What country was Hugo Chavez born in? Hugo Chavez: "People's President" of Venezuela. Start of political activity

On March 5, 2013, 58-year-old Hugo Chavez, one of the most influential politicians in Latin America, died. In recent years, he unsuccessfully battled cancer. The Venezuelan government has declared seven days of national mourning.

Some facts from the life of an outrageous politician.

Hugo Chavez was born on July 28, 1954. He is of Afro-Indian origin with a minor Spanish component.

By the will of his parents, Chavez could become a priest. But already in his youth he had an explosive temperament. Once Hugo had a fight with the holy father and was expelled from the church for this. This career as a priest came to an end.

1972 Hugo Chavez (lower right) with his baseball team. (AP Photo):

Then Hugo Chavez wanted to become a baseball player, but decided that a military uniform suited him better. Since then, the red beret and the fist raised above the head have become the hallmark and unique image of Hugo Chavez. (Photo by Jorge Silva | Reuters):

The main dream of Hugo Chavez was the idea of ​​uniting Latin America into one country. But she was not destined to come true.

year 2000. Hugo Chavez meets Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Venezuela. (Photo by Jose Goitia | AP):

He was called an irreconcilable fighter with the United States, but this is not entirely true. Chavez simply always responded with dignity and defiance to imperial attacks and criticized those who limply carried out the directives of the State Department.

June 2001. Hugo Chavez with a small copy of the Venezuelan constitution during a visit to Texas. (Photo by George Tuley | AP):

As often happens in Latin America, Hugo Chavez began his ascent to power with a coup on February 4, 1992: a lieutenant colonel with a thousand soldiers tried to seize power in the country, but failed.

1992 Hugo Chavez (left) with soldiers in prison after his attempt to seize power. (AP):

He soon returned to politics, already unarmed. After spending two years in prison, he won the 1998 presidential election with over 55% of the vote. Chavez promised Venezuela, impoverished at that time, to cleanse the country of corruption and abuses of political elites, as well as other cardinal changes.

July 1997 Hugo Chavez's first presidential campaign. (Photo AFP | Bertrand Parres):

Throughout 2001, the confrontation between President Chavez and his opponents from among the old elites grew. In 2002, Chavez was almost overthrown. Dissatisfied with the nationalization of oil enterprises, putschists, incited by the United States, arrested the president, took him to an unknown destination and occupied the Miraflores presidential palace. But only for two days.

August 1998 Hugo Chavez's first presidential campaign. On the right is his wife Marisabel. (Photo AFP | Bertrand Parres):

However, most of the army remained loyal to Hugo Chavez, moreover, the slum dwellers rebelled against the new government, whose lives the deposed president tried to change with the help of nationalized oil revenues.

February 1999 Hugo Chavez is already President of Venezuela. (Photo by Douglas Engle | AP):

Before Hugo Chavez, 50% of Venezuelans lived below the poverty line. Now it’s also a lot - 30%, but the times are gone when the newspapers of the country printed articles on how to eat food for dogs and cats. Cable cars were built into the slums and kindergartens and schools began to appear. Under Chavez, the UN recognized that illiteracy in the country had been eliminated.

April 2010. Commemoration of the 8th anniversary of the return to power of Hugo Chavez after the 2002 coup. (Photo by Carlos Garcia | Reuters):

On May 1, 2008, a Presidential Decree in Venezuela set "the highest", in his words, the level of the minimum wage in Latin America - 372 dollars. In reality, according to the so-called “black dollar rate”, at which all prices in Venezuela are calculated, the minimum wage is about $140.

2006 Chavez with a Kalashnikov. Also, read the article ". (Photo by Reuters):

The actions of the "red rebel" - Chavez had such a nickname - were outrageous and often shocked the public. For example, this is how he spoke about US President George W. Bush right from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly on September 20, 2006: “The devil was here yesterday, he was standing in this very place. It still smells of sulfur in here. The President of the United States is the devil in the flesh. He wants world domination, teaches us to live, speaks to us as the ruler of the world. He needs a psychiatrist. It's more serious than Hitchcock films."

(Photo by Jorge Silva | Reuters):

Hugo Chavez could talk endlessly about the future of Venezuela. On May 23, 1999, the program “Hello, President” was aired with the participation of the president of the country himself. Chavez explained his desire to try himself as a TV presenter by saying that he wants to convey the truth about what is happening in Venezuela. In August, Chavez set a record by talking to the Venezuelan people for 7 hours and 43 minutes non-stop, with only the distraction to take a sip of coffee.

February 2010. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos | AP):

Hugo Chavez is a shocking politician. He did not hesitate to openly admit mistakes and repent before the people if something did not work out. Chavez wrote poetry and drew well.

March 2005. Chavez with his grandson at an air show. (Photo by Gautam Singh | AP):

The word "fear" was unfamiliar to him. Chavez has been battling cancer in recent years. In June 2011, he underwent the first operation to remove a malignant tumor. By October 2011, he had undergone four rounds of chemotherapy. In early July last year, in an interview with reporters, Chavez announced that he had beaten cancer. But this was not so, and the disease entered the last stage.

April 2009. Chavez presents Obama with a book by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, The Open Veins of Latin America. (Photo by Evan Vucci | AP):

Hugo Chavez was re-elected for a new presidential term in October 2012, but at the end of the year he had to go to Cuba again for his 3rd oncological operation. He was supposed to take the oath on January 10, but the country's Supreme Court postponed the ceremony due to the president's illness. Chavez spent the last 2 weeks of his life at home in the capital's military hospital. (Photo by Gerardo Garcia | Reuters):

February 2011 Hugo Chavez plays his favorite baseball game. (Photo by Jorge Silva | Reuters):

March 2011. Hugo Chavez with his daughters. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins | Reuters):

September 2009. Hugo Chavez and. (Photo by Miraflores Palace | Reuters):

February 2012. Hugo Chavez during a military parade in Venezuela. (Photo by Juan Barreto | AFP):

August 2011. Fighting cancer. Hugo Chavez after chemotherapy. (Photo by Jorge Silva | Reuters):

February 2013. Last photo with Hugo Chavez. 2 of his daughters came to the hospital:

Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias (Spanish Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías); July 28, 1954, Sabaneta - March 5, 2013, Caracas) - Venezuelan statesman and military leader, President of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013, head of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela from 2007 to 2013.

early years

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. His maternal ancestor was an active participant in the Civil War of 1859–1863. He spoke on the side of the liberals, fought under the leadership of the people's leader Ezequiel Zamora. Great-grandfather became famous for the fact that in 1914 he raised an anti-dictatorial uprising. It was brutally suppressed. He had two daughters, one of them is Rosa, the grandmother of Hugo Chavez. Chavez's mother hoped that her son would become a priest, and he himself dreamed of a career as a professional baseball player. Chavez has retained his passion for baseball to this day. As a child, he drew well, and at the age of twelve he received his first prize at a regional exhibition. In 1975, he graduated from the Military Academy of Venezuela with the rank of second lieutenant. According to reports, he also studied at the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas.

Chavez served in the airborne units, and the red beret of the paratrooper subsequently became an integral part of his image. In 1982 (according to other sources, while studying at the academy), Chavez and his colleagues founded the underground organization COMACATE (an abbreviation made up of the first and second letters in the names of middle and junior officer ranks). Later, COMACATE was transformed into the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario), named after the hero of the Latin American war of independence, Simon Bolivar.

February Putsch 1992

Unsuccessful economic policy gave rise to general discontent, with manifestations of which the government struggled with forceful methods. In this situation, various political currents arose, both right and left, and fermentation began in the armed forces. In 1990 and 1991, anti-government protests escalated, culminating in a general strike on November 7, 1991. Encouraged by the popular enthusiasm, patriotic elements among the junior officers rallied under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chávez. On February 4, 1992, Chávez led a failed coup attempt.

On February 4, 1992, army columns under the command of Hugo Chavez took to the streets of the capital Caracas. The rebels said that they were not planning to seize power, but to reorganize it and create a Constituent Assembly, where all groups of Venezuelan society would be really represented, instead of the traditional bicameral parliament, which reflected the interests of only corrupt ruling groups. The rebellion was supported by part of the middle officers and soldiers. The conspiracy involved 133 officers and almost a thousand soldiers, not counting many civilians. The high command hastened to declare support for the president and ordered the suppression of the rebellion. Clashes continued until noon on 4 February. As a result of the fighting, according to official figures, 17 soldiers were killed, more than 50 military and civilians were injured.

On the afternoon of February 4, Hugo Chavez surrendered to the authorities, called on his supporters to lay down their arms and took full responsibility for the preparation and organization of this operation. At the time of the arrest, broadcast live, Lieutenant Colonel Chavez said that he and his comrades were laying down their arms solely because this time they failed to achieve their goal and to avoid further bloodshed, but their struggle would continue. Chavez and a number of his supporters ended up in jail.

The beginning of a political career

After Chavez spent two years in prison, he was pardoned by President Rafael Caldera in 1994. Immediately after his release, he created the "Movement V Republic". In December of the same year, he visited Cuba for the first time. Speaking at the University of Havana, he announced his revolutionary principles, which he later implemented. At that time, Hugo Chavez was under the ideological influence of the Argentinean Norberto Sesesole, who convinced him to pay attention to the ideas of the Libyan leader Gaddafi. Many years later - in November 2004 - Hugo Chavez will be presented in Tripoli with the Muammar Gaddafi International Prize for his contribution to the defense of human rights. As president of the republic, Chavez became famous for the fact that, despite the embargo against Iraq, he went to this country in order to personally meet with Saddam Hussein. In doing so, he became the first foreign head of state to meet with Saddam Hussein since the Iraqi aggression against Kuwait in 1990.

In the parliamentary elections in November 1998, the Patriotic Pole coalition that supported Chavez, as part of his Fifth Republic Movement (DPR), the Movement for Socialism (MAS), the Motherland for All Party, the Communist Party of Venezuela and other groups, won about 34% of the vote and won 76 out of 189 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

coup

Throughout 2001, the standoff between President Chávez and his old elite opponents escalated and escalated into open confrontation the following year. Opponents of the president initiated a national strike in solidarity with the leadership and employees of the state oil company, who were protesting against the appointment of new members of the board of directors by President Chavez. The situation seriously escalated after the largest trade union and professional associations in Venezuela announced the transformation of the 48-hour general strike into an indefinite one. On April 16, 2002, armed clashes between opponents and supporters of Chavez took place in Maraflores Square in Caracas, resulting in the death of more than 60 people, and on April 18 a military mutiny began. A group of military men led by the mayor of Caracas, A. Pena, and the commander of the ground forces, E. Vazquez, tried to overthrow U. Chavez. The putschists arrested the president and took him away in an unknown direction. General Lucas Rincón Romero informed the country that Chávez had resigned. Deputy Minister of Security, Commander of the National Guard, General Alberto Comacho Cairos, said that the government of President Hugo Chavez "is not capable of governing the country" and is removed from power, and the country is under the control of the national armed forces. Speaking on local television, General Comacho Cairos blamed the ousted president for the bloodshed in the crackdown on a major anti-government protest march.

The rebels nominated the president of the Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Pedro Carmona, to the post of interim president. He dissolved Parliament, suspended the work of the Attorney General and the State Comptroller, and repealed legislation passed during the Chávez presidency that redistributed some of the national wealth to the poor. The US welcomed the coup. However, most of the army remained loyal to the president, in addition, many hundreds of thousands of his supporters took to the streets, who were mobilized by the Bolivarian Committees, mainly in the poor neighborhoods of cities. They demanded the release of the arrested president, whom the rebels held for two days on a remote island, and the return of power to him. Carmona refused to lead the country, and the putschists, fearing punishment, delivered the president they had arrested to the presidential palace. The military coup failed with a triumph for Chavez. The counter-coup resulted in Chávez returning to power; his leading opponents were arrested. Hugo Chavez's re-entry ceremony, which took place at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, was televised. Chavez said that he did not expect to return to his office so quickly, and that he even began to write poetry, but did not have time to finish his first poem. In a conciliatory statement, Hugo Chavez announced the resignation of members of the board of directors of the state oil company, whom he himself had appointed earlier.

A few months later, on October 6, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that his intelligence services had prevented an attempted coup in the country. "We prevented the coup, I have little doubt about it," Chavez said at a meeting of mayors and governors in Caracas. The President said that prominent members of the opposition were involved in the plot, as well as the military, who had already tried to overthrow Hugo Chavez in April this year. Shortly before this, the Venezuelan secret services conducted a search in the house of the country's former foreign minister, Enrique Tejera. In this house, as the president said, evidence of a conspiracy was found. The search was carried out after the military loyal to the current president attended opposition meetings in the house of the former minister. However, Tehera denied all the allegations against him.

Back in the presidency

The failure of the April coup did not end the political crisis in Venezuela. During the year, the opposition, taking advantage of the growing economic difficulties and inflation, organized four general strikes against the government of President Chavez. The largest of them began in early December 2002 and lasted more than 2 months. The protests were organized by the leaders of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers of Venezuela and the Democratic Coordination political bloc. They demanded the resignation of Chavez and a referendum on his presidency. But this strike (like the previous one, in October 2003) ended in failure. On August 15, 2004, at the request of the right-wing opposition, a referendum was held on the early recall of Chavez from the presidency. 59.10% of the voters who came to the polling stations voted against the recall.

Chavez has been subjected to sharp criticism more than once, mainly from representatives of the upper and middle strata of society. Opponents accuse Chavez of disregard for the electoral law, violation of human rights and political repression, excessive wastefulness and the actual financing of the expenses of the Cuban state. They call Chavez a "new type of dictator." But despite all this, Hugo Chavez is extremely popular, as evidenced by the unsuccessful attempt to remove him from power in April 2002.

Hugo Chavez and the "Axis of Good"

After the failed coup, cooperation between the two Latin American leaders further strengthened. Realizing that they could not cope alone in a hostile environment, they came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create a united anti-imperialist front capable of resisting the "aggressive regimes" of the Western Hemisphere. Hugo Chavez is trying to create an axis of like-minded states around Venezuela that share his revolutionary Bolivarian ideas. Such a regime has recently been established in Bolivia with the election of Evo Morales as President. At the end of 2006, Hugo Chavez's potential allies, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Rafael Correa in Ecuador, won.

In early 2006, Hugo Chavez coined the term "axis of good" to refer to the union of Venezuela - Cuba - Bolivia - as opposed to the American "axis of evil". These states are brought together not only by the left-wing anti-imperialist and anti-American rhetoric of their leaders, but also by the real mutual benefit from cooperation: according to the United States, Venezuela supplies Cuba with about 90,000 barrels of oil daily at preferential prices - which allows Cuba to earn on the re-export of oil. Cuba, as already mentioned, sent tens of thousands of its technical specialists to Venezuela, including about 30 thousand doctors. For Bolivia, Venezuela is a source of investment for the development of gas fields.

In early July 2006, Chavez, speaking as a guest of honor at the African Union summit in the Gambia, called on African countries to "resist American neo-colonialism" and establish closer ties between Latin America and the 53 member states of the pan-African organization.

In July 2006, Hugo Chavez made a trip to a number of states that, in his opinion, should become members of the united anti-imperialist front - after another meeting with Fidel Castro, he visited Belarus, Russia (Volgograd - Izhevsk - Moscow) and Iran (which he had already visited fifth time). Initially, the overseas tour also included a trip to the DPRK, but it was subsequently decided to visit Vietnam, Qatar, Mali and Benin instead.

In Iran, Hugo Chavez said: “Venezuela will always and everywhere be with Iran - at any time, in any situation. History shows that as long as we are united, we can resist and defeat imperialism." This statement was made on the day after the five permanent members of the UN Security Council issued a final warning to Iran on July 28 to stop uranium enrichment. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for his part, replied: “I feel like I met a brother and a man with whom you are in the same trench… Iran and Venezuela stand side by side and support each other. President Chávez is the source of the progressive and revolutionary current in South America and is making a significant contribution to the opposition to imperialism." Hugo Chavez was awarded the highest state order of the Islamic Republic.

Upon his return, Hugo Chavez spoke live on the television program "Hello President!", where he spoke for about five hours on a variety of topics. In particular, he announced his intention to create a national air defense system that would "cover the entire Caribbean." The new air defense system will allow tracking air targets at a distance of 200 km and destroy them 100 km before approaching the territory of Venezuela.

Chavez acts as a fierce critic of US expansionist policies and globalization. On September 20, 2006, at a session of the UN General Assembly, Chavez called Bush Jr. "the devil." According to Chavez, Bush spoke the day before at the UN as "the master of the world," and the world should be concerned about this approach of the American leadership.

In January 2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela. Back in July 2006, Iran and Venezuela signed 29 economic agreements, in particular, on the creation of a joint venture in the field of oil production and refining, as well as in metallurgy, mechanical engineering and pharmaceuticals. At the same time, a fund in the amount of $2 billion was created to finance joint projects. In January 2007, new agreements were signed and Ahmadinejad promised to bring Iranian investments in Venezuela to $3 billion within 3 years, and Hugo Chavez confirmed his readiness to defend Iran's right to development peaceful nuclear technologies. The key event of the visit was the creation of a joint fund to counter US policy. At the same time, the Iranian president said: "We very much count on the support of all forces interested in Latin America, Asia and Africa." According to observers, Ahmadinejad had in mind the PRC.

Domestic politics

Socialism of the 21st century

On December 4, 2006, the media announced the triumphant victory of Hugo Chavez in the next presidential election.

The only candidate of the Venezuelan opposition was the governor of the state of Zulia Manuel Rosales, known as one of the most ardent opponents of Chavez's reforms. One of his campaign statements was a promise to "replace all Russian fighters that Chavez recently purchased with civilian aircraft."

Two weeks later, the ruling Fifth Republic Movement party announced its dissolution as a first step towards the formation of a single pro-presidential party of more than 20 political organizations (including three relatively large parties - the Communist Party of Venezuela, "Fatherland for All" and "We we can" (Podemos)). According to the idea of ​​Hugo Chavez, in the conditions of the existence of one strong party, it will be easier for the country to build “socialism of the 21st century”: “We need one party, not an alphabetical set ... We cannot come to socialism simply by magic. Socialism is a process of daily creation."

The new party, at the suggestion of Hugo Chavez, will be called the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. A similar one-party system was introduced in Cuba by Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. Such a party was the United Party of the Socialist Revolution, later renamed the Communist Party of Cuba.

Simultaneously with the creation of the "party of power", Hugo Chavez proposed to revise the Venezuelan constitution "in favor of its greater compliance with the task of building socialism" - in particular, to cancel the restriction of presidential powers to two terms.

In early January 2007, Hugo Chavez announced the upcoming nationalization of Venezuela's largest telecommunications and electricity companies - Compania Nacional de Telefonos de Venezuela (СANTV) and EdC, controlled by American firms. We are also talking about Venezuela's intention to acquire a controlling stake in mining and oil refineries Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips, Statoil, BP.

Socialist Republic of Venezuela

On January 18, 2007, the Venezuelan Parliament (consisting entirely of supporters of Hugo Chávez due to the opposition's boycott of the 2005 elections) unanimously voted for a law granting Chávez emergency legislative powers for a year and a half. It is expected that during this time the president will nationalize key sectors of the economy, ensure the transition to the state of a controlling stake in foreign oil companies operating in the Orinoco River area, introduce indefinite presidential rule in the country and rename it the Socialist Republic of Venezuela. These "revolutionary transformations", according to Chavez, will make it possible to build "socialism of the 21st century" in Venezuela. The opposition regarded the decision as another step towards dictatorship.

Chavez also supported the abolition of exams while studying at universities. He also promised students to raise the scholarship to $100 and open discounted student canteens, as well as equip classrooms with the latest equipment. Chavez's speech was accompanied by the jubilation of student youth and exclamations: "This is how the country should be run!"

On May 1, 2008, Venezuela established the highest minimum wage in Latin America, $372, by presidential decree. The 30% increase in wages concerns more than 5 million workers and employees. More than 2.5 billion dollars will be allocated annually from the country's budget for this. Hugo Chávez stated that this was made possible by the socialist nature of the Bolivarian revolution. The President of Venezuela pointed out that when the country was ruled by a pro-capitalist government, wage increases for workers never exceeded 2%.

Nationalization

In 2007, during the nationalization of the energy sector in Venezuela, all oil fields in the country were placed under state control, and Western companies Exxon Mobil and ChonocoPhilips, who refused to work under the new conditions, left the Venezuelan market. Other strategic sectors, such as energy and telecommunications, were also nationalized.

On April 3, 2008, the President of Venezuela announced the nationalization of the country's cement industry and stated that the Venezuelan government would no longer tolerate private companies exporting cement needed to eliminate the country's housing shortage. "Take all legal measures to nationalize the entire cement industry in the country as soon as possible," he said in a televised address.

Cement production in Venezuela is mainly carried out by foreign companies. The Mexican company Cemex, which produces 4.6 million tons of cement per year in Venezuela, controls almost half of the market. A significant share in it belongs to the French Lafarge and the Swiss Holcim Ltd. Chavez assured cement companies that the government would pay them decent compensation. At the same time, the President of Venezuela pointed out that the cement industry is a particularly important strategic sector of the Venezuelan economy.

On April 9, 2008, Vice-President of Venezuela Ramon Carrisales announced the government's decision to nationalize the country's largest steel plant Sidor, owned after privatization in 1997 by the Argentine-Italian industrial group Techint. According to the Latin American Institute of Iron and Steel, Sidor is the fourth largest steel company in Latin America, the main supplier of rolled products and metal to the countries of the Andean Community of Nations - Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.

The privatization of the enterprise is explained by the "prolonged labor conflict" between the workers and the owners of the enterprise, which prevented the conclusion of a new collective agreement. On May 1, 2008, the decree on the nationalization of "Sidor" was signed.

Monetary reform

"Hello President"

On May 23, 1999, the program “Hello, President” was aired with the participation of the president of the country himself. Chavez explained his desire to try himself as a TV presenter by saying that he wants to convey the truth about what is happening in the country and around it to every Venezuelan. On the air, Chavez asks questions to his ministers, communicates with local residents, conducts teleconferences with other regions, explains government policy, makes historical digressions, sends kisses and jokes. On February 15, 2007, President Hugo Chavez began to communicate with his people daily on weekdays for an hour and a half from 20.00 to 21.30. But he didn't stop there. In August, Chavez set a record by talking to the Venezuelan people for 7 hours and 43 minutes. During the broadcast from the presidential palace, Chavez did not take a single break and only occasionally drank a cup of coffee. And during the September TV program, Hugo Chavez set a new record for its duration. Without interruption, in a thirty-degree heat, he conducted a program popular in the country for 8 hours and 06 minutes.

Chavez and Trotskyism

In the new Cabinet of Ministers of the President, the Trotskyite Jose Ramon Rivero became Minister of Labor, about whom Chavez said: “When I called him to my office and offered to take the post of minister. He said to me: President, I want to warn you first. I am a Trotskyist." I replied, “Okay. This is not a problem at all. I am also a Trotskyist! I stand for Trotsky's line, for the Permanent Revolution."

Unlike the Stalinists, he admits that the socialism of the 21st century will not be similar to the system that existed in the USSR, for example, shortly before declaring himself a socialist, Chavez purchased Trotsky's book "Permanent Revolution" and noted after reading it that in the USSR "there was no socialism that it distorted the ideas laid down by Lenin and Trotsky, especially after the rise of Stalin.

However, in the same way, he stated that Bolivarian socialism has nothing to do with Marxism and proceeds from Latin American realities, unlike the Trotskyists, he recognizes the positive role of the Soviet Union, and during a visit to Belarus in 2006, he stated that the Belarusian model can serve an example for building a new society in Venezuela. Chavez's use of Alexander Lukashenko's recommendations provoked criticism from one of the main Trotskyist ideologists, Alan Woods, who condemned the policy of the Belarusian president.

Therefore, there is no need to talk about Chavez's Trotskyism. Nevertheless, he is the first statesman since the late 1920s who publicly declared the acceptability of Trotsky's ideas in building a socialist society.

Chavez and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

Mediation in negotiations

The guerrilla war in Colombia between the government and the FARC has been going on for 40 years. In recent years, under President Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian military has succeeded in driving the FARC into the jungle. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who visited Colombia in August 2007, agreed to mediate negotiations between local authorities and the FARC over the release of the hostages. In exchange for the hostages, the partisans demand the release of their comrades-in-arms from prisons.

On November 26, Hugo Chavez announced that he had frozen his country's relations with neighboring Colombia. This statement came after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe decided to refuse the services of Chavez as an intermediary in negotiations with the radical left FARC rebels. The talks focused on the release of dozens of hostages taken by the FARC in Colombia. Hugo Chavez said that his Colombian counterpart lied about the reasons for the failure of the negotiations, and that Alvaro Uribe is not interested in establishing peace. For his part, Alvaro Uribe said that Chavez wants the FARC rebels to seize power in Colombia. Speaking about the freezing of relations with Colombia, Chavez recalled the incident at the summit in Chile, where the Spanish King Carlos asked Chavez to "shut up". "It's like the case with Spain: I froze relations with Spain until the king of Spain apologizes," Hugo Chavez said.

At the end of the year, the rebels agreed to release Ingrid Betancourt's aide to former Colombian presidential candidate Clara Rojas and her three-year-old son, who was born in captivity, as well as ex-senator Consuelo Gonzalez. FARC, in its official statement, explained that the release of the hostages will take place as a token of gratitude to Chavez for his policies. Then Chavez rejoined the negotiations. Hugo Chavez at a press conference in Caracas for two hours explained to those present the details of his plan. The President of Venezuela proposed to use Venezuelan planes and helicopters for the humanitarian mission. They must pick up three prisoners at a certain point. However, the Colombian government reacted differently: "Aircraft must have the identification marks of the International Committee of the Red Cross," said Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo, "so that the country's constitution is not violated."

On January 9, 2008, rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, without any preconditions, released two hostages who had been held captive for about seven years. After thanking the President of Venezuela for his part in their fate by satellite phone, the women then approached the rebels who were standing at a distance, kissed the female fighters and shook hands with the FARC men. After saying goodbye to the former captives, the militants again went into the jungle, after which the helicopter delivered the former hostages to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, where they were later met by President Hugo Chavez on the terrace of the presidential palace. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has repeatedly criticized his Venezuelan counterpart, was forced to recognize the results of his work.

"We are pleased with the release of our compatriots, but we still feel pain for those who are still in captivity. I must admit that the release process led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez turned out to be effective. Chavez was able to achieve the unilateral and unconditional release of Consuela Gonzalez and Clara Rojas," Uribe said.

The day after the hostages were released in Colombia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on the international community to change its attitude towards Colombian militants and remove the FARC from the list of terrorist organizations.

Ecuadorian-Colombian Crisis

On March 1, the Colombian army conducted a special operation in Ecuador. During the fighting, one of the leaders of the rebel organization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Raul Reyes, was killed. After the battle ended, the Colombian military said it found documents that confirm links between the rebels and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. Ecuador immediately reacted by expelling the Colombian ambassador and pulling troops to the border. The conflict escalated even more when 10 battalions of the Venezuelan army sent by Chavez approached the borders of Colombia from the other side. Hugo Chavez called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a "criminal", a "subordinate of Bush" and the head of a "narcotics government", accusing him of provoking war in the region.

Military-technical cooperation with Russia

In the first half of 2006, the US imposed an embargo on arms sales to Venezuela. Then Hugo Chavez announced a complete cessation of arms purchases in the United States.

In 2005, Venezuela and Russia signed an agreement to purchase 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. The supply contract has been completed. On July 3, 2006, Venezuela signed a contract for the supply of another 100 thousand Kalashnikov assault rifles and cartridges for them for $52 million, and on July 12, 2006, two contracts were signed with a total value of $474.6 million for the construction in Venezuela of a plant for the production of AK-103 and enterprises for the production of cartridges of caliber 7.62 mm.

For the Venezuelan Air Force on July 15, 2006, a contract was signed for the supply of 38 Russian military Mi-35 helicopters for $ 484 million, on July 17, 2006 - a contract for the supply of 24 Su-30MK2 fighters. The main reason for the increase in arms purchases, Hugo Chavez calls the "threat of an American military invasion." “Russia helped break the blockade around Venezuela imposed by America. The US is trying to disarm Venezuela in order to invade the country later. Therefore, I am grateful to Russia,” he said on July 26, 2006 during a visit to Izhevsk.

According to the United States, small arms purchases are carried out with the aim of transporting them to other areas of Latin America - in particular, to the Colombian anti-government rebels (FARC). On March 23, 2005, when the impending deal first became known, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said: “I can’t even imagine what can be done with a hundred thousand Kalashnikovs. I have no idea why Venezuela needed a hundred thousand Kalashnikovs. I I hope it doesn't happen, and I don't think it will be good for the Western Hemisphere if it does."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also expressed concern during her visit to Moscow, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied that Russian military cooperation with Venezuela does not contradict international law.

In July 2006, the American side again expressed concern about Hugo Chavez's statements. Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that the United States is concerned about Venezuela's plans to obtain the latest Russian weapons and will try to convince Russia of the need to revise upcoming contracts: "Venezuela's planned purchases exceed its defense needs and do not contribute to regional stability."

The Russian representatives refused to acknowledge the validity of such concerns.

Mikhail Kamynin, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry: “Military-technical cooperation with Venezuela ... is carried out by Russia in full compliance with international law ...”

The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (at that time Sergey Ivanov): "Revision of the contract [on the supply of Russian SU-30s to Venezuela] is absolutely unacceptable... 24 aircraft are not redundant to protect such a large country as Venezuela... Venezuela is not under any international there are no sanctions and no restrictions on the implementation of the contract."

In early February 2007, Hugo Chavez announced that he had approved a proposal by the Ministry of Defense to purchase from Russia worth $290 million 12 short-range anti-aircraft missile systems "Tor-M1" on a tracked chassis. The air defense system is planned to be deployed in the north of the country to cover Caracas and the main oil fields from air attack.

In 2006, 17 similar Tor-M1T tracked systems were sold to Iran, which also ordered 12 more Tor-M1T towed systems on a truck chassis. Venezuela is also reportedly buying patrol boats and possibly an Amur-class submarine from Russia.

In the second half of 2009, Russia plans to begin deliveries of the Mi-28N helicopter to Venezuela. Boris Slyusar, general director of the Rostvertol plant, spoke about this at the ceremony of handing over the first two combat vehicles to the operation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. “There is an official application from Venezuela, but before the signing of the contract it is premature to talk about the volume and timing. We plan to deliver the first helicopters in 2009, in the second half of the year,” he said.

Hugo Chavez addresses the nation

In April 2005, Hugo Chavez addressed the Venezuelan people with the words: "We should all read Don Quixote in order to feel the spirit of this fighter who came to our world to fight against injustice." This call was timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the publication of the work of Miguel de Cervantes. To help realize this call, one million copies of the book were distributed free of charge on the streets of 24 cities. This action was called "Operation Dulcinea" and was received with enthusiasm.

Personal life

Chavez has been married twice. He divorced his first wife, Nancy Colmenares, in 1992. His second wife was journalist Marisabel Rodríguez Oropeza, whom he divorced in 2002.
He has five children: four from his first marriage - Rosa Virginia (Rosa Virginia), Maria Gabriela (Maria Gabriela), Hugo Rafael (Hugo Rafael), Raul Alfonso (Raul Alfonzo), and a daughter from his second marriage - Rosines (Rosinés).
Hugo Chavez wrote poems and stories, was fond of painting. Literature occupied a special place in his life - books on history, philosophy, the Bible and poetry. At the end of 2007, Chavez published a collection of songs, which included popular Venezuelan and Mexican songs, performed personally by the president in a special television and radio broadcast; in 2008 he recorded a composition for the musical collection of revolutionary songs "Musica Para la Batalla" ("Music for the struggle").
Twitter had its own microblog. He made an offer to Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Bolivian President Evo Morales to start microblogs there. On September 22, 2010, Chavez's microblog was hacked by an unknown person[, but soon control over it was regained.

Disease
On July 1, 2011, upon returning to Venezuela after treatment in Cuba, Chavez announced that he had undergone two operations: for an intrapelvic abscess and to remove a malignant tumor. By October 2011, he had undergone four rounds of chemotherapy.
On October 17, 2011, an interview was published in the Mexican press by the attending physician Salvador Navarrete (who fled the country), who claimed that Chavez had a severe oncological disease that leaves no chance for a successful outcome. According to the forecasts of a medical expert, the Venezuelan leader had about two years to live.
In February 2012, Chavez announced that he had a "damage" in the place where the malignant tumor was removed, and he needed another surgical operation, and on February 28, at the Simek Cuban clinic, he underwent surgery to remove the malignant tumor.
March 25 again departed for Cuba to undergo a course of radiotherapy. On April 24, Chavez spoke live on state television, promising to return to his homeland on April 26, but returned to Venezuela only on May 12. On May 31, 2012, reports appeared about the exact diagnosis of Chavez: he is sick with an aggressive type of cancer - metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma. According to a source close to Chavez, the disease has entered the last stage, and the Venezuelan leader has no more than two months left to live.
On December 9, 2012, he again went to Cuba, where Chavez had a fourth operation to remove malignant cells from the body. Before leaving, he named Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro as his successor, assuring him that he would continue the course of socialist transformation.
On December 11, in one of the Cuban clinics, he underwent a 6-hour operation to remove cancer cells. This operation was the fourth in less than two years. Doctors in Cuba, as well as Venezuela, said that Chávez had until April 2013 to live.
On December 31, 2012, Chavez had new complications after an operation to remove a cancerous tumor. According to other sources, Chavez fell into a coma after the operation.
On January 4, 2013, Chavez's health deteriorated, the main disease was complicated by a severe respiratory infection, the Venezuelan Information Minister announced. The press noted that since mid-December 2012, Chavez has not spoken to the country on television and even on radio by telephone. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica at the beginning of January 2013 described Chavez's condition as agony.
On January 23, 2013, Bolivian President Evo Morales revealed that Chávez was undergoing physical therapy before his upcoming return to Venezuela.
On February 15, 2013, for the first time in two months, a photo of Chavez after the operation was published. In the picture, the Venezuelan leader, who is recovering in Havana, surrounded by his daughters, smiles and reads a newspaper. At the same time, it is noted that Chavez cannot yet breathe and speak on his own.
On February 18, 2013, Chavez returned to Venezuela after completing a course of treatment in Cuba and is undergoing rehabilitation.
On March 2, 2013, the Venezuelan government announced that Chávez was undergoing chemotherapy at a military hospital in Caracas.
On March 5, 2013, the Venezuelan authorities reported for the second time that Chavez's condition had worsened. He has exacerbated problems with the respiratory system caused by an acute respiratory infection during chemotherapy. On the evening of the same day, the death of President Chavez was officially announced.
Death
Hugo Chavez died on March 5, 2013 at 4:25 pm Venezuelan time. Chavez's death was announced by Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro on national television. The immediate cause of death was a massive heart attack.
Awards and titles

Lieutenant colonel (reserved) (since 1990)
Order of the Star of Carabobo
Land Forces Cross
Order of Francisco Miranda
Order of Rafael Urdaneta
Order of the Liberator V class
Laureate of the José Marti International Prize (2005, UNESCO)
Order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1st class (2006, Iran)
Order of Friendship of Peoples (2008, Belarus)
Order of Sandino (2007, Nicaragua)
Order of "Uatsamonga" (July 7, 2010, South Ossetia) - in recognition of special merits in asserting 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 showing courage
National Order of José Marti (Cuba)
Order "Carlos Manuel de Cespedes" (Cuba, 2004)
Umayyad Order, 1st class (Syria)
In 2009, a football stadium in the Libyan city of Benghazi was named after Hugo Chavez, which, however, was renamed the "Martyrs of February" after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi during the Civil War in Libya.
Ribbon of the Order of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia, March 2013 posthumously)

On the night of March 6, the world learned about the death of the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. In recent months, he did not appear in public, and a few days before his death, Chavez's associates said that the national leader had undermined his health, as "he completely gave his body and soul" to the country. From a failed conspirator to the leader of the Bolivarian movement in Latin America, Chávez has become one of the most recognizable figures in the world. Being a bright but ambiguous personality, during the years of his presidency he managed to earn both hatred and admiration.

Hugo Chavez was first elected President of Venezuela in 1998. Re-elected in 2000 and 2006. In 2002, as a result of a coup d'état, he lost power for several days. A military man by profession, he was imprisoned from 1992 to 1994 for attempting a coup. An adherent of "Bolivarian socialism", he is known for his anti-American and anti-globalization views.

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 her son would become a priest, and he himself dreamed of a career as a professional baseball player. In 1975, he graduated from the Military Academy of Venezuela with the rank of second lieutenant. 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 and his colleagues founded the underground organization COMACATE (an abbreviation made up of the first and second letters in the names of middle and junior officer ranks). Later, COMACATE was 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, Lieutenant Colonel Chávez led a military coup against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who was unpopular due to high levels of corruption and government spending cuts. The uprising, which killed 18 people and injured 60, was put down by the government. Chavez surrendered to the authorities and was placed in a military prison. In November 1992, Chavez's associates made 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 Movement of the Fifth Republic (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 could not be called revolutionary. In the December 6, 1998 elections, Chavez won with 56.5 percent of the vote. The policy of the Chavez government included a number of large-scale social programs, including the creation of systems for 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: the construction of hospitals and schools, the fight against illiteracy, the implementation of agrarian reform and others. Having thus won the support of the low-income majority of the population, Chavez proceeded to nationalize enterprises in various industries.

In 1999, a new Venezuelan constitution was adopted that increased the presidential term from five to six years. In the presidential elections that followed on July 30, 2000, Chávez won 60 percent of the vote. In the subsequent period, Chavez's political course, 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. On the foreign policy front, 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 terror. 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 deprived 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 the State Comptroller, and repealed legislation passed during the Chávez presidency that redistributed some of the national wealth to 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 won 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 calling card. Under his leadership, Venezuela began to claim leadership of the US opposition in the Western Hemisphere. According to press reports, the Venezuelan government provided assistance to Colombian guerrillas, spent considerable sums to help other Latin American states, opposed the creation of a free trade area of ​​the Americas (FTAA, Free Trade Area of ​​the Americas). Moreover, Chavez tried to win sympathy within the United States itself. His American opponents have argued that Venezuela is allocating funds to lobby its interests in Congress. Groups of supporters of the Venezuelan president have emerged in the United States. Chavez has agreed to supply heating oil at a discounted price to low-income areas in the north of the United States.

With attacks against the US, Chavez won sympathy around the world. The Americans could not help but be outraged by the list of Chavez's foreign friends, the alliance with which he called the "axis of goodness": Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Cuban President Fidel Castro. Venezuela has established particularly friendly relations with Cuba. Chavez sold energy resources to the island state at low prices 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 Chávez government.

In July 2006, Chavez made a visit to Russia, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two countries entered into important agreements. First, an agreement was reached on the supply of Russian weapons and military aircraft to Venezuela. Secondly, a partnership was planned in the energy field: in particular, it was planned to develop new oil fields in Venezuela with the participation of the Russian company Lukoil.

Prior to the 2006 elections, Venezuelan society was divided. Chávez's supporters, who are the majority among Venezuelans and who mainly represent the low-income segments of the population, saw him as a leader defending 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 socialist revolution. Before the election, Chavez announced plans to amend the Venezuelan constitution to allow the president to be re-elected an unlimited number of times. On January 10, 2007, when he took the presidential oath, 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 buy shares in 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 the desire to distance himself from international institutions controlled by the United States. At the end of June, the Venezuelan leader again visited Russia. Like the previous time, the main topics of the visit were the purchase of Russian weapons by Venezuela and cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas industry.

In February 2008, after the declaration of Kosovo's independence, Chavez announced that he would not recognize the sovereignty of this republic, adding that such steps were aimed at weakening Russia, destabilizing the region and creating a number of dangerous precedents. According to Chavez, the United States also provoked riots in Tibet in order to spoil the image of China on the eve of the Olympic Games.

Chavez was also on the side of Russia during the conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008. Chavez said that he supported 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 was 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 Israelis' actions aggression and announced a 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 on the abolition of the limit on the number of terms in office for the President of Venezuela and other elected positions. A similar proposal failed in a referendum in 2007, but this time the proposal to change the constitution was supported by 55 percent of the voters, thereby earning Chavez the right to run for a third six-year term in the next presidential election in 2012. It is noteworthy that representatives of the US State Department said that the referendum in Venezuela satisfied 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 vice-president of the country, Elias Jaua, and finance minister, Jorge Giordani.

After completing 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 the Canadian company 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 main part - 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 the 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 the tumor.

In the Venezuelan presidential elections held on October 7, 2012, Chávez was re-elected for a new six-year term with 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 politicians of the first decade of the 21st century.

“Let us be worthy sons of this gigantic man, as he was and as he will remain forever in our memory, Comandante Hugo Chavez,” said Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

It would be absurd to think that the past 20th century was poor in the birth of people who played a grandiose role in the history of the whole world. But at the mention of such, the imagination of the average layman more often draws military and political figures, scientists and artists from Europe or the USA.

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. One of the people who became famous precisely in the field of their political ambitions and accomplishments was the President of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías.

The initial stages of the 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 in 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 in the Civil War of 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, passed from mouth to 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 general education 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 the Airborne Forces. It was from there that he went without which the commandant subsequently did not appear in public. Already in 1982 (but many believe that at the academy) he created his own organization KOMAKATE. The decoding of the name is simple - this word means "senior lieutenant", being composed of the first letters of medium 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 path to power

In 1992, he attempted to overthrow incumbent President Carlos Andrés Pérez. In fairness, he was really not a very good ruler: the level of corruption frankly went off scale, and government spending was constantly reduced. Chavez pursued quite sensible ideas: he wanted to assemble a new government from people who had not stained 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.

Legitimate President

To Andres Perez's credit, he didn't physically destroy his opponent. And this is a rarity when it comes to Latin American dictators. Chavez himself surrendered to the authorities, having previously ordered his supporters not to stage an armed coup. For this, the official authorities sentenced him to only four years in prison, and already in 1994 he was released under an amnesty. After that, Chavez rejected the idea of ​​an armed coup. In the cell, he thought 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 his lack of them. In addition, Chavez swore an oath to finally put an end to corruption in the country. No wonder he achieved his goal. The new president of Venezuela won just 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 in total? Unfortunately, it is impossible to give a complete list of Venezuelan presidents here, since there were 48 of them in total. So let's limit ourselves to the 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 served in this position from 1952 to 1958.
• Wolfgang Hugueto. Ascended to the "throne" in 1958, as a result of a military coup. Didn't have time to be president for even one year.
• Edgar Sanabria. Interim ruler, lawyer.
• Romulo Betancourt. He was president from 1959 to 1964.
• Raul Leoni. In office from 1964 to 1969.
• Rafael Caldera, who ruled from 1969 to 1974.
• The same Carlos Andres Perez, who once put Hugo behind bars. He served in his post from 1974 to 1979.
• Luis Herrera Campins. Ruled from 1979 to 1984
• Jaime Lusinchi. The period of being in the presidency is from 1984 to 1989.
• And… Carlos Perez again. Again he was president from 1989 to 1993.
• From June 1993 to 1994, Octavio Lepage and Ramon José Velázquez alternately pulled the burden of the presidency. Were
• Finally, Rafael Caldera. He served 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 office of president for more than two or three years, and especially in revolutionary periods, this post was replaced by three or four people a year. So Hugo Chavez and his "sworn friend" Andres Perez are unique phenomena in the political environment of Venezuela. The former stayed in office for almost 12 years, while 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, the 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, 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 election, this time gaining 60% of the vote at once. But it is not worth considering Chavez as yet another "parochial king" who "left" competently working with the electorate: Hugo really did a lot for the country.

The black blood of the economy

Since the United States was and still is heavily dependent on South American oil, and given the favorable situation in the energy markets in the early 2000s, one should not be surprised at the President's decision to change the state's political course. In just a few years, impoverished, mired in corruption, Venezuela has become a major and authoritative player in the region. Due to a stable financial position, as well as due to sharp criticism of the United States, the former president of Venezuela managed to consolidate around him all the more or less large countries of Latin America.

History of re-elections

The opposition of the country 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 d'état, but the junta lasted only two days: already on April 14, Chavez was again returned to the presidency by military units loyal to him. In 2006 there is another re-election.

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 the term of the presidency rarely lasts more than a year!

In 2007, Chavez created the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, under whose wing he gathered almost all of his like-minded people and simply talented politicians. Five years later, in 2012, he was once again re-elected to the presidency of the country.

Beginning of the End

The President of Venezuela has long suffered from cancer. In any case, he took courses of treatment at least four or five times both in his own country and in Cuba. It is difficult to say how many surgeries and chemotherapy procedures he had to endure. The surgery, which was performed in 2012 in 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 having taken place, although the “newly minted” president himself was not there. It would seem that everything worked out: already in February, the president, using Twitter, announced his return. But since then he has not left the military hospital in Caracas.

Then everyone got worried. As it turned out, not in vain: on March 6, 2013, he said that the former president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, died of a serious oncological disease. Although many citizens of the country initially suspected the possibility of such a sad event, it still came as a severe shock to them.

"Behind the scenes" talents

This man was remembered by the whole world for his inexhaustible optimism and enthusiasm, seething thirst for activity and all-round hobbies. What could this President of Venezuela? The most interesting thing is that many Latin Americans, being ardent Catholics, cannot always accurately quote a passage from the Bible. Hugo could. Moreover, he recited huge portions of Scripture from memory, easily returning to an interrupted conversation after an hour or more. The president adored the work of Bolivar, was fond of watercolors, loved music, and in this area his interests were extremely diverse.

So, at the end of 2007, a collection of songs that he personally performed, and which before that listeners could evaluate as part 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 the collection entitled "Musica Para la Batalla" ("Music for the fight"). I had a deep respect for 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 was Chavez Hugo married? The biography (in which the president of Venezuela appears almost as an ascetic) really shows him as an exemplary family man. But in his personal life, he was still not too lucky. So, in 1992, when Hugo 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 creators 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 his first and one daughter from his second marriage.

End of an era

Who is holding Venezuela now? President Maduro, a loyal associate of the late Chávez, 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 centenarian.

He follows the same course as Hugo. True, under Maduro, many industries (especially oil) were significantly relaxed. Many skeptics believe that under Nicolas, Venezuela has every chance to turn back into a country that has absolutely no influence in the region. Well, we can only guess. Time will tell how right the supporters of such views were.

If the new president does not go too far and continues the social programs that his predecessor began, 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 the vote was only 1%, but he is a fairly experienced politician, who knows all the needs and problems of his state.

Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias was born on July 28, 1954 in Sabaneta, Venezuela, in a family of teachers. Before becoming known for his reform attempts and hard-liners as President of Venezuela (1999-2013).

Chávez attended the Venezuelan Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1975 with a degree in military arts and science. Then he went to serve in the airborne troops.

In 1992, Chávez, along with other disaffected military personnel, attempted to overthrow the rule of Carlos Andrés Pérez. The coup attempt failed, and Chavez subsequently spent two years in prison, but was eventually pardoned. After his release, he created the Fifth Republic Movement, a revolutionary political party. Chavez ran for president in 1998 campaigning against government corruption and promising economic reforms.

President of Venezuela

After coming to power in 1999, Chávez decided to change the Venezuelan constitution, amending the powers of Congress and the judiciary. As part of the new constitution, the country's name was changed to "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela".

As president, Chavez faced challenges both at home and abroad. His attempts to increase his influence with the state oil company in 2002 sparked controversy and led to protests, which caused the military leaders to temporarily remove him from power in 2002. The protests continued after his return to power, as a result, a referendum was held, where it was decided whether to keep Chavez in office. In August 2004, a vote was taken in a referendum and a majority vote decided to keep him as president.

Hostile relations with the US

Throughout his reign, Chavez was known as a straightforward and categorical person, he did not hold back much when expressing his opinion or criticism. He insulted oil executives, church officials and other world leaders, and was especially hostile to the US government, which he believed was involved in the failed 2002 coup. Chavez was against the war in Iraq, saying that the United States, having launched military operations, is abusing its powers. He also called President George Walker Bush a vile imperialist.

Relations between the US and Venezuela have been strained for some time. Since taking office, Chavez has been selling oil to Cuba - a long-time US adversary - and has spoken out against US plans to end drug trafficking in Colombia. He also helped partisan troops in neighboring countries. In addition, during his reign, Chavez threatened the United States with a halt in oil supplies if there was another attempt to remove him from power. However, he donated household fuel to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which destroyed many fuel processing facilities.

The international cooperation

Regardless of Venezuela's relationship with the US, when Chavez was president, he effectively used his country's oil resources to build relationships with other countries, including China and Angola. In 2006, he helped create the Bolivarian Alliance for America, a socialist free foreign trade organization united by Fidel Castro, President of Cuba, and Evo Moralis, President of Bolivia. Chavez was also an active member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which included more than 100 countries, including Cuba, Iran and a number of African countries.

Ill health and death

Chavez was diagnosed with cancer in June 2011 after surgery to remove a pelvic abscess, and from 2011 to early 2012 he underwent three surgeries to remove cancerous tumors.

Prior to his third operation, in February 2012, Chávez acknowledged the severity of his condition and that he might no longer be able to continue serving the country as president, and he subsequently named Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro as his successor. Due to deteriorating health, Chavez was not allowed to attend the official inauguration ceremony for a fourth term in January 2013.

After his years of battle with cancer, Hugo Chavez died in Venezuela on March 5, 2013 at the age of 58. He is survived by his wife, Maria Isabel Rodriguez, and five children: Rosines, Maria Gabriella, Rosa Virginia, Raul Alfonso and Hugo Rafael. Two days after Chávez's death, Vice President Maduro announced that Chávez's body would be embalmed and in a glass tomb permanently displayed in a museum in Caracas currently under construction. It is located near the palace where Chávez ruled for more than a decade and was named el Museo Histórico Militar de Caracas (Russian Museum of the Revolution in Caracas).

Quotes

“The left is back, and that is the only way we have to go to get out of the shame that the conservatives have drowned us in. Socialism creates and capitalism destroys.”

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