He was a larger-than-life
figure, the man who called George W. Bush "the devil himself" at the
2006 U.N. General Assembly session, joked around with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about
launching missiles at Washington, and sat for a famously flattering profile written by none other than
Sean Penn.
To his detractors, Hugo Chávez was a clownish authoritarian, willfully pursuing policies bound to turn Venezuela into an economic basket case (and giving away a house or two to his supporters along the way). But Chávez always had loyal followers -- and not just in his own country -- who appreciated his willingness to stand up to the Washington consensus in his own colorful fashion, and who saw him as a consistent champion of the poor and downtrodden. After a long (and often behind-the-scenes) battle with cancer, Chávez died on Tuesday, March 5. Here's a brief look back at his rise to power and Bolivarian Revolution.
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Chávez
first rose to prominence after a failed coup attempt in 1992. President Carlos
Andrés Pérez had fueled widespread discontent after implementing a series of austerity measures,
including a gas price hike. Pérez called in the national
guard when riots broke out, and hundreds were killed in the ensuing crackdown. Chávez, a lieutenant colonel in the Venezuelan military who was disturbed by
Pérez's policies, led an attack by rebel paratroopers on the Presidential
Palace of Miraflores on Feb. 4, 1992. When the attempt failed, Chávez announced
his defeat in a TV appearance that made him a hero overnight. He famously
declared that he'd only been defeated "por ahora" -- for now.
Above, Hugo Chávez talks to reporters on March 26, 1994 following his release from jail, after charges against him were dropped by President Rafael Caldera in fulfillment of a campaign promise.
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Chávez
was released from prison on the condition that he not return to the military. Once freed, however, the young officer quickly became a vocal critic of
Caldera's neoliberal policies. While
Chávez initially believed that military action was needed to bring about
political change, he later came around to the notion of participating in the
political process. In 1997, he founded a new party, the Fifth Republic
Movement, to further the Bolivarian cause.
Above, Chávez gives an interview in March 1995.
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In
1998, Chávez decided to run for president. In the lead-up to the election, the
two parties that had consistently jockeyed for power in Venezuela since 1958 both
stood accused of corruption and incompetence. Chávez, meanwhile presented himself as a popular insurgent promising reform.
Above, Chávez and his wife Marisabel wave to supporters on July 24, 1998, as Chávez arrives at the National Electoral Council in Caracas to officially submit his name for the December elections.
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Presidential
candidate Chávez plays with his then-one-year-old daughter, Rosines, on Oct. 3,
1998 during a political rally in Caracas. Rosines was his only child from his
second marriage to Marisabel, but Chávez has
three other children from his first marriage to Nancy Colmenares, a woman from
his hometown. Rosines Chávez, now a
teenager, sparked a furor last year when she posted a picture of herself posing
with a fanned-out wad of U.S. currency -- a highly restricted item for most
Venezuelans -- prompting some to dub her the "Paris Hilton de la
revolución."
BERTRAND
PARRES/AFP/Getty Images)
Chávez is greeted by supporters in Caracas on Dec. 2, 1998 during his campaign's closing rally, which was attended by an estimated 400,000 people. On the eve of the election Chávez was a favorite, leading with 53.5 percent of the vote.
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Chávez
won the 1998 election,
and departed from his prepared words during the usual presidential oath. Instead, the New York Times reported, "trembling as he took his oath," he said,
"I swear
over this moribund Constitution that I will press necessary democratic
transformations.''
In 1999, Chávez took the unusual step of calling for a public referendum on constitutional reforms that would allow him to convene a constituent assembly -- a step he saw as critical for breaking what he saw as the stranglehold the two main parties in Venezuela had on power. The referendum was an enormous success for the country's new leader, with 88 percent of voters supporting his proposal.
Above, Chávez kisses the hand of a supporter as he campaigns for the reforms in December 1999.
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Oil
has long been the backbone of Venezuela's economy. At the start of the 21st
century, Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest exporter of crude oil. But under previous Venezuelan administrations, U.S. corporations had
exerted significant control over the oil industry. It was a trend Chávez was
determined to reverse.
The Venezuelan president soon began to rock the boat in OPEC, pushing for stricter enforcement of trade rules and higher oil price targets. Efforts to raise the price of oil and threats to use an alternative currency standard pitted the Venezuelan president against U.S. interests. Above, Chávez speaks of the necessity of a world balance of power during a press conference on Aug. 17, 2000.
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Chávez first struck up a friendship with Cuban President Fidel Castro during a 1994 visit to Cuba before he was ever elected president. The friendship between the
two leftist leaders endured throughout Chávez's rule, and the two countries
became major trading partners. In 2000, Chávez agreed to supply Cuba with
53,000 barrels of oil a day (a figure that would be bumped up to 90,000
barrels in 2005) in exchange for Cuban doctors and teachers coming to Venezuela. Cuba has also provided Venezuela with military assistance while Venezuela has invested in Cuban infrastructure projects. Chávez, meanwhile, has described Castro as a father figure.
Above, Castro and Chávez greet each other before the ninth Ibero-American Summit in Havana in November 1999.
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Chávez
was extremely popular during his first year in office, with approval
ratings at times reaching 80 percent. But he began alienating the middle
class as his moderate, pro-capitalist policies became more radical. He began to pass laws by decree, and took steps
that limited the independence of the press.
As his government shifted left, anti-Chávez sentiment in Venezuela grew. The opposition to Chávez coalesced when the president attempted to institute a set of education reforms, which opponents called an attempt to indoctrinate students with leftist ideology, via new textbooks, special schools with "Bolivarian" curricula, and a new decree that allowed the Ministry of Education to fire teachers and administrators based on information their supervisors turned over to the government. Protesters turned out in the thousands, and were joined by striking unions. During a particularly massive protest on April 11, 2002, in which more than a dozen people were killed, military officers briefly detained Chávez and took him out of Caracas, even going so far as to install a transitional government. But within days, counterprotests demanding Chávez's return had erupted, and he was returned to power on April 14.
Above, Chávez is surrounded by supporters upon his return to the presidential palace.
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Although
Chávez moderated some of his more radical policies, opposition to his leadership continued. In
2004, for example, the opposition called for a national referendum to recall Chávez. In the lead-up to the referendum, Chávez vowed to accept the outcome either way, and
urged those seeking to recall him to do the same. In the end, he kept his
presidency: 70 percent of the eligible population turned out to cast their
votes, and 59 percent of them voted
to keep Chávez in power. In this photo, Chávez inserts his own ballot for the
referendum on Aug. 15 2004 in Caracas.
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Chávez
and his children Hugo, Rosa Virginia, and Maria Gabriela celebrate in the
Palace of Miraflores in August 2004 after hearing news that Chávez won the
referendum.
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After
the referendum, Chávez began striking alliances with other notable anti-Western
leaders around the world, including Syria's Bashar al-Assad. Here, the
reinstated president and Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi shake hands during a
meeting in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Nov. 24, 2004. Chávez had arrived
in Tripoli on a tour of several oil-producing nations, and received a human
rights award from the Libyan despot. Years later, when rebels threatened
Qaddafi's grip on power during the Arab Spring, Chávez stood by his old ally:
He referred to Qaddafi as a "friend of mine" and offered to mediate
between the regime and rebel forces.
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Chávez
won a landslide reelection in 2006, promising to launch an era
of "new democracy." Here, Chávez
holds a tiny copy of Venezuela's Constitution during a press conference at the presidential
palace in December 2006, shortly after his reelection was formally confirmed.
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Chávez
also traveled to Syria in 2009 to meet President Bashar al-Assad. Above,
Chávez gestures as he addresses a crowd in the Syrian city of Sweida on Sept. 4, 2009.
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Never
one to pass up a photo-op, Chávez prepares to toss a ball before a softball
match with professional Venezuelan players in Caracas on Feb. 11, 2010. Shortly
after taking office, Chávez took his talent
for showmanship on the airwaves with a radio talk show, Aló Presidente. Unscripted
and airing on Sunday mornings, the show, which eventually morphed into a TV program, didn't have a set duration. Tapings often went on for hours, and Chávez frequently winged it, setting policy on air and
without consulting government ministers. Aló Presidente even spawned two short-lived spin-offs in Ecuador and Bolivia after Presidents Rafael Correa and Evo Morales appeared as guests on Chávez's show.
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Anti-American
heads of state weren't the only people drawn in by Chávez's brand of
charisma.
Celebrities including Naomi Campbell, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, and
Courtney Love publicly expressed their admiration for the man. Above,
the
Venezuelan president talks to actor Sean Penn after a meeting in Caracas
in March 2011. Penn visited to thank Chávez for aid Venezuela
provided for Haitian earthquake victims.
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For
all the tumult over the course of his political career, it was illness rather
than his many rivals that finally brought Chávez down. On June 30, 2011, the
president delivered a speech from Havana confirming that he'd had a cancerous
tumor removed, and shortly thereafter his health began to visibly decline.
Above, Chávez speaks with his mother Elena Frias de Chávez and his brother Adam Chávez upon landing at the capital's Maiquetía international
airport on March 16, 2012, after spending three weeks in Cuba, where he
underwent cancer surgery.
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Chávez's illness
prompted fervent speculation both within
and outside Venezuela. The Venezuelan leader underwent radiation therapy in Cuba in March
2012, and only resumed telephone contact with top officials on April 23, after
days of silence. When he finally spoke, he announced that he planned to return
to Caracas on April 26, adding that he still had to take another trip back to
Cuba to continue his treatment. Above, Chávez is greeted by supporters on his
way to the airport to Cuba for treatment on Feb. 24.
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In July 2011, Chávez
declared that his illness
had prompted him to embrace a "more diverse, more reflective and
multi-faceted" view of life. That perspective, however, didn't mean an end
to the Chávez brand of high-spectacle politics: Over the course of his final year, Chávez cried in
a church during a public mass, declared he would nationalize
Venezuela's gold industry, and called on the country to get
behind his Bolivarian Revolution. Above, Chávez plays an
electric bass guitar during a campaign rally for a fourth term in office in
Caracas on Sept. 19, 2012.
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When
Chávez celebrated his electoral victory in the
tightest race he'd ever faced, it looked like the world would have
another six years of Chavismo. But it became clear shortly after that he was
faltering: Chávez was unable to take the oath of office on Jan.
10 -- a development that the Venezuelan
Supreme Court ruled was constitutional. Chávez's unprecedented
silence on that day -- and the debate over the constitutionality of postponing the
ceremony -- left Venezuelan politics in a state of uncertainty.
Above, Chávez speaks to supporters after receiving news of his reelection in Caracas on Oct. 7, 2012.
JUAN BARRETO/AFP/Getty Images)
After learning of Chávez's death on March 5, supporters gathered in front of the military hospital in Caracas where Chávez finally lost his battle with cancer. Shortly after the announcement, the government also announced it was deploying both the police and the armed forces "to accompany and protect our people and guarantee the peace."
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A Chávez supporter cries outside the hospital.
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Not everyone was mourning Chávez's passing -- Venezuelan immigrants in the United States celebrated the news at a restaurant in Weston, Fla., a Fort Lauderdale suburb.
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Chávez's death means Venezuela is now in the hands of Vice President Nicolás Maduro, a man most observers feel lacks Chávez's power, network, and charisma. Whether Chávez's brand of populist leftism can persist in Latin America without the man who has been the face of the franchise remains an open question; whether it can prevail even in Venezuela, the heart of Chavismo, is also unclear. Chávez, after all, held Venezuelan politics in his grip for 14 years, and even his detractors fear the transition to life without him will be rocky. While the Chávez era may be over, his legacy promises to weigh on the nation for years, if not decades, to come. Adiós, Presidente.
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