“ EL NO MURIO, EL SE MULTIPLICO!” HUGO CHÁVEZ: THE LEADERSHIP AND THE LEGACY ON RACE CYNTHIA ANN McKINNEY A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change Program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2015 This is to certify that the Dissertation entitled: “EL NO MURIO, EL SE MULTIPLICO!” HUGO CHÁVEZ: THE LEADERSHIP AND THE LEGACY ON RACE prepared by Cynthia Ann McKinney is approved in partial fulfillment of the reQuirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership and Change. Approved by: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Al Guskin, Ph.D., Chair date _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Philomena Essed, Ph.D., Committee Member date _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Peter Dale Scott, Ph.D., Committee Member date _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Joseph Jordan, Ph.D., External Reader date Copyright 2015 Cynthia Ann McKinney All rights reserved Acknowledgments My Father My Mother My Son My Supportive Family My Auntie Hazel who survived Jim Crow, but not the U.S. health scare industry Frank, Katie, and Brian Jackson John Judge Antioch University visionaries Al Guskin and Laurien Alexandre Antioch Faculty, and oh what would we do without Deb! My supportive Cohort 11 My Dissertation Chair, Al Guskin, and Dissertation Committee Participants Dr. Donald Smith and Phil and Elaine Smith Mario Chatman and Jocco Baccus Community of Scholars whose work paved the way for this work Community of supporters and well wishers whose moral support was invaluable, like Henrietta Antoinin, Faye Coffield, Brother Steve, and Brenda Clemons Norman Dale for editing Mirna Lascano for everything! Donald DeBerardinis who didn’t run away from his computer screaming every time I called Glen Ford and Dedon Kamathi, and J.R. Valrey–Power to the People! Unwavering Friends, including Lucy Grider-Bradley and Ms. Claude Shaw David Josué Eddie Slaughter, Black Farmers, and Reverend Pinkney–Still Fighting to Free the Land! Dr. Ricardo Wheatley North South University Vice Chancellor Dr. Amin Sarkar The Green Party of the United States All Independent Thinkers i Dedication El No Murio, El Se Multiplico! (“He Has Not Died; He Has Multiplied!”) Mourners at funeral of Hugo Chávez (Photograph courtesy of AFP Photo/Leo Ramirez) Graffiti in Caracas, meaning, “I am Chávez” (Photograph by author, 2013) ii Abstract “Chávez, Chávez, Chávez: Chávez no murio, se multiplico!” was the chant outside the National Assembly building after several days of mourning the death of the first President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This study investigates the leadership of Hugo Chávez and his legacy on race as seen through the eyes and experiences of selected interviewees and his legacy on race. The interviewees were selected based on familiarity with the person and policies of the leadership of Hugo Chávez and his legacy on race. Unfortunately, not much has been written about this aspect of Hugo Chávez, despite the myriad attempts to explain his popularity with the Venezuelan people up to the time of his death. It is expected that, as a result of this research, a clearer picture of Hugo Chávez will emerge. The resulting profile of Hugo Chávez focuses on him as a person of power as well as of color—of African and Indigenous descent—who was able to free himself from a colonial mindset (and its oftentimes accompanying internalized racism) and thereby gain the attention of oppressed peoples across the planet who sided with him as he used his power to challenge neoliberalism, the U.S. government, and those who wield power on neoliberalism’s behalf inside Venezuela. This research serves as important infrastructure for understanding Hugo’s race-conscious leadership in resistance to internalized racism and European domination. This dissertation is accompanied by an MP4 author introduction video, a PDF Dissertation Supplement, and four participant supplemental files: two MP3 audio files and two MP4 videos. This dissertation is available in Open Access AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................................................... i Dedication ..................................................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................................. vi List of Supplemental Files .................................................................................................................................... vii Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Literature Review: The Social, Economic, and Political Context of Hugo Chávez’s Leadership ............................................................................................................................................... 20 A Note on the Philosophy of This Literature Review ............................................................................... 23 Social, Economic, and Political Context of Hugo Chávez: 1958–1998 .............................................. 29 Hugo Chávez and the Epic Struggle against Neoliberalism ................................................................... 47 The Role of Race in Latin American and Venezuela ................................................................................. 52 Colonialism ................................................................................................................................................................. 54 Race ............................................................................................................................................................................... 61 Liberation of the Oppressed and Its Influence on Chávez ..................................................................... 76 Battling the United States: When Transformational Leadership Becomes Leadership on the Line ......................................................................................................................................... 96 iv Research Problem, Purpose, Question, and Design ............................................................................... 106 Research Problem and Question ................................................................................................................... 106 Critical Methodology: Problematics and Pitfalls ..................................................................................... 106 Oral History Tools ................................................................................................................................................ 113 Ethics: Going Beyond the Institutional Review Board ......................................................................... 115 Research Design .................................................................................................................................................... 118 Researcher Positionality ................................................................................................................................... 121 Information Sources—Participants and Documents ............................................................................ 124 Participants and Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 124 Documents on U.S. Actions against the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela ............................. 127 Other Documents on Chávez and the Opposition He Faced .............................................................. 128 Hugo Chávez’s Leadership: Transformational, Parrhesia, Political, and African-Centered Leadership .......................................................................................................................... 130 Hugo Chávez As a Transformational Leader ............................................................................................ 130 Hugo Chávez As Nation Builder ..................................................................................................................... 157 Hugo Chávez As a Feminist .............................................................................................................................. 159 Repression and Charges