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Cuartel de la Montaña (es) The death of Hugo Chávez, 45th president of Venezuela, was announced by government officials to have been on 5 March 2013 at 16:25 VET (20:55 UTC) in Caracas, Venezuela from cancer at the age of 58. His death triggered a presidential election which was constitutionally required to be called within 30 days.
- Overview
- Early life
- Attainment of power
Hugo Chávez grew up in Sabaneta, a small town in southwestern Venezuela. He was the second of six surviving children, all boys. His parents, both schoolteachers, could not support all their children, so Hugo and his eldest brother were raised in Barinas by their grandmother, who instilled in Hugo a love of history and politics.
What did Hugo Chávez do?
Hugo Chávez served as president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. He styled himself as the leader of the “Bolivarian Revolution,” a socialist political program whose key elements included nationalism, a centralized economy, and a strong military actively engaged in public projects; it became known to many as simply chavismo.
What did Hugo Chávez accomplish?
Supporters of Hugo Chávez credit his administration with creating successful education programs, increasing access to health care, lowering unemployment, and reducing poverty in Venezuela. His opponents blamed him for shortages of basic foods, high inflation, a stubbornly high infant mortality rate, and weakening democracy.
Hugo Chávez (born July 28, 1954, Sabaneta, Barinas, Venezuela—died March 5, 2013, Caracas) Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela (1999–2013). Chávez styled himself as the leader of the “Bolivarian Revolution,” a socialist political program for much of Latin America, named after Simón Bolívar, the South American independence hero. Although the focus of the revolution has been subject to change depending on Chávez’s goals, its key elements include nationalism, a centralized economy, and a strong military actively engaged in public projects. His ideology became known to many as simply chavismo.
Chávez grew up in Sabaneta, a small town in the southwestern plains of Venezuela. He was the second of six surviving children, all boys. His parents, both schoolteachers, did not have enough money to support all their children, so Hugo and his eldest brother, Adán, were raised in the city of Barinas by their grandmother, Rosa Inés Chávez, who instilled in Hugo a love of history and politics.
As a teenager, Chávez was heavily influenced by José Esteban Ruiz Guevara, a local historian, who introduced him to the teachings of Bolívar and Karl Marx, the German philosopher who was one of the fathers of communism, both of which had a profound impact on Chávez’s political philosophy. The presence of the National Liberation Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional; FALN), the communist guerrilla insurgency that began fighting the Venezuelan government in the 1960s, also greatly affected Chávez. The FALN was supported by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who would later become Chávez’s political muse.
In 1971 Chávez entered the Venezuelan Military Academy in Caracas, the national capital, not because he wanted to be a soldier but because he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, and the academy had good baseball coaches. Chávez planned to enroll there, excel at baseball, and then drop out. But while he was a skilled left-handed pitcher, he was not good enough to play professionally, so he continued his studies. He was a poor and unruly student, however, and ultimately graduated near the bottom of his class in 1975.
Chávez started his military career as a second lieutenant in the army. His first assignment was to capture the remaining leftist guerrillas. But as he pursued the insurgents, Chávez began to empathize with them, seeing them as peasants fighting for a better life. By 1977 Chávez was ready to leave the army in disgust when he discovered that his brother Adán was secretly working with the insurgents. Chávez arranged to meet Douglas Bravo—head of the Venezuelan Revolution Party (Partido de la Revolución Venezolana; PRV), an underground movement, and a former leader of the FALN. “He inspired me and I realized I wouldn’t be leaving the army,” Chávez later said of Bravo. In 1982 Chávez and some fellow military officers secretly formed the Bolivarian Movement 200 to spread the insurgents’ revolutionary ideology within the military. Their goal was to take power in a civilian-military coup d’état.
On February 4, 1992, Chávez and a group of military officers led an attempt to overthrow the government of Pres. Carlos Andrés Pérez. Unfortunately for Chávez, the rebellion quickly collapsed. While the other rebel leaders successfully captured their targeted military bases, Chávez was unable to complete the key part of the operation—the capture of President Pérez. Trapped in the Military History Museum near the presidential palace, Chávez realized that it was useless to keep fighting, and he agreed to surrender on the condition that he be allowed to address his coconspirators on national television. Chávez stood in front of the cameras and told his fellow “comrades” that regrettably—“for now,” he said—their goal of taking power could not be accomplished, and he beseeched them to put down their arms to avoid further bloodshed. Chávez spoke for less than two minutes, but this was essentially the beginning of his life as a politician. Many Venezuelans at that time were frustrated with their elected leaders, and they were inspired by Chávez and praised his bold ideas to reform the country. His address became known as the por ahora (“for now”) speech because many people took that specific phrase as a promise that one day Chávez would return.
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Chávez was imprisoned without a court ruling for the attempted coup until 1994, when Pres. Rafael Caldera Rodríguez, bowing to Chávez’s growing popularity, dropped the charges against him. Chávez then founded the political party Movement of the Fifth Republic (Movimiento de la Quinta República; MVR), enlisting many former socialist activists and military officers. Viewed as an outsider, Chávez was able to capitalize on widespread discontent with Venezuela’s established political parties, and in December 1998 he won the presidential election with 56 percent of the vote.
Mar 6, 2013 · Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has died aged 58, after 14 years in power. Mr Chavez had been seriously ill with cancer for more than a year, undergoing several operations in Cuba. Crowds of ...
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías[b] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈuɣo rafaˈel ˈtʃaβes ˈfɾi.as] ⓘ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician and military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period of forty-seven hours in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the ...
Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, has died aged 58 after battling cancer for nearly two years. The news came in an official announcement on state television by Vice-President Nicolas Maduro. Mr ...
Apr 2, 2014 · Following his years-long battle with cancer, Hugo Chávez died on March 5, 2013, at age 58, in Venezuela. He was survived by his wife, Maria Isabel Rodriguez, and five children: Rosines, María ...
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Mar 8, 2013 · Obituary: Hugo Chavez. 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 ...
