Obituary: Hugo Chavez
BBC
A tough and
charismatic leader, Hugo Chavez divided opinion both at home and abroad.
To his many
supporters he was the reforming president whose idiosyncratic brand of
socialism defeated the political elite and gave hope to the poorest
Venezuelans.
His strident
criticism of the United States won him many friends among the "pink
tide" of political leaders in Latin America and he effectively used his
country's vast oil reserves to boost Venezuela's international clout.
But to his
political opponents he was the worst type of autocrat, intent on building a
one-party state and ruthlessly clamping down on any who opposed him.
Hugo Rafael
Chavez Frias was born on 28 Jul 1954 in the Venezuelan state of Barinas, one of
seven children. His parents were both school teachers and the family lived in
relative poverty.
He attended the
Daniel O'Leary High School in the city of Barinas before going to the
Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in the capital, Caracas where, he later
said, he found his true vocation.
He also found
time to play baseball and to study the lives of the 19th Century South American
revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar and the Marxist Che Guevara.
He graduated
with honours in 1975 but had already begun to form the political ideas that he
would later put into practice as president, including the belief that the
military had a duty to step in if a civilian government was deemed to have
failed to protect the poorest in society.
Coup
He was posted to
one of the many counter-insurgency units that were tackling the various Marxist
groups bent on overthrowing the presidency of Carlos Andres Perez but he saw
very little action, spending his time reading a great deal of left-wing
literature.
In 1981 he was
assigned to teach at the military academy where he had been a student and found
himself in a position to indoctrinate the next generation of army officers with
his political ideas.
His superiors
became alarmed at the extent of his influence and he was posted to remote Apure
state, where, it was assumed, he could do little damage.
He busied
himself by making contact with local tribes in the area, something that would
influence his own policies towards indigenous people when he finally came to
power.
In February 1992
he led an attempt to overthrow the government of President Perez amid growing
anger at economic austerity measures that had led to widespread protests.
The revolt by
members of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement claimed 18 lives and left 60
injured before Colonel Chavez gave himself up.
Revolution
He was
languishing in a military jail when his associates tried again to seize power
nine months later.
That second coup
attempt in November 1992 was crushed as well, but only after the rebels had
captured a TV station and broadcast a videotape of Chavez announcing the fall
of the government.
He spent two
years in prison before relaunching his party as the Movement of the Fifth
Republic making the transition from soldier to politician.
With an eye to
wider opinion he spent time canvassing a number of political leaders in Latin
America finding strong support and friendship from Cuba's revolutionary
president, Fidel Castro.
Chavez firmly
believed in overthrowing the government by force but was persuaded to change
his mind and instead became a candidate in the 1998 presidential elections.
Unlike most of
its neighbours, Venezuela had enjoyed an unbroken period of democratic
government since 1958, but the two main parties, which had alternated in power,
stood accused of presiding over a corrupt system and squandering the country's
vast oil wealth.
Hugo Chavez
promised "revolutionary" social policies, and constantly abused the
"predatory oligarchs" of the establishment as corrupt servants of
international capital.
Never missing an
opportunity to address the nation, he once described oil executives as living
in "luxury chalets where they perform orgies, drinking whisky".
Media star
He quickly
gained widespread support, not just from the poorest in Venezuelan society but
also from a middle class which had seen its standards of living eroded by
economic mismanagement. It was these middle class votes that were instrumental
in propelling Chavez into power with 56% of the vote.
Despite the
revolutionary rhetoric he employed during the campaign his first government set
out on a relatively moderate path appointing a number of conservative figures
to political positions.
He ran the
economy largely according to guidelines set down by the International Monetary
Fund and made a positive effort to encourage investment from global
corporations.
He also began a
programme of social reform, investing in the country's crumbling infrastructure
and setting up free medical care and subsidised food for the poor.
In order to stay
in touch with his people he set up weekly shows on radio and television where
he explained his policies and encouraged citizens to phone in and question him
directly.
In 1999 he
proposed setting up a new constitutional assembly, gaining overwhelming support
for the idea in a public referendum, itself an unheard of feature in Venezuelan
politics.
In subsequent
elections to the new body, Chavez supporters won 95% of the seats and set about
drafting a new constitution which was approved by an overwhelming majority of
the population.
One stipulation
of the new order was that presidential elections should be held in 2000 which
Chavez duly won with 59% of the vote.
Coup
However, he soon
faced opposition both from outside and inside Venezuela. Relations with
Washington reached a low when he accused it of "fighting terror with
terror" during the war in Afghanistan after the attacks on the US on 11
September 2001.
Opposition
inside the country came from middle class groups who had seen their political
power eroded by Chavez and who accused him of steering the country towards a
one-party state.
In early 2002
the whole country was embroiled in a general strike and Chavez was pushed from
office on 12 April after attempting to take control of the country's oil
industry.
But, just two
days later, after his supporters - mainly Venezuela's poor - took the streets,
he was back in the presidential palace.
The 2006
presidential elections saw Chavez gain 63% of the vote whereupon he announced
that his revolutionary policies would now be expanded.
He brought
forward proposals that would allow him to stand for the presidency
indefinitely, a measure that was approved in a referendum by 54% of those
voting.
He also created
economic and political ties with newly elected left-wing leaders in other South
American countries including Daniel Ortega, who came to power in Nicaragua in
2007.
Relations with
the US remained strained. While Chavez congratulated US President Barack Obama
on his election victory in November 2008, he strongly condemned western
military action in Libya in 2011.
Obsession
"I am not
Obama's enemy but it's difficult not to see imperialism in Washington," he
told the BBC. "Those who don't see it, don't want to see it, like the
ostrich."
At home, his
much-vaunted economic reforms were running out of steam. Domestic support for
his "Bolivarian" socialism was being sorely tested by economic
recession and inflation soared to 30% eroding the savings of the middle
classes.
Nevertheless, he
retained his appeal at the ballot box until the end - winning a fourth term in
office with 54% of the vote in October, though his illness prevented him ever
being sworn in.
Hugo Chavez
started as a reforming president, intent on addressing the inequalities in
Venezuelan society giving food, medical care and, above all, a political voice
to the poor.
Venezuela today
has the fairest income distribution in Latin America.
But Chavez
failed to implement a long-term solution for the country's economic problems.
Violent crime rose during his time in office, while government corruption
continued.
Chavez was
convinced that his destiny was to rule Venezuela and be a regional leader who
could counteract US influence in Latin America.
The tensions
inherent in that conviction were identified by Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, who met and travelled with Chavez before he took office for the
first time.
It was like
talking to two contrary men, Garcia Marquez wrote.
"One to
whom inveterate luck has granted the the chance to save his country. The other,
an illusionist, who could go down in history as just another despot."