Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: biography and political activities. Full list of the Presidents of Venezuela

It would be absurd to think that the past 20th century was poor at the birth of people who played a grandiose role in the history of the whole world. But at the mention of those, the imagination of the average person usually draws military and political figures, scientists and artists of Europe or the United States.

Meanwhile, in Latin America, at the same time, serious passions were raging, the results of which were predetermined for the development of the entire region for many years to come. One of the people who became famous in the field of their political ambitions and achievements was Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías.

Initial stages of biography

He was born on July 28, 1954. The place of his birth, the village of Sabaneta, located in the state Barinas, did not stand out in any special way. The future president was born in the family of an ordinary school teacher. In addition to the newborn Hugo, his parents had several more children. However, the family was not ordinary, with glorious revolutionary roots.

Thus, one of the Chávez maternal line was an active participant in the Civil War of 1859-1863. And his great-grandfather in 1914 managed to raise an uprising aimed at overthrowing the power of another dictator. It is not surprising that the stories about the deeds of the ancestors, passed from mouth to mouth by Chavez, had a significant impact on all his further actions and aspirations. As soon as the future president of Venezuela graduated from the general education school, he immediately entered the Military Academy. At age 21, he graduated from it, leaving the walls of the alma mater in the rank of senior lieutenant.

Creating your own organization

He served in the airborne units. It was from there that his red beret went , without which the comandante subsequently did not appear in public. Already in 1982 (but many believe that in the academy) he creates his own organization KOMAKATE. The decryption of the name is simple - this word means "senior lieutenant", being composed of the first letters of middle military ranks. Of course, the future president of Venezuela immediately became its undisputed leader. It is also not surprising that this organization almost immediately turned into an exclusively revolutionary one.

Failure on the way to power

In 1992, he tried to overthrow the incumbent President Carlos Andres Perez. To be fair, he was not really a good ruler: the level of corruption was overtly off-limits, and government spending was constantly declining. Ideas Chavez pursued quite sensible: he wanted to assemble a new government from people who had not stained themselves with bribes and bribes, rewrite the Constitution, which had a huge number of shortcomings. But the government of Peres in time managed to prevent a coup attempt.

The legitimate president

To the credit of Andres Perez, he did not destroy his opponent physically. And this is a great rarity, if we talk about the Latin American dictators. Chavez himself surrendered to the authorities, pre-punishing his supporters not to organize an armed coup. For this, the official authorities sentenced him only to four years in prison, and already in 1994 he went on an amnesty. After that, Chavez rejected the idea of an armed coup. In the cell, he pondered a lot on political topics, and therefore firmly decided to seek power exclusively by legal means.

In 1998, right before the upcoming presidential elections, Hugo began his election campaign. Unlike many of its rivals, its slogans were simple, and the candidate himself was a man who was already remembered by the potential electorate for his actions, and not for the lack thereof. In addition, Chavez vowed to finally end the corruption in the country. No wonder he achieved his goal. The new president of Venezuela scored just over 54% of the vote, but it was a real triumph.

Democratic rulers of the country

By the way, how many chapters did the country have? Unfortunately, a complete list of Venezuelan presidents can not be brought here, since there were 48 people in total. So we will limit ourselves to the list of the heads of state who have held this post since 1952 (Chavez himself was born approximately at that time). So, here they are:

• Marcos Jimenez, who was in this position from 1952 to 1958.
• Wolfgang Ugueto. He ascended the "throne" in 1958, as a result of a military coup. I have not had time to be president even for one year.
• Edgar Sanabria. Temporary ruler, lawyer.
• Romulo Betancourt. He was president from 1959 to 1964.
• Raúl Leoni. At the post from 1964 to 1969.
• Rafael Caldera, who ruled from 1969 to 1974.
• The same Carlos Andres Perez, who once planted Ugo behind bars. He stayed at his post from 1974 to 1979.
• Luis Herrera Campins. Rules from 1979 to 1984
• Jaime Lusinchi. The period of the presidency was from 1984 to 1989.
• And ... again Carlos Perez. He was again president from 1989 to 1993.
• From June 1993 to 1994, the burden of the presidency of Octavio Lepage and Ramón José Velázquez alternately dragged on. Were temporarily acting.
• Finally, Rafael Caldera. He held a post from 1994 to the end of 1998.

So, the presidents of Venezuela, whose list we cited in the article (even if it is incomplete) ruled an average of five years. Prior to them, people rarely held on as president for more than two or three years, and especially during the revolutionary periods, this post for a year was replaced by three or four people. So Hugo Chavez and his "sworn friend" Andres Perez - the phenomena in the political environment of Venezuela are unique. The first was in office for almost 12 years, and Peres - a total of nine years.

Innovations in the economic and political sphere

What did Hugo Chavez do after taking office? First of all, he established strict state control over the oil company Petroleos de Venezuela: all of its profits were channeled to social programs. So, money went to the construction of new schools and hospitals, the educational program of the masses, the development of agrarian programs in the country. Hugo knew what to do: since at least 70% of the country's population at that time lived below the poverty line, support for the electorate was guaranteed automatically. Relying on the support of people, Venezuelan President Chavez prepared projects on the nationalization of other enterprises.

A year after his election, he created a draft of a new Constitution, and in 2000 again won in the last elections, this time gaining 60% of the vote. However, Chavez should not be regarded as another "small town tsar" who "left" for literate work with the electorate, but Hugo did a lot for the country.

Black blood economy

Since the US was heavily dependent and still dependent on South American oil, and also considering the favorable situation on the energy markets in the early 2000s, it is not surprising that the president made a decision to change the political course of the state. In just a few years, the impoverished, corrupt Venezuela has become a major and reputable player in the region. Due to the stable financial situation, and also due to sharp criticism of the United States, the former president of Venezuela managed to consolidate around him all more or less large countries of Latin America.

History of re-election

The opposition of the country was very unhappy and frightened by Hugo's actions, and therefore repeatedly tried to get rid of the politician by all available means. On April 12, 2002, he was overthrown in a coup d'état, but the junta lasted only two days: on April 14, Chavez was again returned to the post of president by loyal military units. In 2006, another reelection takes place.

Thus, the President of Venezuela (whose biography is considered in the article) has become one of the most "long-playing" politicians in the world. What to say about Latin America, where the term of the presidency rarely lasts more than a year!

In 2007, Chavez created the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, under the wing of which he brings together virtually all his associates and simply talented politicians. Five years after this, in 2012, he is again re-elected to the post of president of the country.

Beginning of the End

President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez for a long time suffered from cancer. In any case, at least four or five times he took courses of treatment both in his own country and in Cuba. It is difficult to say how much all the operations and procedures of chemotherapy had to be postponed. Surgical intervention, which was conducted in 2012 in a Cuban clinic, was suddenly complicated by a severe lung infection.

It is for this reason that the next inauguration of Chavez in January 2013 was recognized as held, although the most "newly-made" president was not on it. It would seem that everything worked out: in February, the president, using Twitter, announced his return. It's only since then that he has not left the military hospital in Caracas.

Then all were alert. As it turned out, not for nothing: March 6, 2013, Nicholas Maduro told that the former president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, died of a serious cancer. Although many citizens of the country suspected the possibility of such a sad event initially, it still became a shock to them.

"Backstage" talents

This man was remembered all over the world by his inexhaustible optimism and enthusiasm, eager activity and all-round hobbies. What could this President of Venezuela? The most interesting is that many Latin Americans, being ardent Catholics, can not always accurately quote a passage from the Bible. Hugo it could. Moreover, he memorized huge passages from the Scriptures, easily returning to the interrupted conversation in an hour or more. The president adored the work of Bolivar, was fond of watercolor, loved music, and in this area, his interests were extremely diverse.

So, at the end of 2007, the light saw a collection of songs, which he performed personally, and which the listeners could evaluate before in the radio program. A year later I recorded a number of compositions of my own composition, which were included in the collection called "Musica Para la Batalla" ("Music for the struggle"). Deeply respected the sport. Since my childhood I was a good baseball player, even at the end of my life I always found time to throw a couple of balls.

Personal life

How many times was Chávez Hugo married? Biography (the president of Venezuela appears almost an ascetic) and in fact shows him an exemplary family man. But in his personal life he still was not too lucky. So, in 1992, when Ugo was behind bars, the first wife broke with him. The second companion of life was Marisabel Rodriguez, a fairly well-known journalist.

She is one of the creators of the new Constitution of the country. For unknown reasons, which the president himself never discussed, in 2002 they divorced. At the same time, the former wife publicly criticized all the reforms of her ex-husband. Chavez has five children: four from the first, and one daughter from the second marriage.

End of an era

Who is Venezuela now on? President Maduro, a faithful companion of the late Chavez, has been in office since March 2013 to this day. Given the fact that in the period from 2011 to 2013 in the country, almost all the duties of the president were already on him, Nicholas Maduro can already be considered a political long-liver.

He follows the same course as Hugo. However, under Maduro, many indulgences were made to many branches (especially oil industry). Many skeptics believe that under Nicholas Venezuela has every chance to turn again into a country that has absolutely no influence in the region. Well, we can only guess. Time will show how right the bearers of such views were.

If the new president does not go too far and continue the social programs that his predecessor started, he will certainly achieve impressive success. In any case, the people of Venezuela warmly received news of his presidency. Of course, the preponderance in votes was only 1%, but he is a politician who is experienced enough, he knows all the needs and problems of his state.