bolivar 2000 plan. He sent the army take to the streets to repair roads, collect garbage and sell food at very low prices. Chávez wanted to distribute oil wealth more fairly.
He also offered neighboring countries cheap oil. He traded oil for doctors with Cuba. In the slums of Caracas, clinics with Cuban doctors sprang up like mushrooms. People’s supermarkets were created and investments were made in the poverty-stricken agricultural sector. No less than a fifth of the entire budget was reserved for education and a lot of money was also pumped into infrastructure and housing construction.
United States
Chávez has always had a very difficult relationship with the United States. The country is its largest consumer of oil. At the same time, he consistently calls the country the Empire. Chávez wanted to reduce US influence by cooperating more with neighboring countries. His list therefore included a Latin American NATO, one currency and its own CNN. All this of course reflected the Bolivarian idea of one state.
Dictatorship
The poor of Venezuela now supported Chávez through thick and thin. Thanks to his loyal and fanatical supporters, he won all elections until 2010. After all the years in power, there are doubts about the democratic quality of his regime. Chávists now hold all kinds of important posts and his army comrades have also been given great positions. And Chávez himself is also developing authoritarian tendencies: I’m not going to wait until everyone agrees with me. The leader is simply the leader. According to critics, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as the country has been officially called since 1999, is increasingly looking like a dictatorship.
Declining support
The white elite hates him, but Chávez won’t worry about that. The fact that the middle class is also increasingly turning its back on him is more worrying for him. Strikes, labor disputes with management of the State Oil Company and finally an attempt by a number of army officers to depose him have revealed cracks in Chávez’s popularity in recent years.
His health was also no longer cooperating. On June 30, 2011, Chávez confirmed on TV that he had had a tumor removed. He would not officially transfer power to Vice President Elías Jaua. Chávez is said to be suffering from colon cancer. On July 17, 2011, the Venezuelan news reported that the cancer had returned. He has now been treated again in Cuba.
Although his illness initially appeared to soften him, Chávez has become more radical over the years. His former supporters are dropping out because he has become too left-wing and authoritarian. Journalists who criticized his plans are being dealt with harshly. Furthermore, the poor are now also starting to wonder whether they owe the successful fight against poverty and illiteracy solely to Chávez. After all, they see the same developments in the surrounding countries. Meanwhile, under Chávez there is increasing political intolerance and an economy managed from above. Moreover, corruption is still as bad as in 1999 and Venezuela is one of the most unsafe countries in South America.
Election 2012
Chávez’s loyal supporters dwindled in 2012. He lost his absolute majority in parliament in the 2010 elections. He won the last election in 2012 with a narrow majority (55%). His challenger Capriles (44%) was hot on his heels. The declining base of his power forces him to be more modest and more attentive to the interests of Venezuela’s middle class and perhaps even its elite.
Passing away
Shortly after his victory in 2012, Chávez became seriously ill again and left for Cuba for treatment. He was no longer able to attend the official inauguration in January 2013. His supporters rightly feared for his life. Chavez died on March 5, 2013 from cancer. He was 58 years old.