هوګو چاوېز

From Wikipedia

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías
53rd President of Venezuela
Affiliation(s)	Fifth Republic Movement
Term(s)	February 2, 1999 – April 12, 2002; April 13, 2002 – Present
Vice President	José Vicente Rangel

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (English IPA: ['ugo(ʊ) ˌɹɑfe(ɪ)'ɛl 'tʃɑbɪz 'fɹiɪs]; Spanish IPA: ['uɣo rafa'el 'tʃaβes 'fɾias]; born July 28, 1954) is the 53^rd[1] and current President of Venezuela. As the leader of the "Bolivarian Revolution", Chávez is known for his democratic socialist governance, his promotion of Latin American integration, and his criticism — which he terms anti-imperialism — of neoliberal globalization and United States foreign policy.^[2]

A career military officer, Chávez founded the leftist Fifth Republic Movement after a failed 1992 coup d'état. Chávez was elected President in 1998^[3] on promises of aiding Venezuela's poor majority, and reelected in 2000.^[4] Domestically, Chávez has launched massive Bolivarian Missions to combat disease, illiteracy, malnutrition, poverty, and other social ills. Abroad, Chávez has acted against the Washington Consensus by supporting alternative models of economic development, and has advocated cooperation among the world's poor nations, especially those in Latin America.

Chávez has been severely criticized, mostly by Venezuela's middle class and upper classes. He has been accused of electoral fraud, human rights violations, and political repression,^[5][6][7] and has survived both a brief 2002 coup and a failed 2004 recall referendum.^[8][9][10] Whether viewed as a socialist liberator or an authoritarian demagogue, Chávez remains one of the most complex, controversial, and high-profile figures in modern Latin American politics.

[سمادول] پخوانی ژوند (1954–1992)

Main articles: Early life of Hugo Chávez and Military career of Hugo Chávez

Chávez was born the second son of poor schoolteachers Hugo de los Reyes Chávez and Elena Frías de Chávez in Sabaneta, Barinas. Of mixed Amerindian, African, and Spanish descent, Chávez and his five siblings were raised in a thatched palm leaf house. Later, Chávez and his older brother went to live with paternal grandmother Rosa Inés Chávez in Sabaneta proper. After elementary school, Chávez relocated to Barinas to attend the Daniel Florencio O'Leary School; he graduated with a science degree.^[11]

At the age of seventeen, Chávez enrolled at the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences. After graduating in 1975 as a sub-lieutenant with master's degrees in military science and engineering, Chávez entered military service for several months. He was then allowed to pursue graduate studies in political science at Caracas' Simón Bolívar University, but left without a degree. Over the course of his college years, Chávez and fellow students developed a fervently left-nationalist doctrine that they termed "Bolivarianism", inspired by the Pan-Americanist philosophies of 19th-century Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar, the influence of Peruvian dictator Juan Velasco, and the teachings of various socialist and communist leaders. Chávez engaged in sporting events and cultural activities during these years as well. Notably, Chávez played both baseball and softball with the Criollitos de Venezuela, progressing with them to the Venezuelan National Baseball Championships in 1969. Chávez also authored numerous poems, stories and theatrical pieces.^[11]

Upon completing his studies, Chávez initially entered active-duty military service as a member of a counter-insurgency battalion stationed in Barinas. Chávez's military career lasted 17 years, during which time he held a variety of post, command, and staff positions, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Chávez also held a series of teaching and staffing positions at the Military Academy of Venezuela, where he was first acknowledged by his peers for his fiery lecturing style and unusually radical critique of Venezuelan government and society.^[12] At this time, Chávez established the Bolivarian Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200). Afterward, he rose to fill a number of sensitive high-level positions in Caracas and was decorated several times.^[11]

[سمادول] Coup attempt (1992)

Main article: 1992 Venezuelan coup attempt of Hugo Chávez

After an extended period of popular dissatisfaction and economic decline ^[13] under the neoliberal administration of Carlos Andrés Pérez, Chávez made extensive preparations for a military-civilian coup d'état ^[14] Initially planned for December, Chávez delayed the MBR-200 coup until the early twilight hours of February 4, 1992. On that date, five army units under Chávez's command barreled into urban Caracas with the mission of assaulting and overwhelming key military and communications installations throughout the city, including the Miraflores presidential palace, the defense ministry, La Carlota military airport, and the Historical Museum. Chávez's ultimate goal was to intercept and take custody of Pérez before he returned to Miraflores from an overseas trip.

Chávez held the loyalty of some 10% of Venezuela's military forces;^[15] still, numerous betrayals, defections, errors, and other unforeseen circumstances soon left Chávez and a small group of other rebels completely cut off in the Historical Museum, without any means of conveying orders to their network of spies and collaborators spread throughout Venezuela.^[16] Worse, Chávez's allies were unable to broadcast their prerecorded tapes on the national airwaves in which Chávez planned to issue a general call for a mass civilian uprising against Pérez. As the coup unfolded, Pérez eluded capture, and fourteen soldiers were killed, and fifty soldiers and some eighty civilians injured, in the ensuing violence.^[17] Nevertheless, rebel forces in other parts of Venezuela made swift advances and were ultimately able to take control of such large cities as Valencia, Maracaibo, and Maracay with the help of spontaneous civilian aid. Chávez's forces, however, had failed to take Caracas.^[18]

Chávez, alarmed, soon gave himself up to the government. He was then allowed to appear on national television to call for all remaining rebel detachments in Venezuela to cease hostilities. When he did so, Chávez famously quipped on national television that he had only failed "por ahora"—"for the moment".^[19] Chávez was immediately catapulted into the national spotlight, with many poor Venezuelans seeing him as a figure who had stood up against government corruption and kleptocracy.^[19][2] Afterwards, Chávez was sent to Yare prison; meanwhile, Pérez, the coup's intended target, was impeached a year later. While in prison, Chávez developed a carnosity of the eye, which spread to his iris. The clarity of his eyesight was slowly corrupted; despite treatments and operations, Chávez's eyesight was permanently weakened.^[20]

[سمادول] Political rise (1992–1999)

Main article: Venezuelan presidential election, 1998

After a two-year imprisonment, Chávez was pardoned by President Rafael Caldera in 1994. Upon his release, Chávez immediately reconstituted the MBR-200 as the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR—Movimiento Quinta República, with the V representing the Roman numeral five). Later, in 1998, Chávez began to campaign for the presidency. In working to gain the trust of voters, Chávez drafted an agenda that drew heavily on his philosophy of Bolivarianism. Chávez thus campaigned on an anti-corruption and anti-poverty platform, while pledging to dismantle puntofijismo, the traditional two-party patronage system.^[14][21] Controversially, foreign banks — including Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Banco Santander, each the owner of one of Venezuela's largest banks — illicitly funneled millions of dollars into Chávez's campaign.^[22][23]

Another of Chávez' first controversial steps was to invite former military dictator Perez Jimenez for his presidential inauguration. Perez Jimenez finally did not go to Venezuela as there was still a charge against him for murder.

Chávez utilized his charisma and flamboyant public speaking style—noted for its abundance of colloquialisms and aggressive manner—on the campaign trail to win the trust and favor of a primarily poor and working class following. By May 1998, Chávez's support had risen to 30% in polls, and by August he was registering 39%. Chávez went on to win the Carter Center-endorsed 1998 presidential election on December 6, 1998 with 56.2% of the vote.^[14][3]

[سمادول] Presidency (1999–present)

Main article: Presidency of Hugo Chávez

Chávez's first presidential inauguration in 1999 led to widespread transformation and turmoil. Venezuelan society under Chávez has seen sweeping and radical shifts in social policy, moving away from the government officially embracing a free market economy and neoliberal reform principles and towards quasi-socialist income redistribution and social welfare programs. Chávez has just as radically upended Venezuela's traditional foreign policy. Instead of continuing Venezuela's past support for U.S. and European strategic interests, Chávez has promoted alternative development and integration paradigms for the Global South.

Chávez holds up a miniature copy of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution at the 2005 World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Chávez's reforms have drawn both critical acclaim and bitter condemnation. He has alienated some upper and middle class Venezuelans, who have reported political repression and human rights violations under his rule. The controversy surrounding Chávez's policies spawned a transitory 2002 overthrow of Chávez, a 2004 recall attempt, and rumors and allegations regarding foreign conspiracies to overthrow Chávez via additional military coups, assassination attempts, and even military invasions. Nevertheless, Chávez remains a powerful figure in modern politics and a focal point for growing international resistance to the Washington Consensus and United States foreign policy.

[سمادول] 1999

Chávez was sworn in as president on February 2, 1999. Among his first acts was the launching of Plan Bolivar 2000, which included road building, housing construction, and mass vaccination.^[24] Chávez also halted planned privatizations of, among others, the national social security system, aluminum industry holdings, and the oil sector.^[25] Nevertheless, Chávez also sought foreign direct investment to prevent chronic capital flight and monetary inflation. Chávez also reduced oil extraction, seeking to gain more revenues from the resulting higher oil prices and lobbying OPEC to do likewise. Chávez also attempted renegotiation of decades-old agreements with Philips Petroleum and ExxonMobil^[26] seeking to gain more royalties. He also overhauled the formerly lax tax collection and auditing system — especially regarding major corporations and landholders — by increasing its fairness and efficiency.

Responding to repeated blockage of his movement's legislation by anti-Chávez opposition members of the National Assembly, Chávez scheduled two fresh national elections for July 1999, including a referendum for and elections to fill a new constitutional assembly. The Constitutional Assembly was created when the referendum passed with a 71.78% "yes" vote, while the pro-Chávez Polo Patriotico ("Patriotic Pole") won 95% (120 out of the total 131) of its seats. In August 1999, the Constitutional Assembly's "Judicial Emergency Committee" declared a "legislative emergency" whereby a seven-member committee conducted the National Assembly's functions; meanwhile, the National Assembly was prohibited from holding meetings.^[27] The Constitutional Assembly drafted the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution, which included an increase in the presidential term from five to six years, a new presidential two-term limit, and a new provision for presidential recall elections, expanded presidential powers (including the power to dissolve the National Assembly), conversion of the bicameral National Assembly into a weakened unicameral legislature, merit-based appointments of judges, and creation of the Public Defender, an office authorized to regulate the activities of the presidency and the National Assembly. Chávez styled the new Public Defender as guardian of the government's "moral branch", tasked with defending public and moral interests. In December 1999, the new constitution was approved in a nationwide election with a 71.78% "yes" vote.

[سمادول] 2000–2001

Main article: Venezuelan presidential election, 2000

Elections for the new unicameral National Assembly were held on July 30, 2000. During this same election, Chávez himself stood for reelection. Chávez's coalition garnered a commanding two-thirds majority of seats in the National Assembly while Chávez was reelected with 60% of the votes. The Carter Center monitored the 2000 presidential election; their report on that election stated that, due to lack of transparency, CNE partiality, and political pressure from the Chávez government that resulted in unconstitutionally early elections, it was unable to validate the official CNE results.^[4] Later, on December 3, 2000, local elections and a referendum were held. The referendum, backed by Chávez, proposed a law that would force Venezuela's labor unions to hold state-monitored elections. The referendum was widely condemned by international labor organizations—including the International Labour Organization — as undue government interference in internal union matters; these organizations threatened to apply sanctions on Venezuela.^[28]

After the May and July 2000 elections, Chávez backed the passage of the "Enabling Act" by the National Assembly. This act allowed Chávez to rule by decree for one year. In November 2001, shortly before the Enabling Act was set to expire, Chávez enacted a set of 49 decrees. These included the Hydrocarbons Law and the Land Law, which are detailed below. Fedecámaras, a national business federation, opposed the new laws and called for a general business strike on December 10, 2001. The strike failed to significantly impact Chávez's policies, however. By the end of the first three years of his presidency, Chávez's main policy concerns had successfully challenged the Venezuelan oligarchy's control over Venezuela's land, and introduced reforms aimed at improving the social welfare of the population by lowering infant mortality rates, introducing land reform, and implementing a cursory government-funded free healthcare system and education up to university level.^[26] By December of 2001, Chávez's capital-control policies had reduced inflation from 40% to 12% while generating 4% economic growth. His administration also reported an increase in primary school enrollment by one million students.^[26]

[سمادول] 2002

Main article: Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002

On April 11, 2002, some 500,000 anti-Chávez demonstrators marched to Miraflores and clashed with pro-Chávez demonstrators there. Alarmed, Chávez commandeered the airwaves in the early afternoon, asking protesters to return to their homes, playing pre-recorded speeches, and attempting a blackout of coverage on the violence. Then, army commander-in-chief Lucas Rincón Romero reported in a nationwide broadcast that Chávez had resigned from the presidency. Chávez was then held at a military base while coup leaders appointed Fedecámaras president Pedro Carmona as interim president. Carmona's first decree reversed all of the major social and economic policies that comprised Chávez's "Bolivarian Revolution", including loosening Chávez's credit controls and ending his oil price quotas by raising production back to pre-Chávez levels. Carmona also dissolved both the National Assembly and the Venezuelan judiciary, while reverting the nation's name back to República de Venezuela. Pro-Chávez demonstrations then erupted across Caracas. In response, pro-Chávez troops led a counter-coup and freed Chávez from captivity.^[29]

Chávez resumed as president on the night of April 13, 2002 and initiated several investigations whose results supported Chávez's assertions that the coup was U.S.-sponsored.^[30][26] Chávez also replaced the upper echelons of the military command and boosted benefits for veterans and started new civilian-military development programs. Chávez, seeking more funds for social programs, moved in late 2002 to bring PDVSA under greater government control. In response, for two months following December 2, 2002, resistant PDVSA managers and many workers attempted to halt oil extraction and export. Resulting hydrocarbon shortages and loss of oil revenues put pressure on Chávez's government. Chávez answered by sacking PDVSA's management together with some 18,000 workers, resulting in a production rebound over subsequent months.

[سمادول] 2003–2004

Main article: Venezuelan recall referendum, 2004

In 2003, Chávez created Mission Guaicaipuro (October 12, 2003), Mission Robinson (July 2003), Mission Sucre (late 2003), and Mission Ribas (November 2003). In July 2004, speaking to 50,000 formerly illiterate Mission Robinson beneficiaries, Chávez stated that "it was truly a world record: in a year, we have graduated 1,250,000 Venezuelans". Additionally, the inflation rate eased from 31% (2002) to 27% (2003). In contrast, setbacks included a putative 2004 coup attempt, whose significance stirred controversy.^[31]

In 2003–2004, the opposition collected millions of signatures, attempting repeatedly to activate the 1999 Constitution's presidential recall provision.^[32] After riots and allegations of government blacklisting of petition signers and anti-Chávez employers' coercion of workers into signing petitions, a 2,436,830-signature petition was accepted by the CNE and a recall referendum was announced on June 8, 2004. The August 15, 2004 vote saw a record turnout. With a 59.25% "no" vote, the recall measure was defeated.^[33][8][34] The opposition alleged electoral fraud.

[سمادول] 2004–present

After his referendum victory, Chávez used Venezuela's increasing oil revenues — from rises in world oil prices — to focus on expanding social programs. Economic growth also picked up markedly, reaching double-digit growth in 2004 and a projected 8% growth rate for 2005. In late March 2005, the Chávez government criminalized broadcast libel and slander directed against public officials, including prison sentences of up to 40 months for serious cases. Yet, when asked if he would ever impose such penalties, Chávez stated that "I don't care if they [the private media] call me names.... As Don Quixote said, 'If the dogs are barking, it is because we are working.'"^[35] Chávez also expanded social programs via new Missions: Mission Vuelta al Campo, phases II and III of Mission Barrio Adentro, and Mission Miranda.

Chávez embraces Argentinian President Néstor Kirchner during the closing of a July 2004 joint press conference held in Venezuela (Office of the Argentine Presidency).

Chávez's foreign policy included humanitarian aid, construction projects, and other agreements with Argentina's Nestor Kirchner, China's Hu Jintao, Cuba's Fidel Castro, and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On March 4, 2005, Chávez publicly declared that the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) was "dead". Chávez also stated his desire for the establishment of a Latin American analogue of NATO. At Chávez's direction, the military also began shifting armaments procurements to non-U.S. sources, including Brazil, China, Russia, and Spain. Meanwhile, Chávez ordered all active-duty U.S. soldiers to leave Venezuela. In 2005, he created the 1.5 million-strong Mission Miranda "military reserve" program.^[36] In October 2005, Chávez banished the "New Tribes Mission" from the country, accusing it of "imperialist infiltration" and collaboration with the CIA.^[37] Chávez's government also gave Amazonian indigenous peoples inalienable titles to 6,800 km² of lands and launched Mission Guaicaipuro.

At a graduation ceremony at Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine on August 20, 2005, Chávez announced the joint establishment of a tuition-free medical school, including 30,000 planned slots for poor students.^[38] During his speech at the 2005 UN World Summit, Chávez again denounced neoliberalism and warned of hydrocarbon depletion.^[39] At the November 7, 2005 Mar del Plata Fourth Summit of the Americas, Chávez hailed the stalling of the FTAA proposal and stated that "the taste of victory" was at hand regarding the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, started by Venezuela and Cuba on December 14, 2004.^[40]

[سمادول] Political impact

[سمادول] Labor

Chávez has had a combative relationship with the nation's largest trade union confederation, the Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV), which is historically aligned with the Acción Democrática party. During the December 2000 local elections, Chávez placed a referendum measure on the ballot that would mandate state-monitored elections within unions. The measure, which was condemned by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) as undue interference in internal union matters, passed by a large margin on a very low electoral turnout. In the ensuing CTV elections, Carlos Ortega declared his victory and remained in office as CTV president, while Chavista (pro-Chávez) candidates declared fraud.

The Unión Nacional de los Trabajadores (UNT — "National Union of Workers"), a new pro-Chávez union federation, formed in response, and has been growing in membership; it seeks to ultimately supplant the CTV. Several Chavista unions have withdrawn from the CTV because of their strident anti-Chávez activism, and have instead affiliated with the UNT. In 2003, Chávez chose to send UNT, rather than CTV, representatives to an annual ILO meeting.

At the request of its workers, Chávez nationalized Venepal, a formerly closed paper and cardboard manufacturing firm, on January 19, 2005. Workers had occupied the factory floor and restarted production, but following a failed deal with management and amidst management threats to liquidate the firm's equipment, Chávez ordered the nationalization, extended a line of credit to the workers, and ordered that the Venezuelan educational missions purchase more paper products from the company.

[سمادول] Economy

Main article: Bolivarian Missions

Venezuela is a major producer of oil products, which remain the keystone of the Venezuelan economy. Chávez has gained a reputation as a price hawk in OPEC by pushing for stringent enforcement of production quotas and higher target oil prices. He has also attempted to broaden Venezuela's customer base, striking joint exploration deals with other developing countries, including Argentina, Brazil, China and India. Record oil prices have meant more funding for social programs, but have left the economy increasingly dependent on both the Chávez government and the oil sector; the private sector's role has correspondingly diminished. Despite the high government income, official unemployment figures have remained above 11%.^[41]

Chavéz attends the Arab-South America Summit held on May 5, 2005 in Brasília, Brazil. He is flanked by Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati (Agência Brasil).

Chávez has redirected the focus of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Venezuela's state-owned oil company, by bringing it more closely under the direction of the Energy Ministry. He has also attempted to repatriate more oil funds to Venezuela by raising royalty percentages on joint extraction contracts that are payable to Venezuela. Chávez has also explored the liquidation of some or all of the assets belonging to PDVSA's U.S.-based subsidiary, CITGO. The oil ministry has been successful in restructuring CITGO's profit structure,^[42] resulting in large increases in dividends and income taxes from PDVSA. In 2005, CITGO announced the largest dividend payment to PDVSA in over a decade, $400 million. Yet despite massive efforts to increase production, daily oil production is still well short of the levels attained under the previous administration.

Chávez's domestic policy is embodied by the Bolivarian Missions, a series of social justice programs that have radically altered the economic and cultural landscape of Venezuela. Although recent economic activity under Chávez has been robust under these programs,^[43][44] per-capita GDP in 2004 has dropped around 1% from 1999 levels.^[45][46] However, as of September 2005, there have also been significant drops since 1999 in unemployment^[47] and in the government's definition of "poverty",^[48] and there have been marked improvements in national health indicators between 1998 and 2005.^[49][45]

Aims of the Bolivarian Missions have included the launching of massive government anti-poverty initiatives,^[50][51] the construction of thousands of free medical clinics for the poor,^[52] the institution of educational campaigns that have reportedly made more than one million adult Venezuelans literate,^[53][54] and the enactment of food^[55] and housing subsidies.^[56] The Missions have overseen widespread state-supported experimentation in citizen- and worker-managed governance,^[57][58] as well as the granting of thousands of free land titles to formerly landless poor and indigenous communities.^[59] In contrast, several large landed estates and factories have been, or are in the process of being, expropriated.

[سمادول] Foreign affairs

Main article: Foreign policy of Hugo Chávez

Chávez has refocused Venezuelan foreign policy on Latin American economic and social integration by enacting bilateral trade and reciprocal aid agreements, including his "oil diplomacy".^[60][61] Examples include PetroCaribe, Petrosur, and Telesur. Bilateral trade relationships with other Latin American countries have also played a major role in his policy, with Chávez increasing arms purchases from Brazil, forming oil-for-expertise trade arrangements with Cuba,^[62] funding an approximately $300 million ex gratia oil pipeline built to provide discounted natural gas to Colombia,^[63] and initiating barter arrangements that, among other things, exchange Venezuelan petroleum for cash-strapped Argentina's meat and dairy products. Additionally, Chávez worked closely with other Latin American leaders following the 1997 Summit of the Americas in many areas — especially energy integration — and championed the OAS decision to adopt the Anti-Corruption Convention. Chávez's government also participates in the United Nations Friends groups for Haiti, and is pursuing efforts to join and engage the Mercosur trade bloc to expand the hemisphere's trade integration prospects. Abroad, Chávez denounces both neocolonialism and neoliberalism, including U.S. foreign policy regarding Iraq, Haiti, and the Free Trade Area of the Americas; meanwhile, he had severed military ties with the U.S. Chávez's has also lobbied OPEC producers to decrease production ceilings. Pursuing this goal, Chávez made a ten-day tour of OPEC countries; he thus became the first head of state to meet Saddam Hussein since the Gulf War.^[64]

Chávez and Argentine President Néstor Kirchner discuss energy and trade integration projects for South America. They met on November 21, 2005 in Venezuela as a gesture of mutual solidarity in their opposition to the Washington Consensus and the FTAA proposal (Office of the Argentine Presidency).

After Hurricane Katrina battered the U.S. in late 2005, Chávez's administration was the first government to offer aid to its "North American brothers", offering to donate tons of food, water, mobile hospital units, medical specialists, power generators, and one million barrels of petroleum. Additionally, he proposed to sell 66,000 barrels of steeply discounted heating fuel directly to affected poor communities. The Bush administration refused this aid.^[65] Later, in November 2005, officials in Massachusetts signed an agreement with Venezuela to provide heating oil at a 40% discount to low income families via CITGO, a PDSVA subsidiary.^[66] Chávez has stated that such aid comprises "a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage" and that "[i]t is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world, the United States."^[67] Nevertheless, Venezuela's foreign affairs are also often driven by Chávez's rhetoric, with insults directed against George W. Bush (who he labelled a pendejo ("jerk")), Condoleezza Rice (a "complete illiterate" with regards to comprehending Latin America.^[68][7][69]), and Vicente Fox (who was "bleeding from his wounds" and was warned not to "mess" with him^[70]). The latter comments resulted in the severing of diplomatic ties between Mexico and Venezuela.

[سمادول] Media treatment

Main article: Media representation of Hugo Chávez

Even before the April 2002 coup, many owners, managers, and commentators working for the five major private mainstream television networks and largest mainstream newspapers had stated their opposition to Chávez's policies. These media outlets have accused the Chávez administration of intimidating their journalists using specially-dispatched gangs. Chávez in turn alleges that the owners of these networks have primary allegiance not to Venezuela but to the United States, and that they seek the advancement of neoliberalism via corporate propaganda.

Throughout his presidency, Chávez has hosted the live talk show known as Aló, Presidente! ("Hello, President!").^[71] The show broadcasts in varying formats on Venezolana de Televisión (VTV—Venezuelan State Television) each Sunday at 11:00 AM. The show, which lasts for hours, features Chávez addressing topics of the day, taking phone calls and live questions from both the studio and broadcast audience, and touring locations where government social welfare programs are active. Additionally, on July 25, 2005, Chávez inaugurated Telesur, a proposed pan-American homologue of Al-Jazeera that seeks to challenge the present domination of Latin American television news by United States-based CNN en Español and Univision. Chávez's media policies have contributed to elevated tensions between the United States and Venezuela.^[72]

[سمادول] Bolivarianism

Chávez's principles draw heavily from those of Simón Bolívar, Ezequiel Zamora, Simón Rodríguez, Marxist historian Federico Brito Figueroa, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Salvador Allende. Later in life, Chávez stated that democratic socialism (socialism that emphasizes grassroots democratic participation) as key to his politics, working through such local vehicles as Bolivarian Circles and chavista support.^[73][74] At speeches at the 2005 World Social Forum and the 4th Summit on the Social Debt, Chávez declared democratic socialism as integral to Bolivarianism, proclaiming that humanity must embrace "a new type of socialism, a humanist one, which puts humans, and not machines or the state, ahead of everything."^[75] The central points of Chávez's Bolivarianism are:^[76][21]

Total Venezuelan sovereignty (anti-imperialism). Grassroots political participation via popular votes and referendums (participatory democracy). Comprehensive economic self-sufficiency (in food, consumer durables, et cetera). Instilling a national sentiment of patriotic service. Equitable distribution of Venezuela's vast oil revenues. Elimination of corruption. Elimination of puntofijismo by way of constitutional reforms.

[سمادول] Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Hugo Chávez

Chávez is a deeply disputed personality, both in Venezuela and abroad. His most steadfast domestic opponents state that Chávez is a dangerous militarist and authoritarian revolutionary who poses a fundamental threat to Venezuelan democracy. The opposition also reports that both poverty and unemployment figures under Chávez have not seen significant improvements and that official corruption under his government continues to be rampant,^[77][78] and point to the 1% drop in Venezuela's per-capita GDP under Chávez. Opposition figures also cite the many public hospitals that lack even basic medicine and hygenic supplies, while others describe Chávez as a demagogue and his supporters as a personality cult, intended to help Chávez achieve power and adulation. For example, Chávez critics question the motives behind the Bolivarian Missions' regular cash and in-kind payments to the millions of poor Venezuelans enrolling in their social programs. They worry that receiving benefits from many Missions simultaneously will corrupt their work ethic and predispose them to support Chávez. However, the particular claims about the inefficacy of government programs that have eradicated poverty, illiteracy and ill health are also made specifically through media owned by the very upper class of Venezuela, and are strongly disputed by the lower classes who are the recipients of these government initiatives and constitute the bulk of the Chavista movement.

The opposition has also claimed that the Chávez government has engaged in extensive electoral fraud, especially during the 2000 and 2004 elections, and has reported that many anti-Chávez activists are detained as political prisoners.^[79] More sympathetic criticisms arise from reports that Chávez is not fulfilling his major campaign pledges with respect to labor and land reform.^[80][81][82] Many claim that the beaureaucratic setup Chávez inherited has strongly corrupted roots, and are subversive or inefficient elements in the programs for social change. Abroad, sources in the Western mainstream news media have reported that Chávez is a confrontational ideologue^[83] who willingly harbors, funds, and trains terrorists in Venezuela and insurgents abroad.^[84][85]

The human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented human rights violations under Chávez.^[5][6] Scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries inflicted during both opposition and pro-Chávez demonstrations have resulted in little investigative action taken on the part of Chávez. These organizations have also made allegations of ill treatment of detainees, torture, and censorship by the police and military. However, there is also much repression of lower class Chávez supporters and even social workers, and the local police act on behalf of the local mayors, many of whom are wealthy anti-Chavistas, rather than the central government. The government is currently attempting to nationalize police to eliminate local corruption. Meanwhile, relatives of victims who were killed in the April 11, 2002 clashes have filed a case against Chávez and others at the International Criminal Court, stating that Chávez is legally complicit in crimes against humanity. A decision on the case has not been reached because of his position as acting President.

Chávez has also made controversial statements. In January 2006, he stated that “[t]he world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendants of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones that kicked Bolívar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia. A minority has taken possession all of the wealth of the world...”^[86] The Simon Wiesenthal Center omitted the reference to Bolívar without ellipsis, stated that Chávez was referring to Jews, and denounced the remarks as antisemitic by way of his allusions to wealth. Meanwhile, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, and the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela all defended Chávez, stating that he was speaking not of Jews, but of South America's white oligarchy. Why Chávez would refer to this oligarchy as the killers of Christ is unclear, and is not addressed by any of these groups; but would seem to be a reference to the Roman government, whose soldiers were directly involved in the torture and execution of Christ, and from which most western European nations are descended. ^[87]

[سمادول] Personal life

Main article: Personal life of Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez has been married twice. He first married Nancy Colmenares, a woman from a poor family originating in Chávez's own hometown of Sabaneta. Chávez and Colmenares remained married for eighteen years, during which time they had three children: Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela, and Hugo Rafael. They separated soon after Chávez's 1992 coup attempt, but have remained good friends since then.^[88] During his first marriage, Chávez also had an affair with young historian Herma Marksman; they had a relationship which lasted nine years.^[14][89] At present, Chávez is separated from his second wife, journalist Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez. Chávez had another daughter, Rosa Inés, through that marriage, in addition to a son-in-law, Raúl "Raúlito" Alfonzo. Chávez also has one granddaughter, Gabriela.^[90]

Chávez is of Roman Catholic extraction, and is currently a practicing Christian. Nevertheless, he has had a series of bitter disputes with both the Venezuelan Catholic clergy and Protestant church hierarchies.^[91][92] Although he has traditionally kept his own faith a private matter, Chávez has over the course of his presidency become increasingly open to discussing his religious views, stating that both his faith and his interpretation of Jesus' personal life and ideology have had a profound impact on his leftist views:

"He [Jesus] accompanied me in difficult times, in crucial moments. So Jesus Christ is no doubt a historical figure — he was someone who rebelled, an anti-imperialist guy. He confronted the Roman Empire.... Because who might think that Jesus was a capitalist? No. Judas was the capitalist, for taking the coins! Christ was a revolutionary. He confronted the religious hierarchies. He confronted the economic power of the time. He preferred death in the defense of his humanistic ideals, who fostered change.... He is our Jesus Christ."[20]

[سمادول] See also

[سمادول] Notes

[سمادول] References

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