Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, revolutionary, and military officer who was the president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when it merged with several other parties to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which he led until his death.
Born into a middle-class family in Sabaneta, Barinas, Chávez became a career military officer. After becoming dissatisfied with the Venezuelan political system based on the Puntofijo Pact, he founded the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) in the early 1980s. Chávez led the MBR-200 in its unsuccessful coup d'état against the Democratic Action government of President Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1992, for which he was imprisoned. Pardoned from prison two years later, he founded the Fifth Republic Movement political party, and then receiving 56.2% of the vote, was elected president of Venezuela in 1998. He was reelected in the 2000 Venezuelan general election with 59.8% of the vote and again in the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election, with 62.8% of the vote. After winning his fourth term as president in the 2012 Venezuelan presidential election with 55.1% of the vote, he was to be sworn in on 10 January 2013. However, the inauguration was cancelled due to his cancer treatment, and on 5 March at age 58, he died in Caracas.
Following the adoption of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution, Chávez focused on enacting social reforms as part of the Bolivarian Revolution. Using record-high oil revenues of the 2000s, his government nationalized key industries, created participatory democratic Communal Councils and implemented social programs known as the Bolivarian missions to expand access to food, housing, healthcare and education. While these initiatives led to temporary improvements in poverty reduction and social welfare during periods of high oil revenue, their reliance on state control and centralized planning exposed significant structural weaknesses as oil prices declined. The high oil profits coinciding with the start of Chávez's presidency resulted in temporary improvements in areas such as poverty, literacy, income equality and quality of life between primarily 2003 and 2007, though extensive changes in structural inequalities did not occur. On 2 June 2010, Chávez declared an "economic war" on Venezuela's upper classes due to shortages, arguably beginning the crisis in Venezuela. By Chávez's death in 2013, economic actions performed by his government during the preceding decade, such as deficit spending and price controls, proved to be unsustainable, with Venezuela's economy faltering. At the same time, poverty, inflation and shortages increased.
Under Chávez, Venezuela experienced democratic backsliding, as he suppressed the press, manipulated electoral laws, and arrested and exiled government critics. His use of enabling acts and his government's use of propaganda were controversial. Chávez's presidency saw significant increases in the country's murder rate
Across the political spectrum, Chávez is regarded as one of the most influential and controversial politicians in the modern history of Venezuela and Latin America. His 14-year presidency marked the start of the socialist "pink tide" sweeping Latin Americahe supported Latin American and Caribbean cooperation and was instrumental in setting up the pan-regional Union of South American Nations, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, the Bank of the South and the regional television network TeleSUR. Internationally, Chávez aligned himself with the Marxist–Leninist governments of Fidel and then Raúl Castro in Cuba, as well as the socialist governments of Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. Chávez's ideas, programs, and style form the basis of "Chavismo", a political ideology closely associated with Bolivarianism and socialism of the 21st century. Chávez described his policies as anti-imperialist, being a prominent adversary of the United States's foreign policy as well as a vocal opponent of neoliberalism and laissez-faire capitalism. He described himself as a Marxist.
Early life
thumb|left|130px|Chávez as an adolescentChávez was born on 28 July 1954 in his paternal grandmother Rosa Inés Chávez's home, a modest three-room house located in the rural village Sabaneta, Barinas State. The Chávez family were of Amerindian, Afro-Venezuelan, Spanish and Italian descent. His parents, Hugo de los Reyes Chávez – described as a proud COPEI member– and Elena Frías de Chávez, were schoolteachers who lived in the small village of Los Rastrojos. Chávez's childhood of supposed poverty has been disputed as he possibly changed the story of his background for political reasons. With no high school in their area, Hugo's parents sent Hugo and his older brother Adán to live with their grandmother Rosa, who lived in a lower middle class subsidized home provided by the government, where they attended Daniel O'Leary High School in the mid-1960s. His father, despite having the salary of a teacher, helped pay for college for Chávez and his siblings.
alt=|thumb|249x249px|Chávez as a student in the military academy
Living in Caracas, he began to get involved in activities outside of the military school, playing baseball and softball with the Criollitos de Venezuela team, progressing with them to the Venezuelan National Baseball Championships. He also wrote poetry, fiction, and drama, and painted. He also became interested in the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara (1928–1967) after reading his memoir The Diary of Che Guevara. In 1974, he was selected to be a representative in the commemorations for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Ayacucho in Peru, the conflict in which Simon Bolívar's lieutenant, Antonio José de Sucre, defeated royalist forces during the Peruvian War of Independence. In Peru, Chávez heard the leftist president, General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1910–1977), speak, and was inspired by Velasco's ideas that the military should act in the interests of the working classes when the ruling classes were perceived as corrupt.
Befriending the son of Maximum Leader Omar Torrijos, the leftist dictator of Panama, Chávez visited Panama, where he met with Torrijos, and was impressed with his land reform program that was designed to benefit the peasants. Influenced by Torrijos and Velasco he saw the potential for military generals to seize control of a government when the civilian authorities were perceived as serving the interests of only the wealthy elites. In 1975, Chávez graduated from the military academy as one of the top graduates of the year.
Early military career
Following his graduation, Chávez was stationed as a communications officer at a counterinsurgency unit in Barinas.
In 1977, Chávez's unit was transferred to Anzoátegui, where they were involved in battling the Red Flag Party, a Marxist–Hoxhaist insurgency group. After intervening to prevent the beating of an alleged insurgent by other soldiers, Chávez began to have his doubts about the army.
In 1977, he founded a revolutionary movement within the armed forces, in the hope that he could one day introduce a leftist government to Venezuela: the Venezuelan People's Liberation Army (', or ELPV), consisted of him and a handful of his fellow soldiers who had no immediate plans for direct action, though they knew they wanted a middle way between the right-wing policies of the government and the far-left position of the Red Flag. He was inspired by Simón Bolívar, Simón Rodríguez and Ezequiel Zamora, who became known as the "three roots of the tree" of the MBR-200.
In 1984, he met Herma Marksman, a recently divorced history teacher with whom he had an affair that lasted several years. During this time Francisco Arias Cárdenas, a soldier interested in liberation theology, also joined MBR-200. After some time, some senior military officers became suspicious of Chávez and reassigned him so that he would not be able to gain any more fresh new recruits from the academy. He was sent to take command of the remote barracks at Elorza in Apure State.
1992 coup attempt
In 1989, Carlos Andrés Pérez was elected president, and though he had promised to oppose the International Monetary Fund's policies, once he got into office he enacted economic policies supported by the IMF, angering the public. In an attempt to stop widespread lootings and protests that followed his spending cuts, known as El Caracazo, Pérez initiated Plan Ávila, a military contingency plan by the Venezuelan Army to maintain public order, and an outbreak of violent repression unfolded. Though members of Chávez's MBR-200 movement allegedly participated in the crackdown, Chávez did not, since he was then hospitalized with chicken pox. He later condemned the event as "genocide".
250px|thumbnail|right|The San Carlos military stockade, where Chávez was held following the 1992 coup attempt
Chávez began preparing for a military coup d'état known as Operation Zamora. The plan involved members of the military overwhelming military locations and communication installations and then establishing Rafael Caldera in power once Pérez was captured and assassinated. Chávez delayed the MBR-200 coup, initially planned for December, until the early twilight hours of 4 February 1992. and fifty soldiers and some eighty civilians injured during the ensuing violence.
Chávez gave himself up to the government and appeared on television, in uniform, to call on the remaining coup members to lay down their arms. Chávez remarked in his speech that they had failed only "por ahora" (for now). Venezuelans, particularly poor ones, began seeing him as someone who stood up against government corruption and kleptocracy. The coup "flopped militarily—and dozens died—but made him a media star", noted Rory Carroll of The Guardian.
Chávez was arrested and imprisoned at the San Carlos military stockade, wracked with guilt and feeling responsible for the failure of the coup. Pro-Chávez demonstrations outside San Carlos led to his transfer to Yare Prison. Another unsuccessful coup against the government occurred in November, with the fighting during the coups resulting in the deaths of at least 143 people and perhaps as many as several hundred. Pérez was impeached a year later, charged with malfeasance and misappropriating funds.
Political rise
250px|thumbnail|right|Chávez speaking at an event in [[Buenos Aires in October 1995]]
While Chávez and the other senior members of the MBR-200 were in prison, his relationship with Herma Marksman broke up in July 1993. In 1994, Rafael Caldera (1916–2009) of the centrist National Convergence Party who allegedly had knowledge of the coup After his release, on 14 December 1994, Chávez visited Cuba during the Special Period, where he was received by Fidel Castro with head of state honors. During his visit, Chávez gave a speech at the Aula Magna of the University of Havana before Fidel and the Cuban high hierarchy where, among other things, he said "We have a long term strategic project, in which the Cubans have and would have much to contribute" and "it is a project of a twenty to forty year horizon, a sovereign economic model".
thumb|left|A 1997 image of MBR-200 members meeting ([[Nicolás Maduro is seen on the far left while Chávez is seen speaking in the center)]]
Travelling around Latin America in search of foreign support for his Bolivarian movement, he visited Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and Cuba, where he met Castro and became friends with him. According to journalist Patricia Poleo, during his stay in Colombia, he spent six months receiving guerrilla training and establishing contacts with the FARC and National Liberation Army (Colombia) Marxist guerrilla groups, and even adopted a nom de guerre Comandante Centeno.
By now Chávez was a supporter of taking military action, believing that the oligarchy would never allow him and his supporters to win an election. Chávez and his supporters later founded a political party, the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR – Movimiento Quinta República) in July 1997 to support Chávez's candidacy in the 1998 presidential election. Chávez went on a tour around the country. On his tours, he met Marisabel Rodríguez, who would give birth to their daughter shortly before becoming his second wife in 1997.
1998 election
thumb|A painted mural in support of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) found in [[Barcelona, Venezuela|Barcelona, Anzoátegui, Venezuela]]
At the start of the election run-up, front runner Irene Sáez was backed by one of Venezuela's two primary political parties, Copei. Chávez's revolutionary rhetoric gained him support from Patria Para Todos (Homeland for All), the Partido Comunista Venezolano (Venezuelan Communist Party) and the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism). Chávez received support from different sectors: the lower class felt that Chávez cared about their needs and would offer a solution to their problems; members of the middle class, frustrated with corruption and wishing for a strong-handed government, also supported; Chávez also received support from members of the old left,
Presidency (1999–2013)
First presidential term: 2 February 1999 – 10 January 2001
Chávez's presidential inauguration took place on 2 February 1999. He deviated from the usual words of the presidential oath when he took it, proclaiming: "I swear before God and my people that upon this moribund constitution I will drive forth the necessary democratic transformations so that the new republic will have a Magna Carta befitting these new times". Freedom in Venezuela suffered following "the decision of President Hugo Chávez, ratified in a national referendum, to abolish congress and the judiciary, and by his creation of a parallel government of military cronies". Soon after being established into office, Chávez spent much of his time attempting to abolish existing checks and balances in Venezuela. and highlighted that it "included few people with experience in public administration". Chávez appointed businessman Roberto Mandini president of the state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela.
Although Chávez did not believe "in this paradigm of the Western capitalist, bourgeois democratic world",, as he put it in 1998, he initially believed that capitalism was still a valid economic model for Venezuela, but only Rhenish capitalism, not neoliberalism. Low oil prices made Chavez's government reliant on international free markets during his first months in office, when he showed pragmatism and political moderation, and continued to encourage foreign investment in Venezuela. During a visit to the United States in 1999, he rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. His administration held formal talks with the International Monetary Fund until oil prices rose enough to let the government rule out the need for any financial assistance. Several scandals later affected the program as allegations of corruption were formulated against generals involved in the plan and that significant amounts of money had been diverted.
Constitutional reform
Chávez called a public referendum, which he hoped would support his plans to form a constituent assembly of representatives from across Venezuela and from indigenous tribal groups to rewrite the Venezuelan constitution. Chávez said he had to run again; "Venezuela's socialist revolution was like an unfinished painting and he was the artist", he said,
Chávez called an election on 25 July to elect the members of the constituent assembly. Over 900 of the 1,171 candidates standing for election were Chávez opponents. To elect the members of the assembly, Chávez used a formula designed by mathematical experts and politicians, known at the time as the kino (lottery) or the "keys of Chávez". Chávez obtained 51% of the votes, but his supporters took 95% of the seats, 125 in total, including all of the seats assigned to indigenous groups, while the opposition won six seats.
On 12 August 1999, the new constituent assembly voted to give themselves the power to abolish government institutions and to dismiss officials who were perceived as corrupt or as operating only in their own interests. Opponents of the Chávez regime argued that it was dictatorial. Most jurists believed that the new constituent assembly had become the country's "supreme authority" and that all other institutions were subordinate to it. The assembly also declared a "judicial emergency" and granted itself the power to overhaul the judicial system. The Supreme Court ruled that the assembly did indeed have this authority, and was replaced in the 1999 Constitution with the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. The constituent assembly put together a new constitution, The presidential term was extended to six years, and a president was allowed to serve for two consecutive terms. Previously, a sitting president could not run for reelection for 10 years after leaving office. It also replaced the bicameral Congress with a unicameral Legislative Assembly and gave the president the power to legislate on citizen rights, to promote military officers and to oversee economic and financial matters.
In May 2000 he launched his own Sunday morning radio show, Aló Presidente (Hello, President), on the state radio network. This followed an earlier Thursday night television show, De Frente con el Presidente (Face to Face with the President). He founded two newspapers, El Correo del Presidente (The President's Post), founded in July, for which he acted as editor-in-chief, and Vea (See), another newspaper, as well as Question magazine and Vive TV. In his television and radio shows, he answered calls from citizens, discussed his latest policies, sang songs and told jokes.
Second presidential term: 10 January 2001 – 10 January 2007
Under the new constitution, it was legally required that new elections be held in order to re-legitimize the government and president. This presidential election in July 2000 would be a part of a greater "megaelection", the first time in the country's history that the president, governors, national and regional congressmen, mayors and councilmen would be voted for on the same day. Going into the elections, Chávez had control of all three branches of government.
That year, Chávez improved ideological ties with the Cuban government of Fidel Castro by signing an agreement under which Venezuela would supply Cuba with 53,000 barrels of oil per day at preferential rates, in return receiving 20,000 trained Cuban medics and educators. In the ensuing decade, this would be increased to 90,000 barrels a day (in exchange for 40,000 Cuban medics and teachers), dramatically aiding the Caribbean island's economy and standard of living after its "Special Period" of the 1990s. However, Venezuela's growing alliance with Cuba came at the same time as a deteriorating relationship with the United States. Chávez opposed the 2001 American-led invasion of Afghanistan in response to the 11 September attacks against the U.S. by Islamist militants. In late 2001, Chávez showed pictures on his television show of children said to be killed in a bombing attack. He commented that "They are not to blame for the terrorism of Osama bin Laden or anyone else", called on the American government to end "the massacre of the innocents", and described the war as "fighting terrorism with terrorism." The U.S. government responded negatively to the comments, which were picked up by the media worldwide and recalled its ambassador for consultations.
thumb|left|Chávez's second term in office saw the implementation of social missions, such as this one to eliminate illiteracy in Venezuela.
Meanwhile, the 2000 elections had led to Chávez's supporters gaining 101 out of 165 seats in the Venezuelan National Assembly, and so in November 2001 they voted to allow him to pass 49 social and economic decrees. This move antagonized the opposition movement particularly strongly. At the start of the 21st century, Venezuela was the world's fifth largest exporter of crude oil, with oil accounting for 85% of the country's exports, therefore dominating the country's economy. Before the election of Chávez, the state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) ran autonomously, making oil decisions based on internal guidance to increase profits. Once he came to power, Chávez started directing PDVSA and effectively turned it into a direct government arm whose profits would be injected into social spending. By 2006, all of the 32 operating agreements signed with private companies during the 1990s had been converted from being primarily or privately run to being at least 51% controlled by PDVSA. Chávez had also removed many of the managers and executives of PDVSA and replaced them with political allies, stripping the state-owned company expertise.
Opposition and the Coordinadora Democrática
Much of Chávez's opposition originated from the response to the "cubanization" of Venezuela.
Later into 2001, an organization known as the ' (Democratic Coordinator, CD) was founded, under which the Venezuelan opposition political parties, corporate powers, most of the country's media, the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the Institutional Military Front and the Central Workers Union all united to oppose Chávez's regime. The prominent businessman Pedro Carmona (1941–) was chosen as the CD's leader. Anger with Chávez's decisions led to civil unrest in Venezuela, which culminated in an attempted coup. nineteen people were killed, and over 110 were wounded.
Chávez believed that the best way to stay in power was to implement Plan Ávila. Military officers, including General Raúl Baduel, a founder of Chávez's MBR-200, then decided that they had to pull support from Chávez to deter a massacre Carmona abolished the 1999 constitution and appointed a governing committee. Protests in support of Chávez along with insufficient support for Carmona's government quickly led to Carmona's resignation, and Chávez was returned to power on 14 April.
Chávez's response was to moderate his approach, implementing a new economic team that appeared to be more centrist and reinstated the old board of directors and managers of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), whose replacement had been one of the reasons for the coup. At the same time, the Bolivarian government began to increase the country's military capacity, purchasing 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles and several helicopters from Russia, as well as a number of Super Tucano light attack and training planes from Brazil. Troop numbers were also increased.
Chávez faced a two-month management strike at the PDVSA. The Chávez government's response was to fire about 19,000 striking employees for abandoning their posts and then employing retired workers, foreign contractors, and the military to do their jobs instead.
The firing of over 18,000 employees by Chávez damaged Venezuela's oil industry due to the loss of expertise.
"Socialism of the 21st century"
thumb|Hugo Chávez and Brazilian president [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva|Lula da Silva, 2005]]
In January 2005, Chávez began openly proclaiming the ideology of "socialism of the 21st century", something that was distinct from his earlier forms of Bolivarianism, which had been social democratic in nature, merging elements of capitalism and socialism. He used this new term to contrast the democratic socialism, which he wanted to promote in Latin America, from the Marxist–Leninist socialism that had been spread by socialist states like the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China during the 20th century, arguing that the latter had not been truly democratic, suffering from a lack of participatory democracy and an excessively authoritarian governmental structure.
In May 2006, Chávez visited Europe in a private capacity, where he announced plans to supply cheap Venezuelan oil to poor working class communities in the continent. The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone welcomed him, describing him as "the best news out of Latin America in many years."
Third presidential term: 10 January 2007 – 10 January 2013
thumb|upright=0.8|Chavez in Brazil, 2008
In the presidential election of December 2006, which saw a 77% voter turnout, Chávez was once more elected, this time with 63% of the vote, beating his closest challenger Manuel Rosales. The Organization of American States (OAS) and the Carter Center concluded that the election results were free and legitimate. After this victory, Chávez promised an "expansion of the revolution".
United Socialist Party of Venezuela and domestic policy
thumb|upright|left|Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans during the [[2007 Venezuelan protests demonstrating against Chávez's proposed constitutional referendum]]
On 15 December 2006, Chávez publicly announced that those leftist political parties which had continually supported him in the Patriotic Pole would unite into one single, much larger party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV). In the speech which he gave announcing the PSUV's creation, Chávez declared that the old parties must "forget their own structures, party colours and slogans, because they are not the most important thing for the fatherland".
thumb|The logo for the [[United Socialist Party of Venezuela|PSUV, Chávez's socialist political party founded in 2007 succeeding the Fifth Republic Movement]]
Chávez had initially proclaimed that those leftist parties which chose to not dissolve into the PSUV would have to leave the government. Party membership rose to 5.7 million people by 2007. The United Nations' International Labour Organization expressed concern over some voters' being pressured to join the party.
On 28 December 2006, President Chávez announced that the government would not renew RCTV's broadcast license which expired on 27 May 2007, thereby forcing the channel to cease operations on that day. On 17 May 2007, the government rejected a plea made by RCTV to stop the TV station's forced shutdown. Thousands of protesters marching both against and in support of the government's decision remained on the streets in Caracas. Other marches took place in Maracaibo and Valencia. On 26 May, tens of thousands of protesters marched in support of RCTV to their headquarters. Since the week prior to the shutdown of RCTV, many individuals, international organizations and NGOs—including the OAS's Secretary General José Miguel Insulza and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, the Inter American Press Association, Human Rights Watch, and the Committee to Protect Journalists— expressed concerns for freedom of the press following the shutdown. However, Secretary Insulza also stated that it was up to the Venezuelan courts to solve this dispute and that he believed that this was an administrative decision.
In 2007, the Bolivarian government set up a constitutional commission to review the 1999 constitution and suggest potential amendments to be made to it. Led by the prominent pro-Chávez intellectual Luis Britto García, it suggested measures that would have increased many of the president's powers, for instance increasing the presidential term limit to seven years, allowing the president to run for election indefinitely and centralizing powers in the executive. The government put the suggested changes to a public referendum in December 2007. Abstention rate was high however, with 44% of registered voters not turning out, and in the end the proposed changes were rejected by 51% of votes. This would prove to the first electoral loss that Chávez had faced in the thirteen electoral contests held since he took power, due to the top-down nature of the changes, as well as general public dissatisfaction with "the absence of internal debate on its content, as well as dissatisfaction with the running of the social programmes, increasing street crime, and with corruption within the government".
In mid 2010, tons of rotten food supplies imported during Chávez's government through subsidies of state-owned enterprise PDVAL were found. Due to the scandal, PDVAL started being administrated by the Vice President of Venezuela and afterwards by the Alimentation Ministry. Three former managers were detained, but were released afterwards and two of them had their positions restored. In July 2010, official estimates stated that 130,000 tons of food supplies were affected, while the political opposition informed of 170,000 tons. The most accepted explanation of the loss of food supplies is the organization of PDVAL, because the food network allegedly imported supplies faster than what it could distribute them. The opposition considers the affair as a corrupt case and spokespeople have assured that the public officials deliberately imported more food that could be distributed to embezzle funds through the import of subsidized supplies.
During an address on Chávez's birthday in 2011, he called on the middle classes and the private sector to get more involved in his Bolivarian Revolution, something he saw as "vital" to its success.
In August of 2011, Chávez announced that his government would nationalize Venezuela's gold industry, taking it over from Russian-controlled company Rusoro, while at the same time also moving the country's gold stocks, which were largely stored in western banks, to banks in allied countries such as Russia, China and Brazil.
To ensure that his Bolivarian Revolution became socially ingrained in Venezuela, Chávez discussed his wish to stand for re-election when his term ran out in 2013, and spoke of ruling beyond 2030. Under the 1999 constitution, he could not legally stand for re-election again, and so brought about a referendum on 15 February 2009 to abolish the two-term limit for all public offices, including the presidency. Approximately 70% of the Venezuelan electorate voted, and they approved this alteration to the constitution with over 54% in favor, allowing any elected official the chance to try to run indefinitely.
250px|thumb|Chávez (far right) with fellow Latin American leftist presidents in 2009 (from left to right: Paraguay's [[Fernando Lugo, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Brazil's Lula da Silva and Ecuador's Rafael Correa)]]
Fourth presidential term: 10 January 2013 – 5 March 2013
On 7 October 2012, Chávez won election as president for a fourth time, his third six-year term. He defeated Henrique Capriles with 54% of the votes versus 45% for Capriles, which was a lower victory margin than in his previous presidential wins, in the 2012 Venezuelan presidential election. Turnout in the election was 80%, with a hotly contested election between the two candidates. There was significant support for Chávez among the Venezuelan lower class. Chávez's opposition blamed him for unfairly using state funds to spread largesse before the election to bolster Chavez's support among his primary electoral base, the lower class.
Acting executive officials produced orders of government signed by Chávez, which were suspected of forgery by some opposition politicians, who claimed that Chávez was too sick to be in control of his faculties. Guillermo Cochez, recently dismissed from the office of Panamanian ambassador to the Organization of American States, even claimed that Chávez had been brain dead since 31 December 2012.
Due to the death of Chávez, Vice President Nicolás Maduro took over the presidential powers and duties for the remainder of Chávez's abbreviated term until presidential elections were held. Venezuela's constitution specifies that the speaker of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, should assume the interim presidency if a president cannot be sworn in. Maduro remained in power as president until being deposed in 2026.
International trips
1999
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! align="center" | Main purpose
|-
| 6–9 September
| align="center" | ()
| Private visit to President Bill Clinton (as president-elect).
|-
| align="center" | 21 September
| align="center" | New York <br> ()
| United Nations General Assembly.
|-
| align="center" rowspan="2" | Late September
| align="center" | ()
|
|-
| align="center" | ()
|
|-
| align="center" | 13–14 October
| align="center" | ()
| Presidential tour of Asia.
|-
| align="center" | 15 October
| align="center" | ()
| Presidential tour of Asia. First visit by a Venezuelan president to the country.
|-
| align="center" | 21 October
| align="center" | ()
| Presidential tour of Asia.
|-
| August
|
| Doha
| 2nd summit of heads of state of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
|-
| 12 August
|
| Jakarta
| Working visit.
|-
| 14 August
|
| Tripoli
| Meeting with leader Muammar Gaddafi.
|-
| 20 November
| ()
|
| Tour of Central America.
|}
2001
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! Main purpose
|-
| 18–21 May
| ()
|
|-
| 24 October
| London <br> ()
| Visit to Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
|-
|
| align="center" | Dhaka <br> ()
| (First official visit by a Venezuelan president to Bangladesh)
|-
|
| ()
|
|}
2002
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! Main purpose
|-
| 18 March
| Monterrey
()
| Monterrey Consensus, International Conference on Financing for Development.
|-
| 15 October
| Paris
()
| Official tour in Europe, visit to President Jacques Chirac.
|}
thumb|300x300px|Iranian president [[Mohammad Khatami with Chávez during his official visit to Tehran in 2004.]]
thumb|313x313px|Meeting between Hugo Chávez and Indian prime minister [[Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, 2005.]]
thumb|300x300px|Hugo Chávez, [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva|Lula da Silva and Néstor Kirchner meeting at Granja do Torto, the official residence of the president of Brazil, in 2006.]]
thumb|300x300px|Meeting between Chávez and Vladimir Putin in 2007.
2004
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! align="center" | Main purpose
|-
| Mid-February
| Georgetown
()
| Official visit.
|-
| 28–29 May
| Guadalajara
()
| 3rd Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit
|-
| 6 November
| Havana
()
| Meeting with President Fidel Castro
|-
| 22 November
| Madrid
()
| Meeting with Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
|-
|
| ()
|
|-
| 11 March
|
| Valparaíso
| Presidential inauguration of Michelle Bachelet.
|-
| 14 May
|
| London
| Three-day private visit, including meeting with mayor Ken Livingstone.
|-
| 18–19 May
|
| Tripoli
| Meeting with Muammar Gaddafi
|-
| 30 May
|
| Quito
| Lunch with President Alfredo Palacio
|-
| July
|
| Hanoi
| Signing of an energy cooperation agreement
|-
| Late July
|
|
|
|-
| 30 August
|
| Damascus
| Meeting with President Bashar al-Assad
|-
| August
| ()
|
|
|-
| 20 September
|
| New York City
| Guest at the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly.
|-
|
|
| Minsk
| Meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko
|}
2007
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! Areas visited
! align="center" | Main purpose
|-
| 15 January
|
| Quito
| Guest at the presidential inauguration of Rafael Correa
|-
| 11 March
|
| La Paz
| Meeting with President Evo Morales
|-
| 13 March
|
| Managua
| Meeting with President Daniel Ortega
|-
| Early August
|
|
| Signing of an agreement for the sale of liquefied gas, purchase of Argentine bonds.
|-
| 8–10 November
|
| Santiago de Chile
| Guest at the 17th Ibero-American Summit.
|-
| November
|
| Paris
| Kidnapping of French-Colombian hostage Íngrid Betancourt by the FARC.
|-
| 17–18 December
|
| Montevideo
| Meeting with President Tabaré Vázquez
|}
2008
thumb|[[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at a press conference with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.]]
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! Areas visited
! align="center" | Main purpose
|-
| align="center" | 14 January
| align="center" |
| Tegucigalpa
| Meeting with President Manuel Zelaya
|-
| align="center" | 13 September
| align="center" |
| Hanoi
| Working visit.
|-
| align="center" | 27 September
| align="center" |
| Paris
| International tour, visit to President Nicolas Sarkozy.
|-
| 7–18 December
| ()
| Copenhagen
| Guest at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
|-
| 10 December
|
| Buenos Aires
| Meeting with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
|-
|
| ()
|
|
|}
thumb|300x300px|Hugo Chávez and Ecuadorian president [[Rafael Correa at the Carondelet Palace, 2010.]]
2010
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! Areas visited
! align="center" | Main purpose
|-
| 22–23 February
|
| Playa del Carmen
| Guest at the Latin American and Caribbean Unity Summit
|-
| 18 October
|
| Tehran
| Review of bilateral relations, including energy cooperation.
|-
| 22 October
|
| Tripoli
| Meeting with leader Muammar Gaddafi
|-
| October
|
| Moscow
|
|}
2011
thumb|300x300px|Brazilian president [[Dilma Rousseff and Hugo Chávez in Brasília, 2011.]]
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! align="center" | Place
! Areas visited
! align="center" | Main purpose
|-
| 29 March
|
| Montevideo
| Meeting with President José Mujica
|-
| 31 March
|
| Cochabamba
| Meeting with President Evo Morales
|-
| 7 June
|
| Quito
| Meeting with President Rafael Correa
|-
| 16 July
|
| Havana
| Medical treatment for cancer.
|-
| 18 October
|
| Tehran
| Review of bilateral relations, including energy cooperation.
|-
| 9 December
|
| Havana
| Surgery for a cancerous tumour (fourth overall).
|}
Political ideology
Chávez was described as a leftist, with one journal stating that he was "billed as the hemisphere's second leftist leader after Cuba's Fidel Castro." In a 1996 interview, Chávez stated "I am not Marxist, but I am not anti-Marxist. I am not communist, but I am not anti-communist." In 1999, Chávez told the New York Times that "If you are attempting to determine whether Chavez is of the left, right, or center, if he is socialist, Communist, or capitalist, well, I am none of those, but I have a bit of all of those." In a 1998 interview, Chávez stated that "I am not a socialist. I believe that today's world, Latin America and the world to come require a leap forward. We are going beyond socialism and even savage capitalism."