Hugo Rafael
Chávez Frías (Sabaneta de Barinas, July 28, 1954) is aimed at the Military
Academy in August 1971, persuaded by the idea that this could leave his
hometown and move to the capital, Caracas, where they strive to capture the
attention of a talent scout American League baseball. He wanted to be a
pitcher. And it was, in his class yearbook, the first of Graduates in Military
Arts and Sciences from Venezuela, is remembered as the lefty Fury, "the
best pitcher" Army and "excellent first base." Along with his
military career and, under the tutelage of his brother Adam, began to be
associated with left-wing political movements and weaving conspiracies to unseat
the two-party system and take power. Two of his dreams had come true when he
could throw the first pitch of a game at the old Shea Stadium in New York Mets,
six months after becoming President of Venezuela.
Once in office, his first act was to cancel a
National Constituent Assembly. During the first year of his administration
include the consensus of the middle class and poor, business groups, the
majority of leftist political parties and media.The constitution drafted and approved by this Assembly in 1999 established, in other reforms, the change of name of the republic, the creation of the Moral Power and the Electoral Authority, the housing and labor warranty for all Venezuelans, the extension of the presidential term five to six years and the requirement that all powers were re-legitimization in the following months. In elections for the re-legitimization, the July 30, 2000, Chávez was elected president for the second time with 59.76%. His party also won a majority in Parliament and most chose this, in turn, to the members of the three remaining powers: the judiciary, the Moral and Electoral.The elections were not clear.
What bothered beforehand opposition Chavez character and its form of government, became intolerable between 2000 and 2002: his constant speeches on "national chain" radio and television, dressed in military uniform, his surprise decision, unilateral, the disqualification of those who were rivals. In December 2001, the President ordered a set of 49 laws that increased the power of the state, was in as special legislative powers through an Enabling Law that passed the government majority in Parliament. On April 7, 2002, dismissed on TV, live, the entire top management of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, which operates and markets crude is financed with more than 60% of the country's budget. All this led to a schism between the first rows of Chavez. The country was then divided into two poles, , and what followed was a long street protests.
On April 11, 2002, thousands of Venezuelans marched on Miraflores Palace to demand the resignation of the President. There were dead and wounded. The day ended in a coup that ousted Chavez for 48 hours, run by the military high command and the country's business elite. On the 13th, a group of officers loyal to the government rescued the president of the island where he was taken prisoner by the rebels.
In December of that year, federations of employers and workers in the country called for a general strike. The country was paralyzed for several months: closed schools, there were shortages of food and fuel, and ships carrying Venezuelan oil were berthed at sea.
Gradually, the government was able to take control of the situation and thereafter, Chavez was persuaded of the need to control all "strategic sectors" of the nation's oil industry, production and marketing of food, telecommunications, and utilities. The coup of 2002 and the general strike were granted the opportunity to empty of opponents both the National Armed Forces as PDVSA, the company that drives the local economy. In 2003, threatened by the call for a recall referendum against him, created the "Bolivarian Missions" Barrio Adentro, Robinson, Sucre: a set of social programs dedicated to primary health care and education for the poor, since then became the flag of his Government. When the day of the referendum, in August 2004, Chavez again devastate, with 59.10% of the votes.
While Chavez was consolidating its domestic political power, the country experienced an oil boom comparable to the seventies of the twentieth century, a period remembered as the "Saudi Venezuela", when Carlos Andres Perez was in his first term. Between 2005 and 2008, a barrel of Venezuelan crude was quoted at over $ 124. Oil money enabled a sustained public spending and contributed to oil the personal leadership of Hugo Chavez in Latin America. Since then, regardless of how the product is quoted on the world market, Venezuela sells oil to friendly countries at a fixed price of $ 40 per barrel, payable in installments, with a 1% interest, and the countries of the region hostile its policy, except the United States, has come to cut off the supply.
Over the years, Hugo Chavez was extending the deadline to leave the presidency of Venezuela. "You know, I'm going in 2021," he said when he was elected for an initial period of five years and then was further postponed the date: "... until 2031", "... to 2049", "... until God gives me life. " In February 2009, Chavez promoted a constitutional amendment, which was approved by popular referendum and established, among other reforms, the presidential term. This allowed him to stand for election of October 7, 2012, he won with 55.07% of the vote, with the expectation of government until 2019 and complete a period of 20 consecutive years in office.
Only managed disease disrupts their plans. In June 2011, the president-commander was diagnosed with cancer and gone since then, four surgeries and months of chemo and radiation treatments. While his convalescence lasted, refused to reveal the details of his illness and fully delegate their power. Just when he thought his death imminent, the Government temporarily entrusted to his vice president and foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, and asked "heart" to his followers he was elected president in case he could no longer hold the reins of the revolution.
Hugo Rafael
Chavez Frias was the second of six children, the son of schoolteachers Hugo de
los Reyes Chávez and Elena Frías and father of Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela,
and Hugo Alejandro Rosines. All survive him.
