It would be ridiculous to think that the past 20th century was poor for the birth of people who played a grand role in the history of the whole world. But at the mention of such, the imagination of the average citizen more often draws military and political figures, scientists and artists of Europe or the USA.
Meanwhile, in Latin America at the same time serious passions were in full swing, the results of which conceptually predetermined the development of the entire region for many years to come. One of the people who became famous precisely in the field of their political ambitions and accomplishments was Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías.
The initial stages of the biography
He was born on July 28, 1954. His birthplace, the village of Sabaneta, located in the state of Barinas, was not distinguished by anything special. The future president was born in the family of an ordinary school teacher. In addition to the newborn Hugo, his parents had several more children. However, the family was not the most ordinary, with glorious revolutionary roots.
So, one of the maternal Chavez was an active participant in the Civil War of 1859-1863. And his great-grandfather in 1914 managed to raise an uprising aimed at overthrowing the power of the next dictator. It is not surprising that the stories about the acts of the ancestors, word of mouth transmitted in the Chávez family, had a significant impact on all his further actions and aspirations. As soon as the future president of Venezuela graduated from a comprehensive school, he immediately entered the Military Academy. At 21, he graduated from it, leaving the walls of the alma mater with the rank of senior lieutenant.
Create your own organization
He served in parts of the Airborne Forces. It was from there that his red beret went, without which the commandant subsequently did not appear in public. Already in 1982 (but many believe that the academy), he creates his own organization KOMAKATE. Decoding of the name is simple - this word means "senior lieutenant", being composed 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 became extremely revolutionary.
Failure on the way to power
In 1992, he tried to overthrow incumbent President Carlos Andrés Pérez. In fairness, he was really not a very good ruler: the level of corruption was frankly off-scale, and government spending was constantly declining. Chavez pursued quite sound ideas: he wanted to assemble a new Government from people who did not stain themselves with bribes and bribes, to rewrite the Constitution, which had a huge number of shortcomings. But the Perez government managed to prevent a coup attempt in time.
Legal president
To the honor of Andrés Pérez, he did not physically destroy his opponent. And this is very rare when it comes to Latin American dictators. Chavez himself surrendered to the authorities, having previously ordered his supporters not to organize an armed coup. For this, the 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 by legal means.
In 1998, right before the upcoming presidential election, Hugo began his campaign. Unlike many of his rivals, his slogans were simple, and the candidate himself was a man who was already remembered by the potential electorate for his actions, and not for the absence of those. In addition, Chavez vowed to finally end corruption in the country. No wonder he achieved his goal. The new president of Venezuela won a little more than 54% of the vote, but it was a real triumph.
Democratic rulers of the country
By the way, how many chapters did the country have? Unfortunately, a complete list of Venezuelan presidents cannot be given here, since there were a total of 48 people. So we confine ourselves to a list of those heads of state that have held this post since 1952 (approximately then Chavez himself was born). So here they are:
- Marcos Jimenez, who was in this position from 1952 to 1958.
- Wolfgang Hugueto. He ascended to the "throne" in 1958, as a result of a military coup. I did not have time to be president even for one year.
- Edgar Sanabria Temporary ruler, lawyer.
- Romulo Betancourt. He was president from 1959 to 1964.
- Raul Leoni. On a post from 1964 to 1969.
- Rafael Caldera, who ruled from 1969 to 1974.
- The same Carlos Andres Perez, who once put Hugo behind bars. He stayed at his post from 1974 to 1979.
- Luis Herrera Campins. Rules from 1979 to 1984
- Jaime Lusinci The period of the presidency is from 1984 to 1989.
- And … again Carlos Perez. He was again president from 1989 to 1993.
- From June 1993 to 1994, the burdens of the presidency of Octavio Lepage and Ramon Jose Velazquez were alternately pulled. They were interim.
- Finally, Rafael Caldera. He held the post from 1994 to the end of 1998.
So, the Presidents of Venezuela, the list of which we cited in the article (even if it is incomplete), ruled an average of five years. Before them, people rarely held their presidency for more than two or three years, and especially during revolutionary periods, this post was replaced by three or four people in a year. So Hugo Chavez and his “sworn friend” Andres Perez are unique phenomena in the political environment of Venezuela. The first one was on the post for almost 12 years, and Perez - for a total of nine years.
Innovations in the economic and political sphere
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 program of 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, support for the electorate was automatically guaranteed. Based on the support of people, the President of Venezuela Chavez prepared projects for the nationalization of other enterprises.
A year after his election, he created a draft new Constitution, and in 2000 he again won the last election, this time gaining 60% of the vote right away. But consider Chavez the next "small-town king" who "left" to work competently with the electorate, is not worth it: Hugo really did a lot for the country.
Black blood economy
Since the United States was highly dependent and still dependent on South American oil, and also considering the favorable situation in the energy markets at the beginning of 2000, one should not be surprised at the president’s decision to change the state’s political course. In just a few years, the impoverished, steeped in corruption Venezuela has become a major and influential player in the region. Due to the stable financial situation, as well as due to harsh criticism of the United States, the former president of Venezuela managed to consolidate all the more or less large countries of Latin America around him.
Re-election history
The country's opposition was very dissatisfied and frightened by the actions of Hugo, 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, but the junta lasted only two days: on April 14, Chavez was again being returned to the post of president loyal to him military units. In 2006, another re-election takes place.
Thus, the President of Venezuela (whose biography is considered in the article) became one of the most “long-playing” politicians in the world. What can we say about Latin America, where the term of the presidency rarely lasts more than a year!
In 2007, Chavez created the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, under the wing of which he gathers almost all of his like-minded and simply talented politicians. Five years after this, in 2012, he was once again re-elected to the post of president of the country.
Beginning of the End
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has long suffered from cancer. In any case, he underwent treatment courses at least four to five times both in his own country and in Cuba. It is difficult to say how many operations and chemotherapy procedures he had to undergo. The surgery, which was carried out in 2012 in a Cuban clinic, was suddenly complicated by a severe pulmonary infection.
For this reason, the next inauguration of Chavez in January 2013 was declared valid, although the most “newfound” president was not on it. It would seem that everything worked out: in February, the president, using Twitter, announced his return. Only since then he has not left the military hospital in Caracas.
Then everyone was wary. As it turned out, it was not in vain: on March 6, 2013, Nicolas Maduro told that the former Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, had died from a serious cancer disease. Although many citizens of the country suspected the possibility of such a sad event initially, it still became a shock for them.
Backstage Talents
This man was remembered all over the world for his inexhaustible optimism and enthusiasm, an intense thirst for activity and all-round hobbies. What could this Venezuelan president do? The most interesting thing is that many Latin Americans, being ardent Catholics, are far from always able to accurately quote a passage from the Bible. Hugo it could. Moreover, he read huge sections of Scripture as a keepsake, easily returning to an interrupted conversation after an hour or more. The President adored Bolivar's work, was fond of watercolors, loved music, and in this area his interests were extremely diverse.
So, at the end of 2007, the world saw a collection of songs that he personally performed, and which before that listeners could appreciate in the framework of the broadcast. A year later, he recorded a number of compositions of his own composition, which were included in the collection entitled "Musica Para la Batalla" ("Music for Wrestling"). Deeply respected sport. 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 (the president of Venezuela in which appears to be almost an ascetic) actually shows him as an exemplary family man. But in his personal life, he still was not too lucky. So, in 1992, when Hugo was imprisoned, 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 creators of the new Constitution of the country. For unknown reasons that 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.
