Knowledge Article: World Geography

El Commandante and Venezuela

In 1998, the people of Venezuela elected socialist Hugo Chávez Frías as president. Chávez quickly became the most dynamic, unpredictable, and controversial South American leader in recent history. Socialists such as Chávez believe that a country’s businesses and resources should be owned by the public and not private sector. In return for this ownership, the government provides work and steady pay to its people. Because much of the Venezuelan population was poor, Chavez’s socialist ideas became popular across much of the country.

During his election campaign, Chávez portrayed himself as a president who would help poor, hardworking Venezuelans. Before Chávez was president, many Venezuelans felt they had no voice in the government. They had little access to education, health care, decent housing, or well-paying jobs. Chávez promised to help the poorest of citizens by following the ideals of the hero of Venezuelan independence, Simón Bolívar. Chávez called his version of socialism “Bolivarianism,” after Bolívar.

A Brief History of Venezuela To better understand the great appeal of Chávez’s socialist ideas, it is important to look at the history of Venezuelan politics. Like many South American nations, Venezuela has a turbulent political and social history. Modern-day Venezuela was colonized by the Spanish in the 15th century. In 1821, Simón Bolívar liberated the territory and, almost immediately, a struggle for control of the country broke out between the social classes.

The first real leader of the country was the military hero José Antonio Páez, who controlled Venezuela on and off for more than 30 years. President Páez came to power in 1830 and was exiled in 1850. After returning to Venezuela in 1858, he became a military dictator again. A few years passed, and Páez was exiled once more in 1863. The Venezuelan's dissatisfaction with the government set the precedent for an often unpopular military dictatorship that continues today.

1

© 2013 EDMENTUM, INC.

The next 100 years were marked by government corruption and financial incompetence. The leaders of Venezuela were military dictators or financial strongmen. Most of Venezuela’s population during this time was extremely poor.

In the mid 1930s, Venezuelan fortunes improved. The last of Venezuela's dictators was Juan Vicente Gomez, who died in 1935. Over the next two decades, the country transitioned to a constitutional democracy. Oil was becoming an expensive commodity, and Venezuela had plenty of it. Under President Marcos Pérez Jimenez, Venezuela’s oil economy boomed.

The economy of Venezuela has since been closely tied to the price of oil. That means the fortunes of the nation’s poor has depended on it as well. Unfortunately, large oil revenues did not stop government mismanagement and corruption. However, the influx of revenue did help the country to become more politically stable.

Even though the country was politically stable, Venezuelan leaders in the late 20th century varied widely in their governing style. Some added elements of socialism to the government, such as bringing private companies under control of the state. Yet the government did not become permanently socialist. Many Venezuelan leaders would roll back the changes of their predecessors. For example, they would sell the government- owned businesses back into the private sector.

The Rise of Chávez It was against this backdrop that Hugo Chávez formed his ideology. Chávez, who was born in 1954, had a typical Venezuelan upbringing. At college, Chávez adopted a left- wing political ideology.

After college, Chávez started a career in the military that lasted 17 years. During that time, he rose to the rank of colonel and learned to be a leader. He also taught military classes where he was known for his fiery speeches. It was during these years with the military that Chávez learned firsthand of the heavy hand of corruption in Venezuela.

Chávez found many colleagues in the military who shared his views of the world. They too wanted to end government corruption and help give Venezuela’s poor a better life. In 1983, Chávez and his followers formed the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement, also

2

known as MBR 200. This group's purpose was to get rid of corruption in Venezuela. Chávez would later say this of those years:

We had the audacity to found a movement within the ranks of the Army of Venezuela. We were tired of the corruption, and we swore to dedicate our lives to the creation of a revolutionary movement and to the revolutionary struggle in Venezuela, straight away, within Latin America. We started doing this the year of the bicentenary of the birth of Bolívar.

The members of MBR 200 plotted for nine years. They decided that the only way to fix Venezuela’s problems was by bringing down the government. Slowly, MBR 200 gained followers and allies in the army and civil government. Their plans crystalized during Carlos Andrés Pérez's second repressive term as president of Venezuela. They staged a coup d'état in 1992 which failed and landed Chávez in prison. However, in 1993, another coup was staged and Perez was then legally removed from office.

Chávez led the coup of 1992. During this attempt at overthrowing the government, Chávez and his MBR 200 supporters marched on important military and government sites around the country. Though they took control of several key sites around the country, MBR 200’s network of allies was not able to capture President Pérez. Instead, Chávez was trapped in the museum and apprehended. He soon called for the surrender of MBR 200 forces on national television and was promptly sent to prison.

Below is an excerpt of Chavez's televised speech. Since its airing, this brief message has become famous because of Chavez's use of the phrase "for the moment" (or por ahora in Spanish), which implies that he and his followers would try again:

Comrades: Unfortunately, for the moment, the objectives that we had set for ourselves have not been achieved in the capital. That's to say that those of us here in Caracas have not been able to seize power. Where you are, you have performed well, but now is the time for a rethink; new possibilities will arise again, and the country will be able to move definitively towards a better future.

Two years later, Chávez was pardoned by the new Venezuelan president Rafael Caldera Rodriguez. Soon after, Chávez began to seek political power legally. He reformed MBR 200 as the political party MVR (Movement for the Fifth Republic). In 1998, Chávez began a campaign for president on the promise to "lay the foundations for a new republic."

At the time of the 1998 election, Venezuela was facing a dire economic situation. The country was still dependent on oil, but its price had declined to $11.50 per barrel. At the same time, prices of other goods were skyrocketing. Inflation, which measures the increase in the price of goods, was increasing by an average of 30% per year. Many people were out of work and the poverty rate was more than 65%, by some estimates. 3

In spite of the worsening economic situation, Chávez’s opponents in the presidential race mostly ignored Venezuela’s poor voters. Chávez, on the other hand, focused his campaign on the poor. He told the poor that they were being exploited by the greedy, powerful, and corrupt upper classes. In December 1998, Chávez was elected in a landslide electoral victory.

The New President Chávez knew that ensuring a prosperous “new republic” would mean finding a way to raise the price of oil. To that end, he immediately began a tour around the world to meet with the leaders of other oil-producing countries. Many oil-producing countries, including Venezuela, are members of a powerful trade union called OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). Chávez encouraged other members of OPEC to reduce their oil production in order to raise oil prices.

The Venezuelan president also began a push to implement his campaign promises. He wanted the Venezuelan legislature to allocate money for building roads, providing vaccinations, and constructing houses. The legislature, however, did not appreciate Chávez as much as the public did. Citing funding problems, they blocked most of his proposals.

Chávez knew he was very popular with the people of Venezuela. He quickly realized that by appealing directly to the people, he could bypass an unfriendly legislature. Therefore, he organized a referendum, which is a direct vote on a proposal by the people. Chávez gambled that his high approval ratings would allow him to change the laws without the support of the legislature.

His gamble paid off. In 1999, 75% of Venezuela’s voters chose to support Chávez over the legislature. The referendum allowed Chávez and his allies to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution, which dramatically increased presidential power.

The new constitution granted Chávez many new powers. One of them allowed Chávez to run for a second consecutive term. According to the new constitution, Chávez could be president until 2013. The new constitution also included provisions for a smaller, less powerful legislature. The original referendum also called for immediate elections for both the presidency and the legislature. Chávez and his allies won even more power in the ensuing election. The new legislature was overwhelmingly Chavista, or pro-Chávez.

4

Chávez learned much from the success of this first referendum. It would be the first of many times that he would bypass laws and lawmakers by appealing directly to the people of Venezuela. Mostly, the referendums have resulted in even more power for Chávez himself.

Chávez in Power Though generally popular among Venezuelans, Hugo Chávez’s rule was not a complete success. Under Chávez, Venezuela’s economic fortunes were closely tied to the price of oil. For the first four years of his presidency, the low price of oil meant that the Venezuelan economy performed poorly. The cost of goods increased dramatically, unemployment remained high at about 18%, and the average Venezuelan took home about $2 per day. Venezuelans incomes had fallen by 25%.

In 2001, the price of oil began to rise dramatically. All of a sudden, the government was flushed with cash since it owned many Venezuelan oil companies. Chávez used a lot of this money for government programs related to education, indigenous rights, and healthcare. In this way, he remained popular with most of Venezuela’s poor, who benefited most from his programs. Slowly, the quality of life for most Venezuelans improved. By 2004, Venezuela’s economy was growing rapidly.

Chávez’s opponents, such as Venezuelan business interests, the rich, newspaper and television journalists, and the Catholic Church, continually predicted his downfall. At times, Chávez seemed on the brink of losing power. He pulled off a narrow electoral victory to hold on to his position as president in 2001. In 2002, he survived a coup attempt, a mass protest, and a worker’s strike aimed at unseating him. Again, in 2004 Chavez faced the possibility of losing power. His opponents organized a referendum to recall Chávez from office. He managed to keep his office because of the large turnout from poor voters.

Chávez continued to run Venezuela with a free hand. With the improvement of the Venezuelan economy, Chávez cemented his power in his own country. Some critics say that Chávez began to run the country as if he was a dictator, and some opponents accused Chávez of rigging elections. In the election of December 2005, Chávez’s opponents thought the elections were rigged and protested by boycotting them. Unfortunately for the opposition, their non-participation just meant that Chavistas took over the government. After the 2005 election, Chavistas were elected to every single post in the Venezuelan legislature.

Ruffling the Feathers of the World Venezuela’s good fortune allowed Chávez to begin extending his influence around the world. He continually pushed OPEC to lower production of oil, thereby increasing the price. He also began to reach out to other world leaders for cooperative projects. To this

5

end, Chávez met with Argentina’s Nestor Kirchner, China’s Hu Jintao, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

One of Chávez’s cooperative projects was between Venezuela and Cuba. Chávez worked with Fidel Castro to set up a program that sent thousands of Cuban doctors to Venezuela to teach and practice medicine. Like many of Chávez’s policies, this had an unintended effect. Venezuelan doctors, who saw their government funding diverted to Cuban doctors, went on strike in 2006.

Like the people of Venezuela, some leaders of other Latin American nations supported Hugo Chávez while others disliked him. Fidel Castro of Cuba, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and Nestor Kirchner of Argentina all collaborated with Chávez. Brazilian leaders, however, routinely blocked Venezuela’s inclusion in South America’s largest trade bloc, Mercosur, until Venezuela was eventually admitted in 2006. Yet Chávez did not always do everything he could to develop positive political relationships with other countries. He once publicly insulted Mexico’s Vicente Fox, calling him a “puppy” of U.S. imperialism.

Chávez often spoke out against the United States. He repeatedly accused the U.S. of supporting coup attempts against him or even trying to have him assassinated. In 2006, Chávez spoke at the General Assembly of the United Nations. During the speech, Chávez called U.S. President George W. Bush “the devil” and said the American leader was “trying to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation, and pillage of the peoples of the world.” Chávez also riled Bush by keeping friendly terms with U.S. enemies such as Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Below is an example of Chavez's strongly anti-Bush rhetoric:

6

Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of.

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world. . . .

The world parent's statement -- cynical, hypocritical, full of this imperial hypocrisy from the need they have to control everything.

[The United States] say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's their democratic model. It's the false democracy of elites, and, I would say, a very original democracy that's imposed by weapons and bombs and firing weapons.

What a strange democracy. Aristotle might not recognize it or others who are at the root of democracy. What type of democracy do you impose with marines and bombs?

—Hugo Chávez, September 20, 2006, to the U.N. General Assembly, a day after U.S. President George Bush spoke from the same podium.

The Legacy of Hugo Chávez Hugo Chávez died in 2013 after more than fourteen years in office. He was an extremely controversial and provocative figure. While seeking to empower and defend the poor laborers of Venezuela and the world, he simultaneously became a polarizing leader who arguably destabilized global politics. For instance, when Chávez nationalized Venezuelan industries, he used the revenues to benefit the country’s working class; however, in the process, he exasperated Western business and government leaders who had stakes in those industries. Chávez also often attempted to change or bypass the democratic laws of Venezuela in order to reach his desired goals. Chávez’s supporters interpreted these brazen and strict uses of power as a necessary sacrifice to achieve socialist principles, but Chávez’s critics often viewed these autocratic measures as evidence of his hostile and despotic reign.

Because of Chávez’s bold political moves, his supporters will undoubtedly remember him as a beneficial and constructive leader. Western officials and business leaders, however, will remain convinced that he was nothing more than a self-righteous dictator who changed Venezuelan law to suit his needs. Regardless of one’s opinion, Hugo Chávez will have a lasting impact on Venezuela and the world.

7

Sources

“Chávez: Bush ‘devil'; U.S. ‘on the way down’” CNN, Sept. 20, 2006.

Gott, Richard. Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. New York: Verso, 2005.

“President Hugo Chávez Delivers Remarks at the U.N. General Assembly,” The Washington Post, Sept. 20, 2006.

8