1. The political system in Venezuela
today
2. Hugo Chavez
3. Simon Bolivar
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1.
Venezuela
Government
Venezuela is governed under the constitution of 1999 as amended. The president, who is
both the head of state and the head of government, is popularly elected for a six-year term
and is not subject to term limits. Members of the 167-seat unicameral National Assembly are
elected for five-year terms. Administratively, Venezuela consists of 23 states, a federal
district, of which Caracas is a part, and a federal dependency, which includes 11 island
groups.
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/venezuela-government.html
The politics of Venezuela occurs in a framework explained
in Government of Venezuela.
Venezuela has a dominant-party system, dominated by the United
Socialist Party of Venezuela and with numerous parties exist. The
governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido
de Venezuela, PSUV) was created in 2007, uniting a number of smaller
parties supportingHugo Chávez' Bolivarian Revolution with
Chávez' Fifth Republic Movement. PSUV and its forerunners have held
the Presidency and National Assembly since 1998. The Democratic
Unity Roundtable (Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, MUD), created in
2008, unites much of the opposition (A New Era (UNT), Project
Venezuela, Justice First, Movement for Socialism (Venezuela) and
others). Hugo Chávez, the central figure of the Venezuelan political
landscape since his election to the Presidency in 1998 as a political
outsider, died in office in early 2013, and was succeeded byNicolás
Maduro (initially as interim President, before narrowly winning
the Venezuelan presidential election, 2013).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Venezuela
President Maduro: Economic
crisis not due to bad government
policies
According to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the
government prevented "famine" in the country, as a consequence of
what he termed "an economic war." He ruled out the possibility of
removing price or foreign exchange controls
President Maduro said the foreign exchange rate would not be changed (TV)
EL UNIVERSAL Translated by Andreína Trujillo
Tuesday August 26, 2014 05:06 PM
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stressed on Tuesday
the crisis the country is going through cannot be blamed on
bad economic policies. "It is said it is a Maduro's problem,
that he has adopted wrong policies. It is not Maduro's
problem. What about the war of smuggling, speculative
hoarding, and international harassment of the Republic's
accounts? Where does all that come from?" the wondered in
a public event of ruling party United Socialist Party of
Venezuela (PSUV) in Caracas.
"The bourgeoisie is using the economic war to spread chaos
in the country. This is not the first time (...) It is a national
battle, a battle of the people against the economic war,"
President Maduro remarked.
In addition, Maduro said that his administration will not lift
foreign currency and price controls.
He also noted that the Fair Prices Superintendence will be a
government body that will play a role at all levels of the
economic and social life of the country.
As for the biometric system to be implemented in food
retailers, the president stated that support for the
government had climbed in bordering states following the
creation of "a system to ensure the access of Venezuelan
households to goods." http://www.eluniversal.com/nacionaly-politica/140826/president-maduro-economic-crisis-notdue-to-bad-government-policies
Venezuelan President Responds to
Latest US Accusations
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro responded late Monday to the United States government
declaring his country a “national security threat.”
Maduro rejected President Barack Obama’s measure and explained the executive order signed by the
U.S. president coincided with a failed coup attempt in Venezuela last month, which had links to U.S.
citizens.
“After we dismantled the coup attempt … the U.S. and President Barack Obama … decided to
personally fulfill the task of ousting my government,” Maduro said.
The Venezuelan head of state said that, according to intelligence reports he had received recently, over
the last nine days, “many meetings were held between the Department of State and the White House,”
to discuss measures to be taken against his government.
READ MORE: What does it mean for the U.S. to claim a country is a security threat?
Highlighting the hypocrisy of Obama’s executive order, Maduro called the statement “a Frankenstein, a
monster,” as on the one hand it heavily criticizes Venezuela, and on the other it ends with Obama
vowing to build a better relationship with the South American country.
Speaking from the Miraflores Palace, the president described the U.S. measure as the most aggressive
step taken yet, largely inspired by Washington’s frustration and desperation.
Maduro further criticized Washington’s announcement by pointing out that the U.S. is a bigger threat to
the world.
“You are the real threat, who trained and created Osama Bin Laden … you are the people who created
al-Qaida,” said Maduro. Bin Laden was trained by the CIA during the late 1970s to fight the Soviet army
in Afghanistan.
READ MORE: US Labels Venezuela a Threat While Backing Human Rights Abusers
He said that it was a double standard that the U.S President is focused on the human rights of
Venezuelans: “Defend the human rights of the black U.S. citizens being killed in U.S. cities every day,
Mr. Obama,” he added.
Maduro pointed out that the U.S. has issued 105 statements on Venezuela over the past year, of
which half were explicitly supporting opposition politicians. The Venezuelan president reiterated
previous calls he had publicly made to his U.S. counterpart, urging him not to take the path of
intervention that his predecessors took in Latin America.
“I’ve told Mr. Obama, how do you want to be remembered? Like Richard Nixon, who ousted Salvador
Allende in Chile? Like President Bush, responsible for ousting President Chavez? … Well President
Obama, you already made your choice … you will be remembered like President Nixon”.
READ MORE: US Hypocrisy and the Decision to Label Venezuela a Threat
According to Venezuela’s intelligence sources, Maduro explained, a politcal agreement was brokered in
December last year, between opposition lawmakers and the government, which marked the beginning
of the coup plot that was thwarted last month. The opposition lawmakers broke the agreement after they
received a phone call, which Maduro revealed Monday came from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
By then, the president said, “we knew who had called and from where they had called, and in what
language they spoke.,”
The Venezuelan authorities were also monitoring a group of rogue officials, who they had tracked as a
result of intelligence obtained from anonymous sources in contact with the U.S. government officials.
“They were trying to re-edit the April 11, 2002 events,” said Maduro, highlighting the similarities between
recent actions carried by the opposition with events leading to the brief coup attempt on President Hugo
Chavez in 2002.
The president also referred to the role of Carlos Osuna, believed to be the mastermind and financier of
the coup. Osuna “is in New York, under protection of the U.S. government,” he said.
Historic parallels
President Maduro also pointed out at the historical parallels in Latin American history of similar actions
taken by different U.S. administrations against left-wing governments.
The rhetoric being used against Venezuela was like that “used against Salvador Allende in Chile,”
overthrown in a 1973 U.S backed coup and like that “against Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala” in 1954
when a progressive government was ousted by the US.
The common discourse was described by Maduro as the “coup ideals,” which are based on accusing
these left-wing democratically elected governments of violating rights as a justification to oust them.
The president reiterated that the economic sabotage – used before in Allende’s Chile – was planned
since July 2014 by the U.S. government. Sources told the government “there was a meeting in the
White House, back in July … where they (U.S. government and agencies) decided to launch an
economic warfare,” the president revealed.
Maduro also reminded Venezuelans that he had warned about the coup attempts in the early days of
January, during his tour through OPEC member countries.
READ MORE: Eva Golinger: US Aggression Against Venezuela Fact Not Fiction
* From http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelan-President-Responds-to-Latest-USAccusations–20150309-0036.
http://www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk/mad
urorespondstosanctions/
2. Hugo Chavez
Venezuela Unable to Proceed with
Embalming Hugo Chavez
Saturday, March 16, 2013 14:32
(Before It's News)
The Venezuelan government announced that it has now ruled out embalming the
body of Hugo Chavez after receiving a report from a Russian medical commission,
which said that carrying out the procedure would mean removing the late leader’s
remains to Russia for at least seven months.
“The possibility of embalming the body of Comandante Chavez has been ruled out as a
result of the Russian medical commission’s report,” Communications Minister Ernesto
Villegas wrote Friday on Twitter.
The minister also said that a “Russian medical commission determined that to carry out
the procedure, the body would have to be removed to Russia for a period of between
seven and eight months.”
He wound up the announcement by repeating that “following this report, we have
ruled out the embalming, which was the heartfelt wish of many of our compatriots.”
The body of the late president was taken Friday to the site of a planned Museum of the
Bolivarian Revolution, to be built at the barracks then-Lt. Col. Chavez used as a
command post during his failed coup in 1992, and will remain there until the site of his
final resting place is decided.
The body had lain in state for over a week at the Military Academy where thousands of
people came to file past it and pay their last respects to the socialist leader.
On March 7, the Venezuelan government said the body of late President Hugo Chavez,
who had died two days earlier of a heart attack after battling cancer for 21 months,
would be preserved and kept on display in a glass tomb in the manner of Russian
revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin.
Published in Latino Daily News
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013
/03/venezuela-unable-to-proceed-withembalming-hugo-chavez-2595006.html
3.Σιμόν Μπολίβαρ
Ο Σιμόν Χοσέ Αντόνιο δε λα Σαντίσιμα Τρινιδάδ Μπολίβαρ ι Παλάσιος ήταν ηγέτης διαφόρων
κινημάτων ανεξαρτησίας σε όλη τη Νότια Αμερική, συλλογικά γνωστά ως Πόλεμος του
Μπολίβαρ. Βικιπαίδεια
Γέννηση: 24 Ιουλίου 1783, Καράκας, Βενεζουέλα
Απεβίωσε: 17 Δεκεμβρίου 1830, Σάντα Μάρτα, Κολομβία
Ύψος: 1,68 m
Κηδεύτηκε: 1842, Εθνικό Πάνθεον της Βενεζουέλας, Καράκας, Βενεζουέλα
Προεδρικές θητείες: 17 Δεκεμβρίου 1819 – 4 Μαΐου 1830,
Ο επαναστάτης, ηγέτης και λαϊκός
ήρωας Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ
Ο «Ελευθερωτής» της Λατινικής Αμερικής από
τον ισπανικό ζυγό!
ΠΟΡΤΡΑΙΤΑ
10:03
•
13/06/2013
9
6
Ο άνθρωπος που δάνεισε το όνομά του στη Βολιβία, μία μόνο από τις χώρες που
απελευθέρωσε από την ισπανική κυριαρχία, δεν χρειάζεται ιδιαίτερες συστάσεις.
Ο περίφημος «El Libertador» θα μετατρεπόταν από πλούσιος γόνος αριστοκρατικής
οικογένειας σε μπαρουτοκαπνισμένο στρατιώτη και από ηγετική μορφή της
λατινοαμερικανικής επανάστασης σε πρόεδρο μια τεράστιας έκτασης!
Ο στρατηγός και πολιτικός Μπολιβάρ, με τη «Θαυμαστή Εκστρατεία» που εγκαινίασε, θα
χάριζε την ελευθερία στην Κολομβία, τη Βενεζουέλα, τον Παναμά, το Περού, τον
Ισημερινό και τη Βολιβία, εκμεταλλευόμενος το ευνοϊκό momentum για την ανεξαρτησία
της Λατινικής Αμερικής που προέκυψε στις αρχές του 19ου αιώνα.
Και κατόπιν, ως πρόεδρος έξι εθνών, θα προσπαθούσε να ιδρύσει ένα ομόσπονδο
μόρφωμα στα πρότυπα της Αμερικανικής Επανάστασης και με πρόταγμα τον
φιλελευθερισμό και τη δημοκρατία, χωρίς να τα καταφέρνει ωστόσο εξαιτίας των
εσωτερικών αντιπαλοτήτων και των αντικρουόμενων συμφερόντων.
Ο «Ελευθερωτής» είχε καταφέρει ωστόσο το ακατόρθωτο: να διεκδικήσει την
ανεξαρτησία της Νότιας Αμερικής από τη φοβερή και τρομερή ισπανική αυτοκρατορία!
Για τις ανάγκες μάλιστα του αγώνα, ο Μπολιβάρ θα διέσχιζε στη ζωή του 123.000
χιλιόμετρα, περισσότερα απ' όσα οι περίφημοι εξερευνητές Κολόμβος και ντα Γκάμα
μαζί...
Πρώτα χρόνια
Ο Simón José Antonio de la Santísma Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios, κατά κόσμο Simón
Bolívar, γεννιέται στις 24 Ιουλίου 1783 στο Καράκας της Νέας Γρανάδας (σημερινή
Βενεζουέλα). Η αριστοκρατική οικογένειά του ήταν ιδιαίτερα ευκατάστατη, με την πηγή
πλουτισμού της να είναι τα πλούσια σε κοιτάσματα μεταλλεία χρυσού και χαλκού που
είχε στην κατοχή της. Ο Μπολιβάρ μεγαλώνει λοιπόν μέσα στην απόλυτη χλιδή, αν και
αργότερα θα χρηματοδοτήσει τα απελευθερωτικά κινήματα με την περιουσία του.
Σε ηλικία 14 ετών, γίνεται δεκτός στη στρατιωτική ακαδημία της Νέας Γρανάδας, όπου και
αναπτύσσει ενδιαφέρον για την τακτική, παράλληλα βέβαια με τις γνώσεις που
αποκομίζει για τη μάχη, που θα του φανούν ιδιαίτερα χρήσιμες στους πολέμους του για
την ανεξαρτησία.
Το 1799, μετά τον θάνατο των γονιών του, μετακομίζει στην Ισπανία. Εκεί θα συνεχίσει
την ιδιωτική του εκπαίδευση με περίφημους οικιακούς δασκάλους της εποχής, κάτι που
είχε βέβαια ήδη ξεκινήσει από τα πρώτα χρόνια της παιδικής του ηλικίας. Έρχεται έτσι σε
επαφή με φιλελεύθερες ιδέες και ριζοσπαστικές πεποιθήσεις, με τις οποίες και θα
γαλουχηθεί από τους δασκάλους του, αναπτύσσοντας παράλληλα αγάπη για την
πολιτική.
Σύντομα, το 1802, θα παντρευτεί τη María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa. Σε ταξίδι
ωστόσο του ζευγαριού στη γενέτειρα του Μπολιβάρ την αμέσως επόμενη χρονιά, η
σύζυγος θα αρρώσταινε από κίτρινο πυρετό και θα πέθαινε...
«Ο Ελευθερωτής» γεννιέται
Η αριστοκρατική καταγωγή του Μπολιβάρ και η οικονομική του άνεση τον έκαναν να
μπαινοβγαίνει ανενόχλητα στα μεγάλα σαλόνια της Ευρώπης. Ο ίδιος διατηρούσε
προσωπικές σχέσεις με τον Ναπολέων Βοναπάρτη και παραβρέθηκε ακόμα και στη
στέψη του αυτοκράτορα της Γαλλίας το 1804. Για τα επόμενα τρία χρόνια, περιπλανιέται
μεταξύ Λατινικής Αμερικής και Ευρώπης.
Το 1807 επιστρέφει στη Βενεζουέλα εξαιτίας των γεγονότων που κάλπαζαν: ο Ναπολέων
είχε ενθρονίσει τον αδερφό του Ιωσήφ στο τιμόνι της Ισπανίας, με τον Μπολιβάρ να
προσχωρεί στο κίνημα αντίστασης της Βενεζουέλας που αποζητούσε την ανεξαρτησία
της χώρας. Την ώρα που φαινομενικά διαχειριζόταν απλώς την αμύθητη περιουσία του,
αυτός οργάνωνε με μεθοδικότητα ομάδες ομοϊδεατών και αναζητούσε την καλύτερη
δυνατή μέθοδο πάλης.
Το 1808 λοιπόν θα τον βρει ενεργό μέλος του στρατιωτικού κινήματος της Νότιας
Αμερικής. Δύο χρόνια αργότερα, το 1810, το αντάρτικο του Καράκας πετυχαίνει τους
σκοπούς του και ανακηρύσσει την ανεξαρτησία της περιοχής. Ο Μπολιβάρ ταξιδεύει στη
Βρετανία σε διπλωματική αποστολή, με τις εχθροπραξίες για τον έλεγχο της Βενεζουέλας
και όλης τελικά της Λατινικής Αμερικής να συνεχίζονται ωστόσο στην πατρίδα.
Ο Μπολιβάρ θα επιστρέψει τον επόμενο χρόνο στη Βενεζουέλα και θα ξεκινήσει την
εκστρατεία για την ολοκληρωτική ανεξαρτησία της χώρας του από τον ισπανικό ζυγό. Οι
ηγέτες του κινήματος παραδίδονται ωστόσο το 1812 στον βασιλιά της Ισπανίας, με τον
Μπολιβάρ προδομένο να αναζητεί καταφύγιο στην Καρταχένα της Κολομβίας: εκεί
συγγράφει το περίφημο «Μανιφέστο της Καρταχένα».
Το 1813 έμελλε να είναι η καθοριστική στιγμή του, όταν ανέλαβε διοικητικά στρατιωτικά
καθήκοντα στην Τούνχα της Νέα Γρανάδας (σημερινή Κολομβία), σύμφωνα με την
απόφαση της επαναστατικής Συνέλευσης των Ενωμένων Επαρχιών της Νέας Γρανάδας.
Ο Μπολιβάρ ηγείται λοιπόν της εισβολής στη Βενεζουέλα στις 14 Μαΐου 1813,
εγκαινιάζοντας αυτό που θα έμενε γνωστό ως «Θαυμαστή Εκστρατεία» (Campaña
Admirable): απελευθέρωσε τη Βενεζουέλα από τον ισπανικό ζυγό και ο λαός τον
αποκαλούσε έκτοτε «El Libertador»!
Μέχρι τον Αύγουστο της ίδιας χρονιάς, ο Μπολιβάρ ήταν πλέον σε θέση να ανακηρύξει τη
Δεύτερη Δημοκρατία της Βενεζουέλας, υπαγορεύοντας ταυτόχρονα την επίσης περίφημη
Διακήρυξη του Πολέμου μέχρι Θανάτου (Decreto de Guerra a Muerte).
Το 1814 ωστόσο η νεότευκτη δημοκρατία καταλύθηκε από πραξικόπημα και ο Μπολιβάρ
ήταν υποχρεωμένος να επιστρέψει: οργανώνει μια ομάδα κολομβιανών εθνικιστών και
ανακαταλαμβάνει την Μπογκοτά. Η επόμενη χρονιά θα τον βρει στην Αϊτή, όπου και
αξίωσε τη βοήθεια του ηγέτη της χώρας για να επεκτείνει το απελευθερωτικό του κίνημα.
Το 1816, με στρατιωτική βοήθεια από την Αϊτή, ο Μπολιβάρ κάνει απόβαση στη
Βενεζουέλα και καταλαμβάνει την Αγκοστούρα (σημερινό... Μπολιβάρ).
Για τα επόμενα τρία χρόνια, θα επιδοθεί σε έναν μεθοδικό πόλεμο κατά των
κατακτητικών ισπανικών δυνάμεων που θα πάρει τέλος με τη Μάχη της Μπογιακά το
1819: η Νέα Γρανάδα είχε απελευθερωθεί από την ισπανική κυριαρχία! Στις 7
Δεκεμβρίου 1821 δημιουργείται το ανεξάρτητο και ομόσπονδο κράτος της Μεγάλης
Κολομβίας, που κάλυπτε την έκταση της σημερινής Βενεζουέλας, Κολομβίας, Παναμά και
Ισημερινού. Ο Μπολιβάρ αναλαμβάνει πρώτος πρόεδρος του κράτους...
Η «Θαυμαστή Εκστρατεία» επεκτείνεται
Η μάχη για την απελευθέρωση της Λατινικής Αμερικής δεν είχε ωστόσο τελειώσει. Το
1822 θα βρει τον Μπολιβάρ να εδραιώνει τη θέση του στα νέα εδάφη και να συλλαμβάνει
σχέδιο για την απελευθέρωση του Περού, το οποίο ζούσε εν τω μεταξύ σφοδρές μάχες
από τις απόπειρες του στρατηγού της Αργεντινής Σαν Μαρτίν να το απαλλάξει από την
ισπανική τυραννία.
Μέχρι το 1824, η στρατιωτική εκστρατεία στο Περού είχε στεφθεί από επιτυχία: στις 10
Φεβρουαρίου 1824, η Περουβιανή Συνέλευση τον ορίζει δικτάτορα του Περού, για να του
δώσει όλη την εξουσία να αναδιοργανώσει εκ βάθρων τόσο την πολιτική διακυβέρνηση
όσο και τη στρατιωτική διοίκηση. Παρά το μεταρρυθμιστικό του έργο, ο Μπολιβάρ δεν θα
αμελήσει τα απελευθερωτικά του καθήκοντα.
Θα βαλθεί να απελευθερώσει και τις άλλες κατακτημένες περιοχές της Λατινικής
Αμερικής, παρά το γεγονός ότι εκεί οι ισπανικές δυνάμεις υπερτερούσαν. Κι όμως, μέσα
σε έναν χρόνο (16 Αυγούστου 1825) θα δημιουργούταν η Δημοκρατία της Βολιβίας, με το
νέο κρατικό μόρφωμα να παίρνει δικαίως το όνομά του από τον απελευθερωτή του!
Κατοπινά χρόνια
Οι περιπέτειες του «Ελευθερωτή» δεν θα έπαιρναν ωστόσο τέλος, με την τεράστια
περιοχή της Μεγάλης Κολομβίας να μην είναι εύκολο να τεθεί υπό πλήρη έλεγχο.
Σύντομα θα ξεσπούσαν εξεγέρσεις σε όλη σχεδόν την επικράτεια, με την ενότητα του
ομόσπονδου κράτους να υπονομεύεται καθοριστικά.
Το όνειρο του Μπολιβάρ για μια ομόσπονδη δημοκρατία στα πρότυπα της Αμερικανικής
Επανάστασης, με τους πολίτες να απολαμβάνουν πλήρη ελευθερία, δεν θα ευοδωνόταν
τόσο εξαιτίας των πολυάριθμων αντικρουόμενων συμφερόντων και των αντάρτικων
κινημάτων που ξεσπούσαν όσο και της ανετοιμότητας των καιρών για δημοκρατική
διακυβέρνηση.
Ο ίδιος, στην προσπάθεια να διατηρήσει άσβεστη την ιδέα της εύθραυστης
νοτιοαμερικανικής συμμαχίας, θα προσπαθήσει να καθελκύσει ένα σαφώς πιο
συγκεντρωτικό μοντέλο διακυβέρνησης για τη Μεγάλη Κολομβία, κι όταν και αυτό θα
αποτύγχανε, ο Μπολιβάρ -για να περισώσει την ενότητα- θα ανακηρύξει τον εαυτό του
προσωρινό δικτάτορα του κράτους (27 Αυγούστου 1828).
Η κίνηση θα φέρει βέβαια τα ακριβώς αντίθετα αποτελέσματα και θα ωθήσει τις εξελίξεις
στα άκρα, με τη δολοφονική απόπειρα κατά του Μπολιβάρ στις 25 Σεπτεμβρίου 1828 να
αποτυγχάνει μεν να τον πλήξει σωματικά, τον αφήνει ωστόσο βαθύτατα απογοητευμένο.
Το όνειρό του είχε ναυαγήσει...
Θάνατος
Τα αιματηρά γεγονότα συνεχίστηκαν και κατά τα επόμενα δύο χρόνια, με σφοδρές
εξεγέρσεις να δονούν τη Νέα Γρανάδα, τη Βενεζουέλα και τον Ισημερινό. Ο Μπολιβάρ,
νιώθοντας ότι απέτυχε, παραιτείται από τα προεδρικά του καθήκοντα στις 27 Απριλίου
1830 και αποφασίζει να αυτοεξοριστεί στην Ευρώπη.
Τα πρώτα κιβώτια με τα υπάρχοντά του άρχισαν να στέλνονται στην ευρωπαϊκή ήπειρο,
με τον ίδιο ωστόσο να μην ακολουθεί: πέθανε προτού σαλπάρει στις 17 Δεκεμβρίου
1830, πάσχοντας από φυματίωση. Τα λείψανά του μεταφέρθηκαν στο Καράκας το 1842
και μαυσωλείο ανεγέρθηκε για να τα στεγάσει...
Κληρονομιά
Η ηγετική μορφή της Λατινοαμερικανικής Επανάστασης άφησε για κληρονομιά μια σειρά
από ανεξάρτητες δημοκρατίες! Χώρες όπως η Κολομβία, η Βενεζουέλα, το Περού, ο
Παναμάς, η Βολιβία και ο Ισημερινός του χρωστούν την ύπαρξή τους.
Αναρίθμητοι ανδριάντες στήθηκαν προς τιμή του όχι μόνο στη Νότια Αμερική, αλλά και
στις ΗΠΑ, με εξίσου πολυάριθμες πόλεις και χωριά στα πέρατα του κόσμου να φέρουν
ως τοπωνύμιο το όνομα του μεγάλου οραματιστή, από την Αίγυπτο και την Αυστραλία
μέχρι και την Τουρκία.
Πέρα από τη στρατιωτική του ιδιοφυΐα, που θα χάριζε την ανεξαρτησία στο μεγαλύτερο
μέρος της Νότιας Αμερικής, ο Μπολιβάρ είχε και πολιτικό όραμα, το οποίο αποτύπωσε
στη συγγραφή του ιδιαιτέρως φιλελεύθερου Συντάγματος της Βολιβίας, στα πρότυπα του
αμερικανικού.
Ο ίδιος ήταν υπέρμαχος του διαχωρισμού των εξουσιών, της θρησκευτικής ελευθερίας,
του δικαιώματος ιδιοκτησίας και του κράτους Δικαίου, την ίδια ώρα που ήθελε την
κεντρική κυβέρνηση περιορισμένη σε εποπτικό ρόλο. Σημαντικός ήταν επίσης ο αγώνας
του για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα, σε μια εποχή μάλιστα που τέτοιες συζητήσεις ήταν
ακόμα στα σπάργανα...
http://www.newsbeast.gr/portraita/arthro/544337/o-epanastatis-igetis-kai-laikos-iroassimon-bolivar
Hugo Chávez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Hugo Chávez (disambiguation).
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family
name is Chávez and the second or maternal family name isFrías.
Hugo Chávez
President of Venezuela
In office
14 April 2002 – 5 March 2013
Vice Presidents
See list[show]
Preceded by
Diosdado Cabello (acting)
Succeeded by
Nicolás Maduro
In office
2 February 1999 – 12 April 2002
Vice Presidents
See list[show]
Preceded by
Rafael Caldera
Succeeded by
Pedro Carmona (interim)
Eternal President of the United Socialist Party
of Venezuela
(appellation)
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 July 2014
Preceded by
Position established
De facto President of the United Socialist Party
of Venezuela
In office
24 March 2007 – 5 March 2013
Preceded by
Position established
Succeeded by
Nicolás Maduro
Personal details
Born
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías
28 July 1954
Sabaneta, Venezuela
Died
5 March 2013 (aged 58)
Caracas, Venezuela
Political party
Fifth Republic Movement
(1997–2007)
United Socialist Party
(2007–13)
Other political
Great Patriotic Pole
affiliations
(2011–13)
Spouse(s)
Nancy Colmenares (divorced)
Marisabel Rodríguez(divorced)
Children
Rosa Virginia
María Gabriela
Hugo Rafael
Alma mater
Military Academy of
Venezuela
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
Venezuela
Service/branch
Venezuelan Army
Years of service
Rank
1971–1992
Lieutenant colonel
Part of a series on
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Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈuɣo rafaˈel ˈtʃaβes
ˈfɾi.as]; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician and
the President of Venezuela between 1999 and his death in 2013. He
was the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement 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
2012.
Born into a working-class family in Sabaneta, Barinas, Chávez became
a career military officer, and after becoming dissatisfied with the
Venezuelan political system based on thePunto Fijo Pact,[1] he founded
the clandestine Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200(MBR-200) in
the early 1980s. Chávez led the MBR-200 in an unsuccessful coup
d'étatagainst the Democratic Action government of President Carlos
Andrés Pérez in 1992, for which he was imprisoned. Released from
prison after two years, he founded a political party known as the Fifth
Republic Movement and was elected president of Venezuela in 1998.
He was re-elected in 2000 and again in 2006 with over 60% of the vote.
After winning his fourth term as president in the October 2012
presidential election,[2] he was to be sworn in on 10 January 2013, but
Venezuela's National Assembly postponed the inauguration to allow him
time to recover from medical treatment in Cuba.[3] Suffering a return of
the cancer originally diagnosed in June 2011,
Chávez died in Caracas on 5 March 2013 at the age of 58.[4][5]
Following the adoption of a new constitution in 1999, 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.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] This led to improvements in areas such as
poverty, literacy, income equality, and quality of life.[7][15]Going into the
2010s, economic actions performed by Chávez's government over the
previous decade such as overspending[16][17][18][19][20] and price
controls[21][22][23][24][25]proved to be unsustainable and caused the economy
to falter, with inflation,[26] poverty[7]and shortages in
Venezuela increasing. Chávez's presidency also saw significant
increases in the country's murder rate[27][28][29][30] and corruption within the
police force and government.[31][32] His use of enabling acts[33][34] and his
government's use of Bolivarian propaganda was also
controversial.[35][36][37][38]
Internationally, Chávez aligned himself with the MarxistLeninist governments of Fidel and then Raúl Castro in Cuba, and the
socialist governments of Evo Morales (Bolivia), Rafael
Correa (Ecuador), and Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua). His presidency was
seen as a part of the socialist "pink tide" sweeping Latin America.
Chávez described his policies as anti-imperialist, being a prominent
adversary of the United States's foreign policy as well as a vocal critic of
US-supported neoliberalism and laissez-faire capitalism.[39] He
described himself as a Marxist.[40][41][42][43][44] He supported Latin American
and Caribbean cooperation and was instrumental in setting up the panregional 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. Chavez's ideas, programs, and style form the basis
of "Chavismo", a political ideology closely associated
with Bolivarianism and Socialism of the 21st Century.
Contents
[hide]



1 Early life
o 1.1 Childhood
o 1.2 Military Academy: 1971–1975
o 1.3 Early military career: 1976–1981
2 Later military career and the Bolivarian Revolutionary Army-200: 1982–
1991
o 2.1 Operation Zamora coup attempt: 1992
3 Political rise: 1992–1998
3.1 1998 election
4 Presidency: 1999–2013
o 4.1 First presidential term: 2 February 1999 – 10 January 2001
 4.1.1 Constitutional reform
o 4.2 Second presidential term: 10 January 2001 – 10 January 2007
 4.2.1 Opposition and the CD
 4.2.2 Coup, strikes and the recall referendum
 4.2.3 "Socialism of the 21st century"
o 4.3 Third presidential term: 10 January 2007 – 10 January 2013
 4.3.1 United Socialist Party of Venezuela and domestic policy
o 4.4 Fourth presidential term: 10 January 2013 – 5 March 2013
5 Political ideology
o 5.1 Bolivarianism
o 5.2 Marxism
o 5.3 Other influences
6 Policy overview
o 6.1 Economic and social policy
 6.1.1 Food and products
 6.1.2 Communes
 6.1.3 Currency controls
o 6.2 Crime and punishment
 6.2.1 Prisons
o 6.3 Corruption
 6.3.1 Aiding FARC
o 6.4 Human rights
 6.4.1 1999 Venezuelan Constitution
 6.4.2 Criticisms
 6.4.2.1 Allegations of Anti-semitism
o 6.5 Media and the press
o 6.6 Foreign policy
7 In popular culture
8 Personal life
9 Illness
10 Death
11 Honours and awards
o 11.1 Recognition
o 11.2 Honorary degrees
12 See also
13 References
o 13.1 Footnotes
o 13.2 Bibliography
 13.2.1 Books
 13.2.2 Academic articles
 13.2.3 News articles, reports and essays
o










13.2.4 Interviews
 13.2.5 Websites and e-publications
14 External links


Early life[edit]
Childhood[edit]
Further information: Early life of Hugo Chávez
Sabaneta, Barinas, where Chávez was born and raised.
Hugo Chávez was born on 28 July 1954 in his paternal grandmother
Rosa Inéz Chávez's home, a modest three-room house located in the
rural village Sabaneta, Barinas State. The Chávez family were
of Amerindian, Afro-Venezuelan, and Spanish descent.[45] His
parents, Hugo de los Reyes Chávez, described as a
proud COPEI member,[46] and Elena Frías de Chávez, were
schoolteachers who lived in the small village of Los Rastrojos.[46]
Hugo was born the second of seven children.[47][48] Hugo's parents, living
in poverty, sent Hugo and his older brother Adán to live with their
grandmother Rosa who lived in subsidized housing provided by the
government.[46][49] Hugo later described his grandmother as being "a pure
human being... pure love, pure kindness."[50] She was a devout Roman
Catholic, and Hugo was an altar boy at a local church.[51] Attending the
Julián Pino Elementary School, Chávez was particularly interested in
the 19th-century federalist general Ezequiel Zamora, in whose army his
own great-great-grandfather had served.[52][53] Hugo described his
childhood as "poor... [but] very happy",[54] though his childhood of
supposed poverty has been disputed as Chávez possibly changed the
story of his background for political reasons.[46]
In the mid-1960s, Hugo, his brother and their grandmother moved to the
city of Barinas so that the boys could attend Daniel O'Leary High
School.[55] His father, despite having the salary of a teacher, helped pay
college for all of his children.[46]
Military Academy: 1971–1975[edit]
Aged seventeen, Chávez studied at the Venezuelan Academy of
Military Sciences in Caracas, following a curriculum known as
theAndrés Bello Plan, instituted by a group of progressive, nationalistic
military officers. This new curriculum encouraged students to learn not
only military routines and tactics but also a wide variety of other topics,
and to do so civilian professors were brought in from other universities
to give lectures to the military cadets.[56][57][58]
Supporters of Hugo Chávez at his funeral at the Military academy of Venezuela.
Living in Caracas, he saw more of the endemic poverty faced by
working class Venezuelans, and said that this experience only made
him further committed to achieving social justice.[59][60] He also began to
get involved in activities outside of the military school, playing baseball
and softball with theCriollitos de Venezuela team, progressing with them
to the Venezuelan National Baseball Championships. He also wrote
poetry, fiction, and drama, and painted,[61] and he researched the life
and political thought of 19th-century South American
revolutionary Simón Bolívar.[62] He also became interested in the Marxist
revolutionary Che Guevara (1928–67) after reading his memoir The
Diary of Che Guevara.[63] 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
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,[64]he "drank up the books [Velasco had written], even
memorising some speeches almost completely."[65]
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.[64][66] In contrast to Torrijos and Velasco, Chávez
became highly critical of Augusto Pinochet, the right-wing general who
had recently seized control in Chile with the aid of the
American CIA.[67] Chávez later said, "With Torrijos, I became a Torrijist.
With Velasco I became a Velasquist. And with Pinochet, I became an
anti-Pinochetist".[68] In 1975, Chávez graduated from the military
academy as one of the top graduates of the year.[69][70][71]
Early military career: 1976–1981[edit]
Further information: Military career of Hugo Chávez
I think that from the time I left the academy I was oriented toward a revolutionary
movement... The Hugo Chávez who entered there was a kid from the hills,
aIlanero{sic} with aspirations of playing professional baseball. Four years later, a
second-lieutenant came out who had taken the revolutionary path. Someone who
didn't have obligations to anyone, who didn't belong to any movement, who was
not enrolled in any party, but who knew very well where I was headed.
Hugo Chávez[72]
Following his graduation, Chávez was stationed as a communications
officer at a counterinsurgencyunit in Barinas,[73] although the MarxistLeninist insurgency which the army was sent to combat had already
been eradicated from that state.[74] At one point he found a stash of
Marxist literature that apparently had belonged to insurgents many
years before. He went on to read these books, which included titles
by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, but his favourite was a
work entitledThe Times of Ezequiel Zamora, written about the 19thcentury federalist general whom Chávez had admired as a
child.[75] These books further convinced Chávez of the need for a leftist
government in Venezuela: "By the time I was 21 or 22, I made myself a
man of the left".[76]
In 1977, Chávez's unit was transferred to Anzoátegui, where they were
involved in battling the Red Flag Party, a Marxist-Hoxhaist insurgency
group.[77] After intervening to prevent the beating of an alleged insurgent
by other soldiers,[78] Chávez began to have his doubts about the army
and their methods in using torture.[76] At the same time, he was
becoming increasingly critical of the corruption in the army and in the
civilian government, coming to believe Venezuela's poor were not
benefiting from the oil wealth, and began to sympathize with the Red
Flag Party and their cause and their violent methods.[79]
In 1977, he founded a revolutionary movement together with Luis R.
Gonzalez an William Jimenez, within the armed forces, in the hope that
he could one day introduce a leftist government to Venezuela: the
Venezuelan People's Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación del Pueblo
de Venezuela, 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.[78][80][81] Nevertheless, hoping to gain an alliance with civilian leftist
groups in Venezuela, Chávez set up clandestine meetings with various
prominent Marxists, including Alfredo Maneiro (the founder of
the Radical Cause) and Douglas Bravo.[82][83] At this time, Chávez
married a working-class woman named Nancy Colmenares, with whom
he had three children: Rosa Virginia (born September 1978), Maria
Gabriela (born March 1980) and Hugo Rafael (born October 1983).[84]
Later military career and the Bolivarian Revolutionary
Army-200: 1982–1991[edit]
Logo of MBR-200.
Five years after his creation of the ELPV, Chávez went on to form a
new secretive cell within the military, the Bolivarian Revolutionary Army200 (EBR-200), later redesignated the Revolutionary Bolivarian
Movement-200 (MBR-200).[56][85][86] He was inspired by Ezequiel
Zamora (1817–1860),Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) and Simón
Rodríguez (1769–1854), who became known as the "three roots of the
tree" of the MBR-200.[87][88] Later, Chávez said that "the Bolivarian
movement that was being born did not propose political objectives... Its
goals were imminently internal. Its efforts were directed in the first place
to studying the military history of Venezuela as a source of a military
doctrine of our own, which up to then didn't exist".[89] However, he
always hoped for the Bolivarian Movement to become a politically
dominant party that would "accept all kinds of ideas, from the right, from
the left, from the ideological ruins of those old capitalist and communist
systems."[90] Indeed, Irish political analyst Barry Cannon noted that the
MBR's early ideology "was a doctrine in construction, a heterogeneous
amalgam of thoughts and ideologies, from universal thought, capitalism,
Marxism, but rejecting the neoliberal models currently being imposed in
Latin America and the discredited models of the old Soviet Bloc."[91]
In 1981, Chávez, by now a captain, was assigned to teach at the
military academy where he had formerly trained. Here he introduced
new students to his so-called "Bolivarian" ideals and recruited some of
them. By the time they had graduated, at least thirty out of 133 cadets
had joined his cause.[92] In 1984 he met Herma Marksman, a recently
divorced history teacher with whom he had an affair that lasted several
years.[93][94] During this time Francisco Arias Cárdenas , a soldier
interested in liberation theology, also joined MBR-200.[95] Cárdenas rose
to a significant position within the group, although he came into
ideological conflict with Chávez, with Chávez believing that they should
begin direct military action in order to overthrow the government,
something Cárdenas thought was reckless.[96]
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,[97] where he
organized social events for the community and contacted the local
indigenous tribal peoples, the Cuiva and Yaruro. Distrustful as they
were because of the mistreatment at the hands of the Venezuelan army
in previous decades, Chávez gained their trust by joining the
expeditions of an anthropologist to meet with them. Chávez said his
experiences with them later led him to introduce laws protecting the
rights of indigenous tribal peoples.[98] In 1988, after being promoted to
the rank of major, the high-ranking General Rodríguez Ochoa took a
liking to Chávez and employed him to be his assistant at his office in
Caracas.[99]
Operation Zamora coup attempt: 1992[edit]
Main article: 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts
In 1989, centrist Carlos Andrés Pérez (1922–2010) was elected
President, and though he had promised to oppose the United States
government's Washington Consensus and the International Monetary
Fund's policies, he opposed neither once he got into office, following
instead the neoliberal economic policies supported by the United States
and the IMF, angering the public.[100][101][102] In an attempt to stop the
widespread protests and looting that followed his social spending cuts,
Pérez initiated Plan Ávila and a violent repression of protesters, known
as El Caracazo unfolded.[103][104][105] Though members of Chávez's MBR200 movement had allegedly participated in the crackdown,[106] Chávez
did not participate since he was then hospitalized with chicken pox and
later condemned the event as "genocide".[107][108]
Chávez began preparing for a military coup d'état[105][109] known as
Operation Zamora.[110] The plan involved inside members of the military,
the overwhelming of military locations along with communication
installations and the establishment of Rafael Caldera in power following
the capture and assassination of President Perez.[111] Initially prepared
for December, Chávez delayed the MBR-200 coup until the early
twilight hours of 4 February 1992.[111]
On that date, five army units under Chávez's command moved into
urban Caracas. Despite years of planning, the coup quickly
encountered trouble since Chávez could command the loyalty of less
than 10% of Venezuela's military forces.[112] After numerous betrayals,
defections, errors, and other unforeseen circumstances, Chávez and a
small group of rebels found themselves hiding in the Military Museum,
unable to communicate with other members with Pérez managing to
escape Miraflores Palace.[113] Fourteen soldiers were killed, and fifty
soldiers and some eighty civilians injured during the ensuing
violence.[114][115][116] Another unsuccessful coup against the government
occurred in November,[109][117] with the fighting during the coups resulting
in the deaths of at least 143 people and perhaps as many as several
hundred.[118]
The San Carlos military stockade, where Hugo Chávez was held after attempting
to overthrow President Pérez in 1992.
Chávez gave himself up to the government and appeared on television,
in uniform, to call on remaining coup members to lay down their
arms.[119] Many viewers noted that Chávez in his speech had remarked
that he had failed only "por ahora" (for now),[56][120][121][122][123] and many
Venezuelans, particularly poor ones, began seeing him as someone
who stood up against government corruption and kleptocracy.[124][125][126]
Chávez was arrested and imprisoned at the San Carlos military
stockade, where he remained wracked with guilt, feeling responsible for
the coup's failure.[127][128] Pro-Chávez demonstrations that took place
outside of San Carlos led to his being transferred to Yare prison soon
after.[129] The government meanwhile began a temporary crackdown on
media supportive of Chávez and the coup.[130] Pérez himself was then
impeached a year later for malfeasance and misappropriation of funds
for illegal activities.[131][132]
Political rise: 1992–1998[edit]
A painted mural in support of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) found
in Barcelona, Venezuela
While Chávez and the other senior members of the MBR-200 were in
prison, his relationship with Herma Marksman broke up in July
1993.[133] In 1994, Rafael Caldera (1916–2009) of the centrist National
Convergence Party and who had knowledge of the coup was elected
president, and soon after freed Chávez and the other imprisoned MBR200 members, though Caldera banned them from returning to the
military.[134][135] Chávez went on a 100-day tour of the country, promoting
his Bolivarian cause of social revolution.[136] On his tours around the
country he met Marisabel Rodríguez, who would give birth to their
daughter shortly before becoming his second wife in 1997.[137][138]
Travelling around Latin America in search of foreign support for his
Bolivarian movement, he visited Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia,
and finally Cuba, where he met Castro and became friends with
him.[139] During his stay in Colombia, he spent six months receiving
guerilla training and establishing contacts with the FARC and ELN
terrorist groups, and even adopted a nom de guerre, Comandante
Centeno.[140] After his return to Venezuela, Chávez was critical of
President Caldera and his neoliberal economic policies.[141] A drop in per
capita income, coupled with increases in poverty and crime, "led to gaps
emerging between rulers and ruled which favoured the emergence of a
populist leader".[142]
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,[143] while Francisco Arias Cárdenas insisted that they take part
in the representative democratic process. Indeed, Cárdenas soon joined
the Radical Cause socialist party and won the December 1995 election
to become governor of the oil-rich Zulia State.[144] As a result, Chávez
and his supporters founded a political party, the Fifth Republic
Movement (MVR – Movimiento Quinta República) in July 1997 in order
to support Chávez's candidature in the Venezuelan presidential
election, 1998.[114][145][146][147]
1998 election[edit]
At the start of the election run-up, front runner Irene Sáez was backed
by one of Venezuela's two primary political parties, Copei.[148]Chávez's
revolutionary rhetoric gained him support from Patria Para
Todos (Fatherland for All), the Partido Comunist
Venezolano(Venezeuelan Communist Party) and the Movimiento al
Socialismo (Movement for Socialism).[147][149] Chávez's promises of
widespread social and economic reforms won the trust and favor of a
primarily poor and working class. By May 1998, Chávez's support had
risen to 30% in polls, and by August he was registering 39%.[150] With his
support increasing, and Sáez's decreasing, both the main two political
parties, Copei and Democratic Action, put their support behind Henrique
Salas Römer, a Yale University-educated economist who represented
the Project Venezuela party.[151]
Voter turnout in the election is the subject of dispute. Voter turnout was
at 63.45%, with Chávez winning the election with 56.20% of the
vote.[152][153] Academic analysis of the election showed that Chávez's
support had come primarily from the country's poor and the
"disenchanted middle class", whose standard of living had decreased
rapidly in the previous decade,[154] and much of the middle and upper
class vote went Römer.[155]
Presidency: 1999–2013[edit]
Further information: History of Venezuela (1999–present)
First presidential term: 2 February 1999 – 10 January 2001[edit]
Chávez's presidential inauguration took place on 2 February 1999, and
during the usual presidential oath he deviated from the prescribed
words to proclaim that "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."[156][157] He appointed new figures to a
number of government posts, including promoting various leftist allies to
key positions; he for instance gave one of the founders of MBR, Jesús
Urdaneta, the position in charge of the Bolivarian Intelligence Agency;
and made one of the 1992 coup leaders, Hernán Grüber Ódreman,
governor of the Federal District of Caracas.[158] Chávez also appointed
some conservative, centrist and centre-right figures to government
positions as well, reappointing Caldera's economy minister Maritza
Izaquirre to that same position and also appointing the businessman
Roberto Mandini to be president of the state-run oil company Petroleos
de Venezuela.[159] His critics referred to this group of government
officials as the "Boliburguesía" or "Bolivarian bourgeoisie",[160][161] and
highlighted the fact that it "included few people with experience in public
administration."[156] The involvement of a number of his immediate family
members in Venezuelan politics led to accusations of nepotism.[162] In
June 2000 he separated from his wife Marisabel, and their divorce was
finalised in January 2004.[163]
The Chávez government's initial policies were moderate, capitalist and
centre-left, having much in common with those of contemporary Latin
American leftists like Brazil's president Lula da Silva.[164][165] Chávez
initially believed that capitalism was still a valid economic model for
Venezuela, but only Rhenish capitalism, not the US-supported
neoliberalism of former governments.[166] He followed the economic
guidelines recommended by the International Monetary Fund and
continued to encourage foreign corporations to invest in
Venezuela,[167] even visiting the New York Stock Exchange in the United
States in an attempt to convince wealthy investors to do so.[168][169]
Chávez set into motion a social welfare program called Plan Bolívar
2000, which he organised to begin on 27 February 1999, the tenth
anniversary of the Caracazo massacre. Chávez said he would set aside
$20.8 million for the plan, though some state that the program costed
$113 million. Plan Bolívar 2000 involved 70,000 soldiers, sailors and
members of the air force going out into the streets of Venezuela where
they would repair roads and hospitals, remove stagnant water that
offered breeding areas for disease-carrying mosquitoes, offer free
medical care and vaccinations, and sell food at low prices.[170][171][172][173]
In May 2000 he launched his own Sunday morning radio show, Aló
Presidente (Hello, President), on the state radio network, as well as a
Thursday night television show, De Frente con el Presidente (Face to
Face with the President). He followed this with his own newspaper,El
Correo del Presidente (The President's Post), founded in July, for which
he acted as editor-in-chief, but which was later shut amidst accusations
of corruption in its management.[174] In his television and radio shows, he
answered calls from citizens, discussed his latest policies, sang songs
and told jokes, making it unique not only in Latin America but the entire
world.[175]
Constitutional reform[edit]
Chávez then called for a public referendum which he hoped would
support his plans to form a constitutional assembly, composed of
representatives from across Venezuela, as well as from indigenous
tribal groups, which would be able to rewrite the nation's
constitution.[176][177] Using the momentum of support he had received in
the previous elections,[178] the referendum went ahead on 25 April 1999,
and was a success for Chávez, with 88% of voters supporting the
proposal.[176][177]
Chávez holds a miniature copy of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution at the
2003 World Social Forum held in Brazil.
Then Chávez called for an election to take place on 25 July, in which
the members of the constitutional assembly would be voted into
power.[179] Of the 1,171 candidates standing for election to the assembly,
over 900 of them were opponents of Chávez. Despite the large number
of opposition candidates, Chavez's supporters won another
overwhelming electoral victory creating "a very pro-Chávez
Constitutional Assembly", with his supporters taking 125 seats (95% of
the total), including all of those belonging to indigenous tribal groups,
whereas the opposition were voted into only 6 seats.[176][180][181]
On 12 August 1999, the new constitutional assembly voted to give
themselves the power to abolish government institutions and to dismiss
officials who were perceived as being corrupt or operating only in their
own interests. Opponents of the Chávez regime argued that it was
therefore dictatorial.[182][183]Most jurists believed that the new
constitutional assembly became the country's "supreme authority" and
that all other institutions were subordinate to it.[184] The assembly also
declared a "judicial emergency", granting itself the power to overhaul
the judicial system. The Supreme Court, which ruled that the assembly
did indeed have such authority, was eventually replaced by the 1999
Constitution, which created the "Supreme Tribunal of Justice" in its
place.[185][186]
The constituent assembly, filled with Chávez's supporters,[178] put
together a new constitution, and a referendum on the issue of whether
to adopt it was held in December 1999; the referendum saw an
abstention vote of over 50%, although among those voting, 72%
approved the new constitution's adoption.[181][187][188] The constitution
included progressive language of environment and indigenous
protection, socioeconomic guarantees with state benefits, but it also
gave greater powers to Chávez.[178][189] The assembly granted the
presidency more power by extending their term and getting rid of the
two houses of the Congress, while also granting the power to legislate
on citizen rights, to promote military officers and to oversee economic
and financial matters.[178][189] It also gave the military a role in the
government by providing it with the mandated role of ensuring public
order and aiding national development, something it had been
expressely forbidden from doing under the former constitution.[189] As a
part of the new constitution, the country, which was then officially known
as the Republic of Venezuela, was renamed the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela (República Bolivariana de Venezuela) at Chávez's
request.[180][181]
Second presidential term: 10 January 2001 – 10 January 2007[edit]
Chávez visiting Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2003
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.[190][191][192] Going into the elections,
Chávez had control of all three branches of government.[185] For the
position of president, Chávez's closest challenger proved to be his
former friend and co-conspirator in the 1992 coup,Francisco Arias
Cárdenas, who since becoming governor of Zulia state had turned
towards the political centre and begun to denounce Chávez as
autocratic.[193] Although some of his supporters feared that he had
alienated those in the middle class and the Roman Catholic Church
hierarchy who had formerly supported him, Chávez was re-elected with
59.76% of the vote (the equivalent of 3,757,000 people), a larger
majority than his 1998 electoral victory,[194][195] again primarily receiving
his support from the poorer sectors of Venezuelan society.[196]
That year, Chávez helped to further cement his geopolitical and
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.[197] However, Venezuela's growing alliance with Cuba came at
the same time as a deteriorating relationship with the United States: in
late 2001, just after the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in
retaliation for 11 September attacks against the U.S. by Islamist
militants, Chávez showed pictures of Afghan children killed in a bomb
attack on his television show. He commented that "They are not to
blame for the terrorism of Osama Bin Laden or anyone else", and called
on the American government to end "the massacre of the innocents.
Terrorism cannot be fought with terrorism." The U.S. government
responded negatively to the comments, which were picked up by the
media worldwide.[198]
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.[199][200] This move antagonized the opposition movement
particularly strongly.[192]
At the start of the 21st century, Venezuela was the world's fifth largest
exporter of crude oil, with oil accounting for 85.3% of the country's
exports, therefore dominating the country's economy.[201][202]Previous
administrations had sought to privatise this industry, with U.S.
corporations having a significant level of control, but the Chávez
administration wished to curb this foreign control over the country's
natural resources by nationalising much of it under the state-run oil
company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA). In 2001, the
government introduced a new Hydrocarbons Law through which they
sought to gain greater state control over the oil industry: they did this by
raising royalty taxes on the oil companies and also by introducing the
formation of "mixed companies", whereby the PdVSA could have joint
control with private companies over industry. By 2006, all of the 32
operating agreements signed with private corporations during the 1990s
had been converted from being primarily or solely corporate-run to
being at least 51% controlled by PdVSA.[201]
Opposition and the CD[edit]
During Chávez's first term in office, the opposition movement had been
"strong but reasonably contained, [with] complaints centering mainly on
procedural aspects of the implementation of the constitution".[192]
The first organized protest against the Bolivarian government occurred
in January 2001, when the Chávez administration tried to implement
educational reforms through the proposed Resolution 259 and Decree
1.011, which would have seen the publication of textbooks with a heavy
Bolivarian bias. The protest movement, which was primarily by middle
class parents whose children went to privately run schools, marched to
central Caracas shouting out the slogan "Don't mess with my children."
Although the protesters were denounced by Chávez, who called them
"selfish and individualistic," the protest was successful enough for the
government to retract the proposed education reforms and instead enter
into a consensus-based educational program with the opposition.[203]
Later into 2001, an organization known as the Coordinadora
Democrática de Acción Cívica (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 Frente Institucional Militar and the Central Workers
Union all united to oppose Chávez's regime.[199][204] The prominent
businessman Pedro Carmona (1941–) was chosen as the CD's
leader.[199] They received support from various foreign sources.
Chávez visiting the USSYorktown, a US Navy ship docked at Curaçao in
theNetherlands Antilles, in 2002
The CD and other opponents of Chávez's Bolivarian government
accused it of trying to turn Venezuela from a democracy into a
dictatorship by centralising power amongst its supporters in the
Constituent Assembly and granting Chávez increasingly autocratic
powers. Many of them pointed to Chávez's personal friendship with
Cuba's Fidel Castro and the one-party socialist government in Cuba as
a sign of where the Bolivarian government was taking
Venezuela.[199] Others did not hold such a strong view but still argued
that Chávez was a "free-spending, authoritarian populist" whose
policies were detrimental to the country.[205]
Coup, strikes and the recall referendum[edit]
Main articles: 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Venezuelan
general strike of 2002–2003 andVenezuelan recall referendum, 2004
A 2004 rally against Chávez in Caracas, demanding his removal from the
presidency.
On 11 April 2002, during mass protests in Caracas against the
Bolivarian government,[206] twenty people were killed, and over 110 were
wounded.[207] A group of high-ranking anti-Chávez military officers had
been planning to launch a coup against Chávez and used the civil
unrest as an opportunity.[208] After the plotters gained significant power,
Chávez agreed to be detained and was transferred by army escort toLa
Orchila; business leader Pedro Carmona declared himself president of
an interim government.[209]Carmona abolished the 1999 constitution and
appointed a small governing committee to run the country.[192] Protests in
support of Chávez along with insufficient support for Carmona's regime,
which some felt was implementing totalitarian measures, quickly led to
Carmona's resignation, and Chávez was returned to power on 14
April.[210]
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.[211][212] At the same time, the Bolivarian government
began increased 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.[213]
In 2002, after appointing political allies to head the PDVSA and
replacing the company's board of directors with loyalists who had "little
or no experience in the oil industry",[214] Chávez faced a two-month
management strike at the PDVSA.[215] The Chávez government's
response was to fire about 19,000 striking employees for illegally
abandoning their posts and then employing retired workers, foreign
contractors, and the military to do their jobs instead.[216] According to one
observer, this move further damaged the strength of Chávez's
opposition by removing the many managers in the oil industry who had
been supportive of their cause to overthrow Chávez.[216]
The 1999 constitution had introduced the concept of a recall referendum
into Venezuelan politics, so the opposition called for such a referendum
to take place. A 2004 referendum to recall Chávez was defeated. 70%
of the eligible Venezuelan population turned out to vote, with 59% of
voters deciding to keep the president in power.[195][217] Unlike his original
1998 election victory, this time Chávez's electoral support came almost
entirely from the poorer working classes rather than the middle classes,
who "had practically abandoned Chávez" after he "had consistently
moved towards the left in those five and a half years".[218]
"Socialism of the 21st century"[edit]
The various attempts at overthrowing the Bolivarian government from
power had only served to further radicalize Chávez.[citation needed] In January
2005, he 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.[91]
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".[219]
Third presidential term: 10 January 2007 – 10 January 2013[edit]
In the presidential election of December 2006, which saw a 74% voter
turnout, Chávez was once more elected, this time with 63% of the vote,
beating his closest challenger Manuel Rosales, who conceded his
loss.[217] The election was certified as being free and legitimate by
the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Carter
Center.[220][221][222] After this victory, Chávez promised an "expansion of
the revolution."[223]
United Socialist Party of Venezuela and domestic policy[edit]
On 15 December 2006, Chávez publicly announced that those leftist
political parties who 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).[147] 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."[147] According to political analyst Barry Cannon, the
purpose of creating the PSUV was to "forge unity amongst the disparate
elements [of the Bolivarian movement], providing grassroots input into
policy and leadership formation, [and] uniting the grassroots and
leadership into one single body."[224] It was hoped that by doing so, it
would decrease the problems of clientelism and corruption and also
leave the movement less dependent on its leadership:[224] as Chávez
himself declared, "In this new party, the bases will elect the leaders.
This will allow real leaders to emerge."[224]
The logo for the PSUV, Chávez's socialist political party founded in 2007
Chávez had initially proclaimed that those leftist parties which chose to
not dissolve into the PSUV would have to leave the government,
however, after several of those parties supporting him refused to do so,
he ceased to issue such threats.[225] There was initially much grassroots
enthusiasm for the creation of the PSUV, with membership having risen
to 5.7 million people by 2007,[224][226] making it the largest political group
in Venezuela.[227] The United Nations' International Labour
Organization however expressed concern over some voters' being
pressured to join the party.[228]
In 2007, the Bolivarian government set up a constitutional commission
in order to review the 1999 constitution and suggest potential
amendments to be made to it. Led by the prominent pro-Chávez
intellectual Luis Britto García, the commission came to the conclusion
that the constitution could include more socially progressive clauses,
such as the shortening of the working week, a constitutional recognition
of Afro Venezuelans and the elimination of discrimination on the
grounds of sexual orientation.[217] It also 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.[217] The
government put the suggested changes to a public referendum in
December 2007.[229] Abstention rate was high however, with 43.95% of
registered voters not turning out, and in the end the proposed changes
were rejected by 50.65% of votes.[217][230] This would prove to the first
electoral loss that Chávez had faced in the thirteen electoral contests
held since he took power,[217] something analysts argued was 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."[231]
In order to ensure that his Bolivarian Revolution became socially
engrained in Venezuela, Chávez discussed his wish to stand for reelection when his term ran out in 2013, and spoke of ruling beyond
2030.[232] Under the 1999 constitution, he could not legally stand for reelection again, and so brought about a referendum on 15 February
2009 to abolish the two-term limit for all public offices, including the
presidency.[233] 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.[232][233][234]
Chávez (far right) with fellow Latin American leftist presidents in 2009. From left
to right: Paraguay'sFernando Lugo, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Brazil's Lula da
Silva and Ecuador's Rafael Correa
Fourth presidential term: 10 January 2013 – 5 March 2013[edit]
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[2][235]Turnout in the election was 80%, with a hotly contested
election between the two candidates.[236]There was significant support
for Chávez amongst 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.[235]
Chávez in June 2012.
The inauguration of Chávez's new term was scheduled for 10 January
2013, but as he was undergoing medical treatment at the time in Cuba,
he was not able to return to Venezuela for that date. The National
Assembly presidentDiosdado Cabello proposed to postpone the
inauguration and the Supreme Court decided that, being just another
term of the sitting president and not the inauguration of a new one, the
formality could be bypassed. The Venezuelan Bishops
Conference opposed the verdict, stating that the constitution must be
respected and the Venezuelan government had not been transparent
regarding details about Chávez's health.[237]
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.[238][239] Near to Chavez's death, two American attachés were
expelled from the country for allegedly undermining Venezuelan
democracy.[citation needed]
Due to the death of Chávez, Vice President Nicolas 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.[240]
Political ideology[edit]
19th century general and politician Simón Bolívar provided a basis for Chávez's
political ideas.
Democracy is impossible in a capitalist system. Capitalism is the realm of
injustice and a tyranny of the richest against the poorest.Rousseau said,
'Between the powerful and the weak all freedom is oppressed. Only the rule of
law sets you free.' That's why the only way to save the world is through socialism,
a democratic socialism... [Democracy is not just turning up to vote every five or
four years], it's much more than that, it's a way of life, it's giving power to the
people... it is not the government of the rich over the people, which is what's
happening in almost all the so-called democratic Western capitalist countries.
Hugo Chávez, June 2010[166]
Chávez propagated what he called "socialism for the 21st century", but
according to the pro-Chavez academicGregory Wilpert, "Chávez has
not clearly defined twenty-first century socialism, other than to say that it
is about establishing liberty, equality, social justice, and solidarity. He
has also indicated that it is distinctly different fromstate socialism", as
implemented by the governments of the Soviet Union and the People's
Republic of China.[241] As a part of his socialist ideas, he emphasised the
role of so-called "participatory democracy", which he claimed increased
democratic participation, and was implemented through the foundation
of the Venezuelan Communal Councils and Bolivarian Circles which he
cited as examples of grassroots and participatory democracy.[242]
Bolivarianism[edit]
Main articles: Bolivarianism and Bolivarian Circles
Hugo Chávez defined his political position as Bolivarianism, an ideology
he developed from that of Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) and others.
Bolívar was a 19th-century general who led the fight against
the colonialistSpanish authorities and who is widely revered across
Latin America today. Along with Bolívar, the other two primary
influences upon Bolivarianism are Simón Rodríguez (1769–1854), a
philosopher who was Bolívar's tutor and mentor, and Ezequiel Zamora,
(1817–1860), the Venezuelan Federalist general.[243] Political analyst
and Chávez supporter Gregory Wilpert, in his study of Chávez's politics,
noted that "The key ingredients for Chávez's revolutionary Bolivarianism
can be summarized as: an emphasis on the importance of education,
the creation of civilian-military unity, Latin American integration, social
justice, and national sovereignty. In many ways this is not a particularly
different set of principles and ideas to those of any
other Enlightenment or national liberation thinker."[244] Chávez's ideology
originating from Bolívar has also received some criticism because
Chávez had occasionally described himself as being influenced by Karl
Marx, a critic of Bolívar.[245][246] Beddow and Thibodeaux noted the
complications between Bolívar and Marx, stating that "[d]escribing
Bolivar as a socialist warrior in the class struggle, when he was actually
member of the aristocratic 'criollos,' is peculiar when considering Karl
Marx's own writings on Bolivar, whom he dismissed as a false liberator
who merely sought to preserve the power of the old Creole nobility
which he belonged".[246]
Marxism[edit]
Chávez's connection to Marxism was a complex one, though he had
described himself as a Marxist on some occasions.[40][41][42][43][44] In May
1996, he gave an interview with Agustín Blanco Muñoz in which he
remarked that "I am not a Marxist, but I am not anti-Marxist. I am not
communist, but I am not anti-communist."[247] In a 2009 speech to the
national assembly, he said: "I am a Marxist to the same degree as the
followers of the ideas of Jesus Christ and the liberator of America,
Simon Bolivar."[40][248] He was well versed in many Marxist texts, having
read the works of many Marxist theoreticians, and often publicly quoted
them. Various international Marxists supported his government,
believing it to be a sign of proletariat revolution as predicted in Marxist
theory.[249] In 2010, Hugo Chávez proclaimed support for the ideas of
Marxist Leon Trotsky, saying "When I called him (former Minister of
Labour, José Ramón Rivero)" Chávez explained, "he said to me:
'President I want to tell you something before someone else tells you ...
I am a Trotskyist', and I said, 'well, what is the problem? I am also a
Trotskyist! I follow Trotsky's line, that of permanent revolution," and then
cited Marx and Lenin.[250][251]
Other influences[edit]
Chávez's early heroes were nationalist military dictators that included
former Peruvian president Juan Velasco Alvarado[62] and former
Panamanian "Maximum Leader" Omar Torrijos.[66][252] One dictator
Chávez admired was Marcos Pérez Jiménez, a former president of
Venezuela that he praised for the public works he performed.[46] Chávez
praised Pérez Jiménez in order to vilify preceding democratic
governments, stating that "General Pérez Jiménez was the best
president Venezuela had in a long time ... He was much better
thanRómulo Betancourt, much better than all of those others. They
hated him because he was a solider."[46]
Chávez was also well acquainted with the various traditions of Latin
American socialism, espoused by such figures as Colombian
politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán[253] and former Chilean president Salvador
Allende.[253] Early in his presidency, Chávez was advised and influenced
by the Argentine fascist Norberto Ceresole.[252] Cuban Communist
revolutionaries Che Guevara and Fidel Castro also influenced Chávez,
especially with Castro's government assistance with the Bolivarian
Missions.[252][253] Other indirect influences on Chávez's political
philosophy are the writings of American linguist Noam Chomsky[254] and
the Gospel teachings of Jesus Christ.[255][256]Other inspirations of
Chávez's political view are Giuseppe Garibaldi,[257] Antonio
Gramsci and Antonio Negri.[258][259][260][261]
Policy overview[edit]
This section may be too long to read and
navigate comfortably. Please
consider splittingcontent into subarticles, condensing it, or adding or
removing subheadings. (December 2014)
Economic and social policy[edit]
See also: Economic policy of the Hugo Chávez
government and Economy of Venezuela
The blue line represents annual rates. The red line represents trends of annual
rates given throughout the period shown. GDP is in billions ofLocal Currency
Unit that has been adjusted for inflation.
Sources: International Monetary Fund, World Bank
From his election in 1998 until his death in March 2013, Chávez's
administration proposed and enacted democratic socialist economic
policies. Domestic policies included redistribution of wealth, land reform,
and democratization of economic activity via workplace selfmanagement and creation of worker-owned cooperatives.[262] With
increasing oil prices in the early 2000s and funds not seen in Venezuela
since the 1980s, Chávez created the Bolivarian Missions, aimed at
providing public services to improve economic, cultural, and social
conditions.[10][14][21][263] The Missions entailed the construction of
thousands of free medical clinics for the poor,[10] and the enactment of
food[21] and housing subsidies.[14] A 2010 OAS report[264] indicated
achievements in addressing illiteracy, healthcare and poverty,[15] and
economic and social advances.[265] with Venezuelans' quality of life
improving according to a UN Index.[7]The Gini coefficient, a measure
of income inequality, also dropped from nearly .50 in 1998 to .39 in
2011, putting Venezuela behind only Canada in the Western
Hemisphere.[266] The poverty rate fell from 48.6 percent in 2002 to 29.5
percent in 2011, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin
America.[7] The drop of Venezuela's poverty rate compared to poverty in
other South American countries was slightly behind that of Peru, Brazil
and Panama.[267] Venezuelans aged 15 and older, 95.2% could also
read and write, with Venezuela having one of the highest literacy ratesin
the region,[268] though some scholars have refuted that literacy
improvements during Chavez's presidency resulted from his
administration's policies.[269] Teresa A. Meade wrote that Chávez's
popularity strongly depended "on the lower classes who have benefited
from these health initiatives and similar policies."[270]
The social works initiated by Chávez's government relied on oil
products, the keystone of the Venezuelan economy, with Chávez's
administration suffering from Dutch diseaseas a
result.[18][271] Economist Mark Weisbrot, in a 2009 analysis of the Chávez
administration stated that economic expansion during Chávez's tenure
"began when the government got control over the national oil company
in the first quarter of 2003".[272] Chávez gained a reputation as a price
hawk in OPEC, pushing for stringent enforcement of production quotas
and higher target oil prices.[273] According to Cannon, the state income
from oil revenue grew "from 51% of total income in 2000 to 56%
2006";[273] oil exports increased "from 77% in 1997 [...] to 89% in
2006";[273] and his administration's dependence on petroleum sales was
"one of the chief problems facing the Chávez government".[273] In 2012,
the World Bank also explained that Venezuela's economy is "extremely
vulnerable" to changes in oil prices since in 2012 "96% of the country's
exports and nearly half of its fiscal revenue" relied on oil production,
while by 2008, according to Foreign Policy, exports of everything but oil
"collapsed".[18][274] The Chávez administration then used such oil prices
on his populist policies and for voters.[18][263]
Economists say that the Venezuelan government's overspending on
social programs and strict business policies contributed to imbalances
in the country's economy, contributing to rising inflation and widening
shortages near the end of Chavez's presidency.[16][17][18][263][266] Into the
2010s, poverty began to rise in Venezuela increase and funding
for healthcare in Venezuela began to decrease.[7][275] According to
analysts, the economic woes Venezuela suffered under
President Nicolás Maduro would have still occurred with or without
Chávez.[276]
The balance between the public and private sectors of the Venezuelan
economy remained relatively unchanged during Chavez's presidency,
according to estimates from the Central Bank of Venezuela in 2009,
with the private sector accounting for a slightly larger share than before
Chavez took office, having grown faster than the government between
2003 and 2006 when the economy was healthy. According to the
Venezuelan government, despite several nationalizations the
government still controlled the same percent of the economy as when
Chavez was elected in 1998.[277] In January 2013 near the end of
Chávez's presidency, the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street
Journal gave Venezuela's economic freedom a low score of 36.1,
twenty points lower than 56.1 in 1999, ranking its freedom very low at
174 of 177 countries, with freedom on a downward trend.[278] Nicholas
Kozloff, Chávez's biographer, stated of Chávez's economic policies:
"Chávez has not overturned capitalism, he has done much to challenge
the more extreme, neo-liberal model of development."[279]
Food and products[edit]
Empty shelves in a Venezuelan market due to shortages in Venezuela.
In the 1980s and 1990s health and nutrition indexes in Venezuela were
generally low, and social inequality in access to nutrition was
high.[280] Chávez made it his stated goal to lower inequality in the access
to basic nutrition, and to achieve food sovereignty for Venezuela.[281] The
main strategy for making food available to all economic classes was a
controversial policy of fixing price ceilings for basic staple foods
implemented in 2003.[282] Between 1998 and 2006 malnutrition related
deaths fell by 50%.[283] In October 2009, the Executive Director of the
National Institute of Nutrition (INN) Marilyn Di Luca reported that the
average daily caloric intake of the Venezuelan people had reached
2790 calories, and that malnutrition had fallen from 21% in 1998 to
6%.[284][better source needed]Chávez also expropriated and redistributed 5 million
acres of farmland from large landowners.[285]
Shoppers waiting in line at a government-run MERCAL store.
Price controls initiated by Chávez created shortages of goods since
merchants could no longer afford to import necessary
goods.[286][287] Chávez blamed "speculators and hoarders" for these
scarcities[288] and strictly enforced his price control policy, denouncing
anyone who sold food products for higher prices as "speculators".[282] In
2011, food prices in Caracas were nine times higher than when the
price controls were put in place and resulted in shortages of cooking oil,
chicken, powdered milk, cheese, sugar and meat.[22] The price controls
increased the demand for basic foods while making it difficult for
Venezuela to import goods causing increased reliance on domestic
production. Economists believe this policy increased
shortages.[288][289] Shortages of food then occurred throughout the rest of
Chávez's presidency with food shortage rates between 10% and 20%
from 2010 to 2013.[24] One possible reason for shortages is the
relationship between inflation and subsidies, where no profitability due
to price regulations affect operations. In turn, the lack of dollars made it
difficult to purchase more food imports.[23] Chávez's strategy in response
to food shortages consisted of attempting to increase domestic
production through nationalizing large parts of the food industry,[citation
needed]
though such nationalizations allegedly did the opposite and caused
decreased production instead.[290][291]
As part of his strategy of food security Chávez started a national chain
of supermarkets, the Mercal network, which had 16,600 outlets and
85,000 employees that distributed food at highly discounted prices, and
ran 6000 soup kitchens throughout the country.[292]Simultaneously
Chávez expropriated many private supermarkets.[292] According to
Commerce Minister Richard Canan, "The average [savings] for the
basic food bundle (at the Mercal Bicentennial markets) is around 30%.
There are some products, for example cheese and meat, which reach a
savings of 50 to 60% compared with capitalist markets."[293] The Mercal
network was criticized by some commentators as being a part of
Chávez's strategy to brand himself as a provider of cheap food, and the
shops feature his picture prominently.[according to whom?] The Mercal network
was also subject to frequent scarcities of basic staples such as meat,
milk and sugar – and when scarce products arrived, shoppers had to
wait in lines.[292]
Communes[edit]
Every factory must be a school to educate, like Che Guevarasaid, to produce not
only briquettes, steel, and aluminum, but also, above all, the new man and
woman, the new society, the socialist society.
Hugo Chávez, May 2009[294]
After his election in 1998, more than 100,000 state-owned cooperatives
– which claimed to represent some 1.5 million people – were formed
with the assistance of government start-up credit and technical
training;[295] and the creation and maintenance, as of September 2010, of
over 30,000 communal councils, examples of localised participatory
democracy; which he intended to be integrated into regional umbrella
organizations known as "Communes in Construction".[296]
In 2010, Chávez supported the construction of 184 communes, housing
thousands of families, with $23 million in government funding. The
communes produced some of their own food, and were able to make
decisions by popular assembly of what to do with government
funds.[297] In September 2010, Chávez announced the location of 876
million bolivars ($203 million) for community projects around the
country, specifically communal councils and the newly formed
communes. Chávez also criticised the bureaucracy still common in
Venezuela saying, when in discussion with his Communes Minister Isis
Ochoa, that "All of the projects must be carried out by the commune, not
the bureaucracy." The Ministry for Communes, which oversees and
funds all communal projects, was initiated in 2009.[296] Despite such
promises, the Venezuelan government often failed to construct the
number of homes they had proposed.[298][299] According to Venezuela's El
Universal, one of the Chávez administration's outstanding weaknesses
is the failure to meet its goals of construction of housing.[298]
Currency controls[edit]
For more details on this topic, see Economy of Venezuela § Currency
Black Market.
Blue line represents implied value of VEFcompared to USD. The red line
represents what the Venezuelan government officially rates the VEF.
Sources: Banco Central de Venezuela, Dolar Paralelo,Federal Reserve Bank, International
Monetary Fund
In the first few years of Chavez's office, his newly created social
programs required large payments in order to make the desired
changes. On February 5, 2003, the government created CADIVI, a
currency control board charged with handling foreign exchange
procedures. Its creation was to control capital flight by placing limits on
individuals and only offering them so much of a foreign currency.[300] This
limit to foreign currency led to a creation of a currency black
market economy since Venezuelan merchants rely on foreign goods
that require payments with reliable foreign currencies. As Venezuela
printed more money for their social programs, the bolívar continued to
devalue for Venezuelan citizens and merchants since the government
held the majority of the more reliable currencies.[301]
The implied value or "black market value" is what Venezuelans believe
the Bolivar Fuerte is worth compared to the United States dollar.[302] The
high rates in the black market make it difficult for businesses to
purchase necessary goods since the government often forces these
businesses to make price cuts. This leads to businesses selling their
goods and making a low profit.[303] Since businesses make low profits,
this leads to shortages since they are unable to import the goods that
Venezuela is reliant on.[304]
Crime and punishment[edit]
For more details on this topic, see Crime in Venezuela.
Murder rate (1 murder per 100,000 citizens) from 1998 to
2013. Sources: OVV,[305][306] PROVEA,[307][308]UN[307][308][309]
* UN line between 2007 and 2012 is simulated missing data.
Number of kidnappings in Venezuela 1989–2011.
Source: CICPC[310][311][312]
* Express kidnappings may not be included in data
During the 1980s and 1990s there was a steady increase in crime in
Latin America. The countries of Colombia, El Salvador, Venezuela, and
Brazil all had homicide rates above the regional average.[313] During his
terms as president, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans were
murdered due to violent crimes occurring in the country.[314] Gareth A.
Jones and Dennis Rodgers stated in their book Youth violence in Latin
America: Gangs and Juvenile Justice in Perspectivethat, "With the
change of political regime in 1999 and the initiation of theBolivarian
Revolution, a period of transformation and political conflict began,
marked by a further increase in the number and rate of violent deaths"
showing that in four years, the murder rate had increased to 44 per
100,000 people.[315]Kidnappings also rose tremendously during Chavez's
tenure, with the number of kidnappings over 20 times higher in 2011
than when Chavez was elected.[310][311][312] Director James Brabazon,
stated "kidnapping crimes had skyrocketed ... after late Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez freed thousands of violent prisoners as part of
controversial criminal justice system reforms" while kidnappings and
murders also increased due to Colombian organized crime activity as
well.[316][317] He further explained that common criminals felt that the
Venezuelan government did not care for the problems of the higher and
middle classes, which in turn gave them a sense of impunity that
created a large business of kidnapping-for-ransom.[316]
Under Chávez's administration, crimes were so prevalent that by 2007
the government no longer produced crime data.[318] Homicide rates in
Venezuela more than tripled, with one NGO finding the rate to have
nearly quadrupled. The majority of the deaths occur in crowded slums in
Caracas.[27][28] The NGO found that the number of homicides in the
country increased from 6,000 in 1999 to 24,763 in 2013.[29][30][319] In 2010
Caracas had the highest murder rate in the world.[320] According to
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2012 there were
13,080 murders in Venezuela.[321]
In leaked government INE data for kidnappings in the year 2009, the
number of kidnappings were at an estimated 16,917, contrasting the
CICPCs number of only 673,[311] before the Venezuelan government
blocked the data.[317][322][323] According to the leaked INE report, only 1,332
investigations for kidnappings were opened or about 7% of the total
kidnapping cases, with 90.4% of the kidnappings happening away from
rural areas, 80% of all being express kidnappings and the most
common victim being lower-middle or middle class Venezuelans and
middle-aged men.[323] Also in 2009, it was reported that Venezuelan
authorities would assign judicial police to Caracas area morgues to
speak with families.[324] At that time, they would advise families not to
report the murder of their family member to the media in exchange to
have the process of recovering the victim's body in an expedited
manner.[324]
In September 2010, responding to escalating crime rates in the country,
Chávez stated that Venezuela is no more violent than it was when he
first took office.[325] An International Crisis Group report that same year
stated that when Chávez took office, there were some factors beyond
his control that led to the crime epidemic throughout Venezuela, but that
Chávez ignored it as well as corruption in the country; especially among
fellow state officials. The report also stated that international organised
crime filters between Colombia and Venezuela with the assistance
among "the highest spheres of government" in Venezuela, lead to
higher rates of kidnapping, drug trafficking, and homicides. Chávez
supporters stated that the Bolivarian National Police has reduced crime
and also said that the states with the highest murder rates were
controlled by the opposition.[326][327] According to the publications El
Espectador and Le Monde diplomatique, rising crime in rural and urban
areas of Venezuela was partly due to increased cross-border activity by
Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups like Águilas
Negras.[328][better source needed]
Prisons[edit]
During Chávez's presidency, there were reports of prisoners having
easy access to firearms, drugs, and alcohol. Carlos Nieto—head of
Window to Freedom—alleges that heads of gangs acquire military
weapons from the state, saying: "They have the types of weapons that
can only be obtained by the country's armed forces. ... No one else has
these." Use of internet and mobile phones are also a commonplace
where criminals can take part in street crime while in prison. One
prisoner explained how, "If the guards mess with us, we shoot them"
and that he had "seen a man have his head cut off and people
play football with it."[329]
Edgardo Lander, a sociologist and professor at the Central University of
Venezuela with a PhD in sociology from Harvard University explained
that Venezuelan prisons were "practically a school for criminals" since
young inmates come out "more sort of trained and hardened than when
they went in". He also explained that prisons are controlled by gangs
and that "very little has been done" to control them.[330]
Corruption[edit]
For more details on this topic, see Corruption in Venezuela.
Venezuela's perception of corruption scores between 2004 and 2013.
( * ) Score was averaged according to Transparency International's method.
Source: Transparency International
In December 1998, Hugo Chávez declared three goals for the new
government; "convening a constituent assembly to write a new
constitution, eliminating government corruption, and fighting against
social exclusion and poverty". However, during Hugo Chávez's time in
power, corruption has become widespread throughout the government
due to impunity towards members of the government, bribes and the
lack of transparency.[331] In 2004, Hugo Chávez and his allies took over
the Supreme Court, filling it with supporters of Chávez and made new
measures so the government could dismiss justices from the
court.[332] According to the libertarian Cato Institute, the National
Electoral Council of Venezuela was under control of Chávez where he
tried to "push a constitutional reform that would have allowed him
unlimited opportunities for reelection".[333] The Corruption Perceptions
Index, produced annually by the Berlin-based NGO, Transparency
International (TNI) reports findings of corruption in countries around the
world. In the later years of Chávez's tenure, corruption worsened; it was
158th out of 180 countries in 2008, and 165th out of 176 (tied
with Burundi, Chad, and Haiti)[334]). Most Venezuelans believed the
government's effort against corruption is ineffective, that corruption has
increased, and that government institutions such as the judicial system,
parliament, legislature and police are the most corrupt.[335]
In Gallup Poll's 2006 Corruption Index, Venezuela ranked 31st out of
101 countries according to how widespread the population perceive
corruption as being in the government and in business. The index lists
Venezuela as the second least corrupt nation in Latin America, behind
Chile.[336] Some criticism came from Chávez's supporters. Chávez's own
political party, Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), had been criticized as
being riddled with the same cronyism, political patronage, and
corruption that Chávez alleged were characteristic of the old "Fourth
Republic" political parties. Venezuela's trade unionists and indigenous
communities have participated in peaceful demonstrations intended to
impel the government to facilitate labor and land reforms. These
communities, while largely expressing their sympathy and support for
Chávez, criticize what they see as Chávez's slow progress in protecting
their interests against managers and mining concerns,
respectively.[337][338][339]
Aiding FARC[edit]
Raúl Reyes
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS),
"Chavez's government funded FARC's office in Caracas and gave it
access to Venezuela's intelligence services" and said that during the
2002 coup attempt that, "FARC also responded to requests from
(Venezuela's intelligence service) to provide training in urban terrorism
involving targeted killings and the use of explosives." The IISS
continued saying that "the archive offers tantalizing but ultimately
unproven suggestions that FARC may have undertaken assassinations
of Chavez's political opponents on behalf of the Venezuelan state."
Venezuelan diplomats denounced the IISS' findings saying that they
had "basic inaccuracies".[340]
In 2007, authorities in Colombia claimed that through laptops they had
seized on a raid against Raúl Reyes, they found in documents that
Hugo Chávez offered payments of as much as $300 million to the
FARC "among other financial and political ties that date back years"
along with other documents showing "high-level meetings have been
held between rebels and Ecuadorean officials" and some documents
claiming that FARC had "bought and sold uranium".[341][342]
In 2015, Chávez's former bodyguard Leamsy Salazar stated
in Bumerán Chávez that Chávez met with the high command of FARC
in 2007 somewhere in rural Venezuela. Chávez created a system in
which the FARC would provide the Venezuelan government with drugs
that would be transported in live cattle and the FARC would receive
money and weaponry from the Venezuelan government. According to
Salazar, this was done in order to weaken Colombian President Álvaro
Uribe, an enemy of Chávez.[343]
Human rights[edit]
For more details on this topic, see Human rights in Venezuela.
Chávez, speaking at the 2003 World Social Forum inPorto Alegre, Brazil
1999 Venezuelan Constitution[edit]
In the 1999 Venezuelan constitution, 116 of the 350 articles were
concerned with human rights; these included increased protections for
indigenous peoples and women, and established the rights of the public
to education, housing, healthcare, and food. It called for dramatic
democratic reforms such as ability to recall politicians from office by
popular referendum, increased requirements for government
transparency, and numerous other requirements to increase localized,
participatory democracy, in favor of centralized administration. It gave
citizens the right to timely and impartial information, community access
to media, and a right to participate in acts of civil disobedience.[344][345]
Criticisms[edit]
Freedom ratings in Venezuela from 1998 to 2013. (1 = Free, 7 = not free)
Source: Freedom House
Shortly after Hugo Chávez's election, ratings for freedom in Venezuela
dropped according to political and human rights group Freedom
House and Venezuela was rated "partly free".[346] In 2004, Amnesty
International criticized President Chavez's administration of not handling
the 2002 coup in a proper manner, saying that violent incidents "have
not been investigated effectively and have gone unpunished" and that
"impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators encourages further human rights
violations in a particularly volatile political climate".[347] Amnesty
International also criticized theVenezuelan National Guard and
the Direccion de Inteligencia Seguridad y Prevención (DISIP) stating
that they "allegedly used excessive force to control the situation on a
number of occasions" during protests involving the 2004 Venezuela
recall.[347] It was also noted that many of the protesters detained seemed
to not be "brought before a judge within the legal time limit".[347]
In 2008, Human Rights Watch released a report reviewing Chávez's
human rights record over his first decade in power.[348] The report
praises Chávez's 1999 amendments to the constitution which
significantly expanded human rights guarantees, as well as mentioning
improvements in women's rights and indigenous rights, but noted a
"wide range of government policies that have undercut the human rights
protections established" by the revised constitution.[348] In particular, the
report accused Chávez and his administration of engaging in
discrimination on political grounds, eroding the independence of the
judiciary, and of engaging in "policies that have undercut journalists'
freedom of expression, workers' freedom of association, and civil
society's ability to promote human rights in Venezuela."[349] The
Venezuelan government retaliated for the report by expelling members
of Human Rights Watch from the country.[350] Subsequently, over a
hundred Latin American scholars signed a joint letter with the Council
on Hemispheric Affairs, a leftist NGO[351] that would defend Chávez and
his movement,[352] with the individuals criticizing the Human Rights
Watch report for its alleged factual inaccuracy, exaggeration, lack of
context, illogical arguments, and heavy reliance on opposition
newspapers as sources, amongst other things.[353][354][355]
The International Labor Organization of the United Nations had also
expressed concern over voters being pressured to join the party.[228]
Chávez meets with Hillary Clinton at the Summit of the Americas on 19 April
2009.
In 2010, Amnesty International criticized the Chávez administration for
targeting critics following several politically motivated
arrests.[356] Freedom House listed Venezuela as being "partly free" in its
2011 Freedom in the World annual report, noting a recent decline in civil
liberties.[357] A 2010 Organization of American States report found
concerns with freedom of expression, human rights abuses,
authoritarianism, press freedom, threats to democracy,[358][359] as well as
erosion of separation of powers, the economic infrastructure and ability
of the president to appoint judges to federal courts.[358][359][360] OAS
observers were denied access to Venezuela;[360] Chávez rejected the
OAS report, pointing out that its authors did not even come to
Venezuela. He said Venezuela should boycott the OAS, which he felt is
dominated by the United States; a spokesperson said, "We don't
recognize the commission as an impartial institution". He disclaimed any
power to influence the judiciary.[361] A Venezuelan official said the report
distorted and took statistics out of context, and said that "human rights
violations in Venezuela have decreased".[362] Venezuela said it would not
accept an IACHR/OAS visit as long as Santiago Cantón remains its
Executive Secretary, unless the IACHR apologizes for what he[clarification
needed]
described as its support of the 2002 coup.[264][363]
In November 2014, Venezuela appeared before the United Nations
Committee Against Torture over cases between 2002 and
2014.[364]Human rights expert of the UN committee, Felice D. Gaer,
noted that in "only 12 public officials have been convicted of human
rights violations in the last decade when in the same period have been
more than 5,000 complaints".[365] The United Nations stated that there
were 31,096 complaints of human rights violations received between
the years 2011 and 2014.[366] Of the 31,096 complaints, only 3.1% of the
cases resulted in only in an indictment by the Venezuelan Public
Ministry.[366][367]
Allegations of Anti-semitism[edit]
See also: Accusations of Chávez anti-Semitism
Chavez's opposition to Zionism and close relations with Iran led to
accusations of antisemitism[368][369] Such claims were made by the
Venezuelan Jewish community at a World Jewish Congress Plenary
Assembly in Jerusalem.[370] Claims of antisemitism were prompted by
various remarks Chávez made, including in a 2006 Christmas speech
where he complained that "a minority, the descendants of the same
ones that crucified Christ", now had "taken possession of all of the
wealth of the world".[371][372] In 2009, attacks on a synagogue in Caracas
were alleged to be influenced by "vocal denunciations of Israel" by the
Venezuelan state media and Hugo Chávez even though Chavez
promptly condemned the attacks blaming an "oligarchy".[370][373] A
weeklong CICPC investigation revealed the synagogue attack to be an
'inside job', the motive apparently being robbery rather than antisemitism.[374][375]
Media and the press[edit]
Venezuelans protesting against the closing of RCTV.
Human Rights Watch criticized Chávez for engaging in "often
discriminatory policies that have undercut journalists' freedom of
expression."[349] Freedom House listed Venezuela's press as being "Not
Free" in its 2011 Map of Press Freedom, noting that "[t]he gradual
erosion of press freedom in Venezuela continued in 2010."[376] Reporters
Without Borders criticized the Chávez administration for "steadily
silencing its critics".[377] In the group's 2009 Press Freedom Index,
Reporters Without Borders noted that "Venezuela is now among the
region’s worst press freedom offenders."[377]
In July 2005 Chávez inaugurated TeleSUR, a Pan-American equivalent
of Al Jazeera that sought to challenge the present domination of Latin
American television news by Univision and the United Statesbased CNN en Español.[378] In 2006 Chávez inaugurated a state-funded
movie studio called Villa del Cine(English: Cinema City).[379]
Chávez also had a Twitter account with more than 3,200,000 followers
as of August 2012.[380][381][382] A team of 200 people sorted through
suggestions and comments sent via Twitter. Chávez said Twitter was
"another mechanism for contact with the public, to evaluate many things
and to help many people",[383] and that he saw Twitter as "a weapon that
also needs to be used by the revolution".[384]
Foreign policy[edit]
Further information: Foreign policy of the Hugo Chávez government
Chávez with fellow South American presidents of Argentina and Brazil
Chávez refocused Venezuelan foreign policy on Latin American
economic and social integration by enacting bilateral trade and
reciprocal aid agreements, including his so-called "oil
diplomacy".[385][386]Relationships with Cuba (Cuba–Venezuela relations)
and Iran (Iran–Venezuela relations) were of particular importance.
Chávez focused on a variety of multinational institutions to promote his
vision of Latin American integration, including Petrocaribe, Petrosur,
and TeleSUR. Bilateral trade relationships with other Latin American
countries also played a major role in his policy, with Chávez increasing
arms purchases from Brazil, forming oil-for-expertise trade
arrangements with Cuba, and creating unique barterarrangements that
exchange Venezuelan petroleum for cash-strapped Argentina's meat
and dairy products. He also befriended pariah states such as Belarus
and Iran.[387]
In popular culture[edit]
Bolivarian memorabilia for sale inVenezuela, 2006

Syndicated cartoonists from around the world created cartoons,
illustrations, and videos of Hugo Chávez's controversial political
career and the reactions to his death.[388][389][390][391]

Hugo Chávez appears as a heroic character in the Latin American
postmodern fantasy novel United States of Banana (2011)
by Giannina Braschi; Chávez leads left-wing Latin American
leaders Evo Morales, Lula,Fidel Castro, and Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner on a quest to liberate the people of Puerto Rico from the
United States.[392]

Oliver Stone directed the 2009 documentary South of the Border,
where he "sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the
social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's
misperception of South America, while interviewing seven of its
elected presidents."[393]

On January 15, 2014, Mexican novelist Norma Gomez
released Swan Song, a political thriller that points to American
involvement in the death of Hugo Chávez.[394]

On 5 March 2014, Oliver Stone and teleSUR release the
documentary film Mi Amigo Hugo (My Friend Hugo), a documentary
about his political life, one year after his death. The film also is a
"spiritual answer" and a tribute from Stone to Chávez.[395]

Hugo Chávez and most of the other Latin American presidents are
parodied in the animated web page Isla Presidencial.[396]
Personal life[edit]
Chávez married twice. He first wed Nancy Colmenares, a woman from
a poor family in Chávez's hometown of Sabaneta. Chávez and
Colmenares remained married for 18 years, during which time they had
three children: Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela, and Hugo Rafael, the
latter of whom suffers from behavioural problems.[397] The couple
separated soon after Chávez's 1992 coup attempt. During his first
marriage, Chávez had an affair with historian Herma Marksman; their
relationship lasted nine years.[398] Chávez's second wife was
journalist Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez, with whom he separated in
2002 and divorced in 2004.[399] Through that marriage, Chávez had
another daughter, Rosinés.[400] Both María and Rosa provided Chávez
with grandchildren.[397][401] When Chávez was released from prison, he
initiated in affairs with women that had been his followers.[402] Allegations
were also made that Chávez was a womanizer throughout both his
marriages, having encounters with actresses, journalists, ministers and
minsters daughters.[402] The allegations remained unproven and are
contradicted by statements provided by other figures close to
him,[403] though one retired aide shared that while Chávez was married
to Marisabel and afterward, he participated in liaisons with women and
gave them gifts, with some rumors among his aides stating that some of
the women bore children of Chávez.[402]
Chávez was a Catholic. He intended at one time to become a priest. He
saw his socialist policies as having roots in the teachings of Jesus
Christ,[404] (liberation theology) and he publicly used the slogan of "Christ
is with the Revolution!"[405] Although he traditionally kept his own faith a
private matter, Chávez over the course of his presidency became
increasingly open to discussing his religious views, stating that he
interpreted Jesus as a Communist.[406] He was, in general, a liberal
Catholic, some of whose declarations were disturbing to the religious
community of his country. In 2008 he expressed his skepticism of
an afterlife, saying that such idea was false.[407] He also would declare
his belief in Darwin's theory of evolution, stating that "it is a lie that God
created man from the ground."[clarification needed][408]Among other things, he
cursed the state of Israel,[409] and he had some disputes with both the
Venezuelan Catholic clergy and Protestant groups like the New Tribes
Mission,[410][411] whose evangelical leader he "condemned to hell".[412] In
addition, he showed syncretisticpractices such as the worship of the
Venezuelan goddess María Lionza.[413][414] In his last years, after he
discovered he had cancer, Chávez became more attached to the
Catholic Church.[415]
Illness[edit]
Chávez walking with a cane accompanied by Rafael Correa in July 2011, shortly
after his surgery.
In June 2011, Chávez revealed in a televised address from Havana,
Cuba, that he was recovering from an operation to remove an
abscessed tumor with cancerous cells.[416] Vice President Elías
Jaua declared that the President remained in "full exercise" of power
and that there was no need to transfer power due to his absence from
the country.[417] On 3 July, the Venezuelan government denied, however,
that Chávez's tumour had been completely removed, further stating that
he was heading for "complete recovery".[418] On 17 July 2011, television
news reported that Chávez had returned to Cuba for further cancer
treatments.[419]
Chávez gave a public appearance on 28 July 2011, his 57th birthday, in
which he stated that his health troubles had led him to radically reorient
his life towards a "more diverse, more reflective and multi-faceted"
outlook, and he went on to call on the middle classes and the private
sector to get more involved in his Bolivarian Revolution, something he
saw as "vital" to its success.[420] Soon after this speech, in August
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 Venezuela's political
allies like Russia, China and Brazil.[421]
On 9 July 2012, Chávez declared himself fully recovered from cancer
just three months before the 2012 Venezuelan presidential election,
which he won, securing a fourth term as president.[422] In November
2012, Chávez announced plans to travel to Cuba for more medical
treatment for cancer.[423]
On 8 December 2012, Chávez announced he would undergo a new
operation after doctors in Cuba detected malignant cells; the operation
took place on 11 December 2012.[424] Chávez suffered a respiratory
infection after undergoing the surgery but it was controlled.[425] It was
announced 20 December by the country's vice-president that Chávez
had suffered complications following his surgery.[426] It was announced
on 3 January 2013 that Chávez had a severe lung infection that had
caused respiratory failures following a strict treatment regimen
for respiratory insufficiency.[427] However he was reported to have
overcome this later that month,[428] and it was reported that he was then
undergoing further treatment.[429] On 18 February 2013, Chávez returned
to Venezuela after 2 months of cancer treatment in Cuba.[430] On 1
March 2013, Vice President Nicolás Maduro said that Chávez had been
receiving chemotherapy in Venezuela following his surgery in
Cuba.[431] On 4 March, it was announced by the Venezuelan government
that Chávez's breathing problems had worsened and he was suffering a
new, severe respiratory infection.[432]
Death[edit]
Main article: Death and state funeral of Hugo Chávez
Mausoleum of Hugo Chávez in Caracas
On 5 March 2013, Vice President Nicolás Maduro announced on state
television that Chávez had died in a military hospital in Caracas at
16:25 VET (20:55 UTC).[433] The Vice President said Chávez died "after
battling a tough illness for nearly two years."[433] According to the head of
Venezuela's presidential guard, Chávez died from a massive heart
attack, and his cancer was very advanced when he died.[434]Gen. Jose
Ornella said that near the end of his life Chávez could not speak aloud,
but mouthed his last words: "Yo no quiero morir, por favor no me dejen
morir" (I don't want to die. Please don't let me die).[434] Chávez is
survived by four children and four grandchildren.[435]
Suggestions of foul play[433][436] (that Chávez had been poisoned or
infected with cancer,[437][438][439]) were strongly denied by the U.S.
Department of State as "absurd".[440]
His death triggered a constitutional requirement that a presidential
election be called within 30 days. Chavez's Vice President, Maduro,
was elected president on April 14, 2013.
FILMS – RELEVANT
http://tsak-giorgis.blogspot.gr/2014/10/blog-post_718.html
 ασκήσεις καταστολής πλήθους;

21 October 2015
Συκαμιά Λέσβου 2015

21 October 2015
Σοβαρά εκτεθειμένη η κυβέρνηση μετά την αποκάλυψη για τις στρατιωτικές ασκήσεις
"καταστολής πλήθους"

21 October 2015
Η Τάξις απεκαταστάθη!

21 October 2015
Λαθρέμποροι, μιζαδόροι, αρπακτικά και όλος ο «καλός κόσμος» του πολιτικο- οικονομικουεπιχειρηματικού κατεστημένου έχασε τον ύπνο του
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Έρωτας και Επανάσταση στην πατρίδα του Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ
Έρωτας και Επανάσταση στην πατρίδα του Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ
Από Δημήτρης Δαμασκηνός , Πέμπτη, 30 Οκτωβρίου 2014 | 6:15 π.μ.
Για τους
μεγάλους, για τους ελεύθερους,
για τους γενναίους, τους δυνατούς,
Αρμόζουν τα λόγια τα μεγάλα, τα ελεύθερα,
τα γενναία, τα δυνατά,
Γι’ αυτούς η απόλυτη υποταγή κάθε στοιχείου, η σιγή,
γι’ αυτούς τα δάκρυα, γι’ αυτούς οι φάροι,
κι οι κλάδοι ελιάς, και τα φανάρια [...]
Μπολιβάρ, είσαι ωραίος σαν Έλληνας.
(Νίκος Εγγονόπουλος, “Μπολιβάρ, ένα ελληνικό ποίημα”)
Ο πολιτιστικός σύλλογος "ΟΙ ΦΙΛΟΙ ΤΩΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΩΝ" διοργανώνει το φετινό χειμώνα
έναν νέο κύκλο κινηματογραφικών προβολών με τον τίτλο:
'Έρωτας και Επανάσταση στην πατρίδα του Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ"
Οι έξι ταινίες που θα προβληθούν για πρώτη φορά στα Χανιά από τις αρχές Νοεμβρίου
μέχρι τα μέσα Δεκεμβρίου στο πλαίσιο αυτού του αφιερώματος (τέσσερις μυθοπλασίας
και δύο ντοκιμαντέρ) αφορούν στη Λατινική Αμερική, την ήπειρο με τις στυγνές
δικτατορίες και τα αδιάκοπα στρατιωτικά πραξικοπήματα μα και με τις πλούσιες
εθνικοαπελευθερωτικές, δημοκρατικές και επαναστατικές παραδόσεις, την πατρίδα του
Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ, του Εμιλιάνο Ζαπάτα και του Ερνέστο Τσε Γκεβάρα. Το πρόγραμμα
των προβολών που θα γίνουν στην αίθουσα του Τ.Ε.Ε. (Νεάρχου 23, Χανιά)
έχει ως εξής:
1. Lucia (1968), του Humberto Solas, Κυριακή 09/11, στις 8.00 μ.μ.
2. El Che (1997), των Maurice Dugowson-Aníbal Di Salvo, Κυριακή 16/11, στις
8.00 μ.μ.
3. Μνήμες υπανάπτυξης/Μεmorias Del Subdesarrolio (1968), του Τ. Γκ. Αλέα,
Κυριακή 23/11, στις 8.00 μ.μ.
4. Ο Θεός και ο Διάβολος στη Χώρα του Ήλιου/Deus e o Diablo na Terra
do Sol (1964), του Glauber Rocha, Κυριακή 30/11 στις 8.00 μ.μ.
5. Nowhere (2002), του Luis Sepulveda, Κυριακή 07/12, στις 8.00 μ.μ.
6. Ο πόλεμος με τις μούμιες (1974), των Heynowski-Scheuman, Κυριακή 14/12, στις
8.00 μ.μ.
Σύντομο πληροφοριακό κείμενο για τις προβαλλόμενες ταινίες
1. Lucia/«Lucia» (1968), του Ουμπέρτο Σόλας
Σκηνοθεσία: Ουμπέρτο Σόλας
Έτος: 1968, Διάρκεια: 116'
Σενάριο: Ουμπέρτο Σόλας, Χούλιο Γκαρσία Εσπινόζα, Νέλσον Ροντρίγκεζ
Φωτογραφία: Χόρχε Χερέρα
Μουσική: Λέο Μπρούβερ, Χοσεϊτο Φερνάντεζ
Παίζουν: Ράκελ Ραβουέλτα, Ελίντα Νούνεζ, Αντέλα Λέκγρα
Βραβεία: Χρυσό Μετάλλιο και βραβείο ΦΙΠΕΡΣΙ Φεστιβάλ Μόσχας 1969, Βραβείο
Χρυσή Υδρόγειος Φεστιβάλ Τόκιο 1970 κ.α.
Η Λουτσία, αριστούργημα του κουβανικού κινηματογράφου, είναι μια σπονδυλωτή ταινία
με τρεις αυτόνομες ιστορίες που έχουν ωστόσο έναν κοινό συνδετικό
κρίκο: τοποθετούνται χρονικά σε τρεις χαρακτηριστικές περιόδους του αγώνα για την
απελευθέρωση της Κούβας, έχουν για ηρωίδα πάντα μια γυναίκα ονόματι Λουτσία, σε
κάθε επεισόδιο ο αφηγηματικός άξονας είναι κεντρωμένος γύρω από μια ερωτική ιστορία.
Το πρώτο επεισόδιο μας μεταφέρει στα 1895, στην εποχή της Ισπανικής αποικιοκρατίας,
όταν μια αριστοκρατική οικογένεια διχάζεται ανάμεσα στους αριστοκράτες και τους
αντάρτες. Ο Ουμπέρτο Σόλας ανατρέχει σ' ένα μπαρόκ στυλ που θυμίζει Βισκόντι, τον
κατεξοχήν σκηνοθέτη που κατέγραψε την παρακμή της αριστοκρατίας. Στο δεύτερο
επεισόδιο, βρισκόμαστε στο 1932, περίοδο της δικτατορίας του Ματσάντο, όπου η
αμερικάνικη νεοαποικιοκρατία έχει πάρει τη θέση των Ισπανών. Ωστόσο, αποδεικνύεται
πως οι νέοι κυβερνώντες είναι το ίδιο διεφθαρμένοι με τους παλιούς. Στην τρίτη ιστορία ο
Σόλας περιγράφει τα προβλήματα μιας όμορφης αγρότισσας στην Κούβα του Κάστρο,
που ο ζηλιάρης άντρας της δεν την αφήνει να πηγαίνει στο λαϊκό πανεπιστήμιο. Σε
αντίθεση με άλλες σπονδυλωτές ταινίες, και τα τρία επεισόδια της Λουτσίας είναι
ολοκληρωμένες ιστορίες που μιλούν η καθεμία με τον τρόπο της για τους εκάστοτε
κυρίαρχους εχθρούς της Κούβας και τους αγώνες του κουβανικού λαού για την
απελευθέρωσή του.
2. El Che/ Ο Τσε (1997), των Maurice Dugowson-Aníbal Di Salvo
Παραγωγή: CINETEVΕ, IGELDO KOMUNIKAZIOA
Υποστήριξη: EURIMAGES
Συμμετοχή: CANAL+ FRANCE, CANAL+ ESPANA, CANAL+ BELGIQUE
Συνεργασία: RADIOTELEVISIONE ITALIA, EUSKAL TELEBISTA ETB
Σενάριο: MAURICE DUGOWSON, PIERRE KALFON
Βασισμένο στο βιβλίο: “CHE – ERNESTO GUEVARA, UNE LEGENDE DU
SIECLE” του PIERRE KALFON
Μουσική: JORGE ARRIAGADA
Διεύθυνση Φωτογραφίας: FEDERICO RIBES, RICARDO ARONOVICH, FRANCOIS
CATONNE
Γλώσσα: Ισπανικά και Αγγλικά
Μετάφραση: BEATRICE DE CHAVAGNAC
COPYRIGHT: 1997
Διάρκεια: 1 ώρα και 35 λεπτά
Σύνοψη: Ο Ερνέστο Τσε Γκεβάρα ντε λα Σέρνα αντιπροσωπεύει μια από τις πιο ισχυρές
εικόνες πολιτικού ηγέτη παγκοσμίως. Ο θρυλικός του χαρακτήρας αποτέλεσε πηγή
έμπνευσης για εκατομμύρια ανθρώπους,. Αυτό το συναρπαστικό ντοκιμαντέρ εξετάζει
τον μύθο του «πιο εξιδανικευμένου επαναστάτη του 20ου αιώνα» και περιέχει φιλμικό
υλικό από την περιπλάνησή του στη Λατινική Αμερική, τη συνάντηση με τον Φιδέλ
Κάστρο, τα ταξίδια του ως πρέσβης της Κούβας και τις συνομιλίες με τον Χρουτσώφ, τον
Νάσερ, τον Τίτο και τον Μάο, τις ένδοξες μέρες που έζησε ως αρχηγός του
ανταρτοπόλεμου και ως επαναστάτης, τις διάφορες μεταμφιέσεις, το καταστροφικό
επεισόδιο στο Κονγκό και τον τραγικό του θάνατο στη Βολιβία.
3. Μνήμες υπανάπτυξης/MEMORIAS DE
SUBDESARROLLO/MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT
(1968)
Κοινωνική
Ασπρόμαυρη
Διάρκεια: 97'
Παραγωγή: Κουβανική
Σκηνοθεσία: Τόμας Γκουτιέρεζ Αλέα
Πρωταγωνιστούν: Σέρτζιο Κοριέρι, Ντέιζι Γκρανάντος, Εσλίντα Νούνιεζ,
Ομάρ Βαλντές, Ρενέ Ντε Λα Κρούζ, Ιολάντα Φαρ, Οφέλια Κονζάλες, Χοσέ
Γκιλ Αμπάντ
Περίληψη: Ο σκηνοθέτης Αλέα θίγει σε αυτήν την ταινία το θέμα των αστικών
κατάλοιπων της παλιάς τάξης και των δυσκολιών προσαρμογής στη νέα κοινωνική
πραγματικότητα. Η ιστορία του φιλμ τοποθετείται το 1961 δύο χρόνια μετά την
επικράτηση του νέου καθεστώτος. Ο Αλέα αφομοιώνοντας τις αισθητικές αρχές της
νουβελ-βαγκ και τις αφηγηματικές τεχνικές του σινέ –βεριτέ, στήνει την ταινία του στο
ενδιάμεσο της μυθοπλασίας και του ντοκιμαντέρ, κινηματογραφώντας την εύθραυστη και
ευμετάβλητη περιοχή όπου τέμνονται οι μικρές ασήμαντες ανθρώπινες ιστορίες και οι
προσωπικές μνήμες με τα μεγάλα ιστορικά γεγονότα, συλλαμβάνοντας τις αντηχήσεις της
Ιστορίας στο εσωτερικό του κεντρικού ήρωα.
Υπόθεση: Ο κεντρικός ήρωας είναι ένας καλλιεργημένος αστός που αρνήθηκε να
ακολουθήσει τη γυναίκα του, τους γονείς του και τους φίλους του στην Αμερική κι έμεινε
μόνος του στην Κούβα, παρατηρητής και σχολιαστής των μεταλλαγών που γίνεται στη
χώρα του. Προτιμά να παραμείνει στην Αβάνα και μολονότι υποστηρίζει την επανάσταση,
έστω κι αν δεν καταλαβαίνει πλήρως τους στόχους της, δεν αποφασίζει να πάρει μέρος
στο χτίσιμο της νέας κοινωνίας. Ζει χωρίς να δουλεύει. Ήρωας εξαιρετικά αντιφατικός,
που μένει απελπιστικά αδρανής όταν ξεσπά η κρίση στον Κόλπο των Χοίρων κι όλη η
χώρα κινητοποιείται για να αντιμετωπίσει την αμερικανική εισβολή.
4. Ο Θεός και ο Διάβολος
στη Χώρα του Ήλιου (1964)/Deus e o Diablo na Terra do
Sol (Βραζιλία)
Σκηνοθεσία: Glauber Rocha
Ταινία μυθοπλασίας-περιπέτεια
Διάρκεια: 115'
Παίζουν: Geraldo Del Rey, Othon Bastos
Χώρα: Βραζιλία
Υπόθεση: Οι περιπέτειες ενός πληρωμένου πιστολέρο του Antonio das
Mortes και η πορεία στο έγκλημα ενός απλού αγρότη, του Manuel ο οποίος
θα σταθεί απέναντι από τον περιβόητο κακοποιό μπαίνοντας σε αντίπαλη
συμμορία.
5. Nowhere/Πουθενά (2002), του Luis Sepulveda (Χιλή)
Γλώσσα: Αγγλικά
Διάρκεια: 101'
Σκηνοθέτης: Luis Sepulveda
Χώρα: Χιλή
Είδος: Ταινία μυθοπλασίας
Υπόθεση: Σε μια από τις αναρίθμητες δικτατορίες στη Λατινική Αμερική. Ένας
εγκαταλελειμμένος σιδηροδρομικός σταθμός. Ονομάζεται απλώς “Πουθενά” και
χρησιμοποιείται ως στρατόπεδο συγκέντρωσης κι εξόντωσης αντιφρονούντων. Ένας
φοιτητής με πάθος για το μποξ, ένας γκέι μάγειρας, ένας παράξενος καθηγητής, ένας
εργάτης με πάθος για το μπολερό κι ένας κουρέας που χορεύει τανγκό θα συνατηθούν
εκεί, κρατούμενοι για τις ιδέες τους. Φρουρούνται από αδίστακτους εκτελεστές, όμως η
κτηνωδία που τους περιβάλλει, δεν θα καταβάλει την ανθρωπιά τους. Ένας τυχοδιώκτης,
ένα όμορφο κορίτσι κι ένας άνθρωπος της ερήμου θα σταθούν στο πλάι τους, για να τους
βοηθήσουν να ξεφύγουν από τα σχέδια των φυλάκων τους.
6. Ο Πόλεμος με τις Μούμιες/Der Krieg der Mumien (1974) (The
War with the Mummies)
Γλώσσα: Γερμανικά,
Διάρκεια:100’
Σκηνοθεσία: Heynowski/ Scheuman
Χώρα: Γερμανία
Είδος: Ντοκιμαντέρ
Σύνοψη: Οι Χαϊνόφσκι & Σόιμαν, ερευνούν και αναλύουν τα βαθύτερα αίτια που
οδήγησαν στο πραξικόπημα της 11ης Σεπτέμβρη και στην ανατροπή του Σαλβαδόρ
Αλιέντε. Η Χιλιανή ολιγαρχία (της οποίας οι εκπρόσωποι μιλούν με ωμή ειλικρίνεια
μπροστά στο φακό) τα αμερικανικά συμφέροντα και τα φερέφωνά τους στη Χιλή,
εκτελούν μια καλοσχεδιασμένη συνωμοσία. Στόχος τους, ο πλούτος της Χιλής, τον οποίο
για χρόνια εκμεταλλεύονταν χωρίς κόστος. Τα μέσα, οι προβοκάτσιες και οι απεργίες
οργανώνονται από πουλημένους εργατοπατέρες και αστούς πολιτικούς- μούμιες.
Οι Χαϊνόφσκι & Σόιμαν είναι δύο ντοκιμαντερίστες που δουλεύουν πάντα μαζί και που
δημιούργησαν έναν θρύλο γύρω από τον τρόπο της δουλειάς τους: είναι
κινηματογραφιστές – αντάρτες – ντεντέκτιβς – δημοσιογράφοι - ερευνητές. Αυτό είναι ένα
περίεργο κράμα αρμοδιοτήτων και μεθόδων, σε τελική ανάλυση δεν είναι παρά μια
απόπειρα συγχώνευσης όλων των ορθόδοξων και ανορθόδοξων τρόπων λήξεως:
Δημιουργική εκμετάλλευση της πραγματικότητας (κατά τον κλασικό ορισμό που έδωσε
στο ντοκιμαντέρ ο Γκίρσον), παθητική καταγραφή της πραγματικότητας (στυλ επικαίρων),
συναισθηματική φόρτιση της πραγματικότητας (στυλ σινεμά – βεριτέ), απρόσμενη
περιγραφή της πραγματικότητας (στυλ σινεμά – ντιρέκτ), αδιάκριτη ματιά πάνω στην
πραγματικότητα (στυλ κάντιτ). Αν σ' αυτό το τελευταίο αντικαταστήσετε τη λέξη αδιάκριτη
με τη λέξη επικίνδυνη ή απαγορευμένη θα έχετε μια σχεδόν πλήρη εικόνα της μεθόδου
αυτών των Γερμανών κινηματογραφιστών που βρίσκουν τρόπους και τρυπώνουν εκεί
που κανείς δε θα μπορούσε να μπει ούτε σαν ουδέτερος θεατής.

αλληλεγγύη απ' τους κατοίκους της Λέσβου (2 Βίντεο)

21 October 2015
Η αλαζονεία του Μπουχέσα

21 October 2015
Συκαμιά Λέσβου 2015

21 October 2015
Σοβαρά εκτεθειμένη η κυβέρνηση μετά την αποκάλυψη για τις στρατιωτικές ασκήσεις
"καταστολής πλήθους"

21 October 2015
Η Τάξις απεκαταστάθη!
Home » Κινηματογράφος , Λατινική Αμερική , Οι φίλοι των Γραμμάτων , Τέχνες » 'Ερωτας
και Επανάσταση στην Πατρίδα του Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ (β΄κύκλος)
'Ερωτας και Επανάσταση στην Πατρίδα του Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ (β΄κύκλος)
Από Δημήτρης Δαμασκηνός , Δευτέρα, 26 Ιανουαρίου 2015 | 11:17 π.μ.
Δελ
τίο Τύπου
Για τους μεγάλους, για τους ελεύθερους,
για τους γενναίους, τους δυνατούς,
Αρμόζουν τα λόγια τα μεγάλα, τα ελεύθερα,
τα γενναία, τα δυνατά,
Γι’ αυτούς η απόλυτη υποταγή κάθε στοιχείου, η σιγή,
γι’ αυτούς τα δάκρυα, γι’ αυτούς οι φάροι,
κι οι κλάδοι ελιάς, και τα φανάρια [...]
Μπολιβάρ, είσαι ωραίος σαν Έλληνας.
(Νίκος Εγγονόπουλος, “Μπολιβάρ, ένα ελληνικό ποίημα”)
Ο πολιτιστικός σύλλογος: "ΟΙ ΦΙΛΟΙ ΤΩΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΩΝ"δίνοντας συνέχεια στο ιδιαίτερα
ποιοτικό, προοδευτικό και ενδιαφέρον κινηματογραφικό αφιέρωμα στη Λατινική Αμερική
με τίτλο"Έρωτας και Επανάσταση στην Πατρίδα του Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ" (β΄κύκλος) σε
συνεργασία με τη NEW STAR θα προβάλλει τον φετινό χειμώνα για πρώτη φορά στα Χανιά
τέσσερις αξιόλογες ταινίες:
1. Κυριακή 01 Φεβρουαρίου 2015: "Ο θάνατος ενός γραφειοκράτη" (1966), του Τομάζ
Γκουτιέρεζ Αλέα.
2. Κυριακή, 08 Φεβρουαρίου 2015: "Clandestinos" (1987), του Φερνάντο Πέρεζ
3. Κυριακή, 15 Φεβρουαρίου 2015, "Viva Cuba" (2005), του Χουάν Κάρλος Κρεμάτα
Μαλμπέρτι
4. Κυριακή, 01 Μαρτίου 2015, "El Norte" (1983), του Γκρέγκορι Νάβα
Όλες οι προβολές θα γίνουν στη γνώριμη αίθουσα του
Τ.Ε.Ε. Δυτικής Κρήτης (Νεάρχου 23, Χανιά), Ώρα έναρξης προβολών 8.00μ.μ.
Επιπροσθέτως, στα πλαίσια του αφιερώματος στη Λατινική Αμερική με τίτλο"Έρωτας και
Επανάσταση στην Πατρίδα του Σιμόν Μπολιβάρ"(β΄κύκλος) θα διοργανωθεί την Κυριακή,
08 Μαρτίου εκδήλωση-συζήτηση με τίτλο: "Λατινοαμερικάνική λογοτεχνία και
Επανάσταση" με ομιλητή τον Κρίτωνα Ηλιόπουλο, εξαιρετικό μεταφραστή μιας πλειάδας
λογοτεχνικών έργων της ισπανόφωνης λογοτεχνίας της Λατινικής Αμερικής και βραβευμένο
για τις μεταφράσεις το 2013 με τοΒραβείο Λογοτεχνικής Μετάφρασης Ισπανόφωνης
Λογοτεχνίας Instituto Cervantes. Η πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα αυτή εκδήλωση - συζήτηση θα γίνει
στην αίθουσα του Τ.Ε.Ε. Δυτικής Κρήτης (Νεάρχου 23, Χανιά) στις 7.00μ.μ. Στο χώρο της
εκδήλωσης θα λειτουργήσει βιβλιοπωλείο με αντιπροσωπευτικά έργα της Ισπανόφωνης
λογοτεχνίας της Λατινικής Αμερικής που σχετίζονται με το θέμα.
Λίγα λόγια για την ταινία: Ο ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΕΝΟΣ ΓΡΑΦΕΙΟΚΡΑΤΗ/LA MUERTE DE UN
BUROCRATA / DEATH OF A BUREAUCRAT (1966)
Κωμωδία
Ασπρόμαυρη
Διάρκεια: 84'
Παραγωγή: Κουβανική
Σκηνοθεσία: Τόμας Γκουτιέρεζ Αλέα
Πρωταγωνιστούν: Σαλβατόρ Γουντ, Σίλβια Πλάνας, Μανουέλ Εστανίλο, Γκασπάρ ντε
Σαντελίσες
Περίληψη: H ταινία είναι μια εξαιρετικά ευρηματική σάτιρα κατά της γραφειοκρατίας και
των εντελώς παράλογων κανόνων λειτουργίας και των μηχανισμών της. Σκηνοθετημένη με
πρωτοτυπία και οίστρο είναι και ένας φόρος τιμής στο κινηματογραφικό είδος του
μπουρλέσκ και στους μεγάλους κωμικούς του. Ο κεντρικός ήρωας του Αλέα είναι ένας
φτωχοδιάβολος που τινάζει τα πάντα στον αέρα, διακωμωδώντας τον ακατανόητο όσο και
παρανοϊκό κόσμο της γραφειοκρατικής εξουσίας. Η ταινία δεν είναι μονάχα μια από τις
κορυφαίες στιγμές του κουβανικού κινηματογράφου, αλλά και μια από τις καλύτερες που
έγιναν ποτέ για την εγγενή τρέλα κάθε γραφειοκρατικού μηχανισμού σε κάθε κοινωνία και
σε κάθε εποχή.
Υπόθεση: Όταν ένας σταχανοβίτης εργάτης, αφοσιωμένος στο έργο της επανάστασης και
στην οικοδόμηση της σοσιαλιστικής κοινωνίας χάνει τη ζωή του εν ώρα υπηρεσίας και
καθήκοντος, στην κηδεία του οι σύντροφοί του κάνουν την ύψιστη τιμή να τον θάψουν μαζί
με το εργατικό του βιβλιάριο. Αυτό το γεγονός όμως ανοίγει τους ασκούς του Αιόλου,
καθώς η χήρα του δεν μπορεί να πάρει την σύνταξη του νεκρού χωρίς το θαμμένο
βιβλιάριο. Ένας αφελής ανιψιός της προσφέρεται να διορθώσει τα πράγματα και μπλέκει
σε ένα απίστευτο γραφειοκρατικό λαβύρινθο, σε έναν κόσμο από γραφεία υπηρεσίες και
ατέλειωτες αναμονές, εχθρικό, καταπιεστικό, σχεδόν καφκικό, όπου η παράνοια
συμβαδίζει με την ιλαρότητα και το τραγικό με το γελοίο.
«Ο ήρωας του Alea είναι ένας
μπερδεμένος, άτυχος ανθρωπάκος, ένα κράμα Κήτον, Λόυντ, Τσάπλιν, Λώρελ και Χάρντυ,
που αναποδογυρίζει στο θυελλώδες πέρασμα του τα πάντα και διακωμωδεί με τις πράξεις
του ολόκληρο το σύστημα που στηρίζει αυτόν το γραφειοκρατικό μηχανισμό. Ωστόσο το
γέλιο μόνο του δε χρησιμεύει σαν ξόρκι απέναντι στο κακό της γραφειοκρατίας. Ίσα ίσα
μάλιστα στο τέλος ο ήρωας νικιέται από αυτό και βρίσκεται στην ίδια τραγική και παράλογη
θέση με τον κ. Κ. της «Δίκης». Ο Αλέα ξεφεύγει έτσι από την παγίδα του διδακτισμού ή της
εύκολης θριαμβολογίας, κάνοντας μια εξαιρετικά πρωτότυπη και προσωπική ταινία που
αποτελεί και ένα είδος σύνοψης ολόκληρης της κινηματογραφικής
κωμωδίας.»
C
ineek Magazine
Λίγα λόγια για τον σκηνοθέτη Τόμας Γκουτιέρεζ Αλέα (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea 11/12/1928 16/4/1996): Ήταν Κουβανός σκηνοθέτης, σεναριογράφος και ντοκιμαντερίστας. Γεννήθηκε
στην Αβάνα το 1928. Σπούδασε νομικά στο Πανεπιστήμιο της Αβάνας και για δύο χρόνια
κινηματογράφο στο CSDC της Ρώμης. Επηρεασμένος από τον ιταλικό νεορεαλισμό, ξεκίνησε
την καριέρα του ως ντοκιμαντερίστας στην Κουβα του Μπατίστα, αλλά μετά την
επικράτηση της επανάστασης μεταπήδησε στον αφηγηματικό κινηματογράφο, με έντονα
χιουμοριστικό στυλ. Υποστήριξε την επανάσταση αλλά πάντα κρατούσε μια κριτική στάση
απέναντι στην οικονομική και κοινωνική πολιτική της χώρας του. Τις δύο τελευταίες του
ταινίες τις σκηνοθέτησε μαζί με τον φίλο του Χουάν Κάρλος Τάμπιο. Ο Τίτον, όπως τον
φώναζαν οι φίλοι του, πέθανε από καρκίνο, το 1996 στην Αβάνα.
Φιλμογραφία:
1995
Guantanamera
1994
Φράουλα και σοκολάτα
1991
Contigo en la distancia
1989
Cartas del parque
1983
Hasta cierto punto
1979
Οι επιζήσαντες
1977
De cierta manera (ντοκ.)
1977
La Sexta parte del mundo, (ντοκ.)
1976
Ο μυστικός Δείπνος
1975
El Camino de la mirra y el incienso
1974
El Arte del tabaco
1972
Una Pelea cubana contra los demonios, Una
1968
Μνήμες υπανάπτυξης
1966
Ο θάνατος ενός γραφειοκράτη
1964
Cumbite `
1962
Las Doce sillas
1961
Muerte al invasor (μ.μ.)
1960
Ιστορίες της επανάστασης
1960
Asamblea general (μ.μ.)
1959
Esta tierra nuestra (μ.μ.)
1955
El Mégano
1953
Il Sogno de Giovanni Bassain (μ.μ.)
1950
Una Confusión cotidiana (μ.μ.)
1947
La Caperucita roja
1947
El Faquir
Δείτε ακόμη και την κριτική του Βασίλη Ραφαηλίδη για την ταινία: Ο ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΕΝΟΣ
ΓΡΑΦΕΙΟΚΡΑΤΗ (LA MUERTE DE UN BUROCRATA, 1966)
Ο Τόμας Γκουτιέρεζ Αλέα, το «πρώτο όνομα» του κουβανέζικου κινηματογράφου, είναι
αυτός που οργάνωσε το κινηματογραφικό τμήμα κατά τη διάρκεια της επανάστασης και
που, με τη λήξη της ίδρυσε μαζί με άλλους το Κουβανέζικο Ινστιτούτο Κινηματογραφίας
στην Αβάνα, δηλαδή τον κρατικό οργανισμό που είναι επιφορτισμένος με την παραγωγή
και τη διανομή.
Ο θάνατος ενός γραφειοκράτη, είναι η τέταρτη «ειρηνική» ταινία του, γυρισμένη το 1966,
προφανώς στο πλαίσιο μιας εκστρατείας για την καταπολέμηση της γραφειοκρατίας. Με
άλλα λόγια, πρόκειται για μια ταινία προγραμματική και παιδαγωγική, που έχει έναν πολύ
συγκεκριμένο στόχο: να καταδείξει πως το «ρεαλιστικό» γεγονός της ύπαρξης μιας
παραλυτικής γραφειοκρατίας, είναι στη βάση του και στην ουσία του βαθιά και ολικά
παράλογο, αφού αρνείται και την προφάνεια και τον κοινό νου και το αυταπόδεικτο. Απλό
παράδειγμα, εκείνο το μπουρ-λέσκ «πιστοποιητικό γεννήσεως» που πιστοποιεί επισήμως
πως ένας «ήρωας της εργασίας» εργάστηκε όντως!
Και τούτο, για να μπορέσει η χήρα να πάρει τη σύνταξη του πεθαμένου συζύγου που
υπήρξε ένα είδος σταχανοβίτη της τέχνης: ήταν γλύπτης που στο πλαίσιο της αύξησης του
«πλάνου δουλειάς» εφεύρε μια μηχανή για την κατασκευή προτομών για τη στρατιά των
παντοειδών ηρώων που παρήγαγε το καινούργιο ηρωοπαραγωγό καθεστώς.
Το γλύπτη, μια και υπήρξε «ήρωας της εργασίας» τον θάβουν με το εργατικό του βιβλιάριο.
Και τούτη η ύψιστη τιμή για ένα νεκρό εργάτη, τιμή παντελώς κενή περιεχομένου και
γραφειοκρατικής έμπνευσης, είναι η αφορμή για να κινηθεί ο σατανικός, στον πλήρη
παραλογισμό του, γραφειοκρατικός μηχανισμός: η χήρα δεν μπορεί να πάρει σύνταξη
χωρίς το θαμμένο εργατικό βιβλιάριο που, ωστόσο, θάφτηκε κατ' εντολήν άλλων
γραφειοκρατών: η γραφειοκρατία δεν επιτρέπει την εκταφή, συμβουλεύοντας να κάνει
υπομονή η χήρα... δυο χρόνια για να 'ρθει «φυσιολογικά» στα χέρια της το χάρτινο
βιβλιάριο!
Κατόπιν τούτου του ύψιστου παραλογισμού, ένας ανιψιός του μακαρίτη ξεθάβει νύχτα και
παράνομα το πτώμα. Το βιβλιάριο έρχεται επιτέλους στα χέρια της χήρας, αλλά μαζί μ'
αυτό ξανάρχεται στο σπίτι και το πτώμα του συζύγου. Και διατηρείται... φρέσκο με πάγο
που κουβαλούν οι γειτόνισσες. Διότι η γραφειοκρατία δε δίνει άδεια ταφής YIQ ένα πτώμα
που δεν ξεθάφτηκε επισήμως. Και κατοχυρώνει επιπρόσθετα την άρνηση της με το
«λογικό» επιχείρημα πως δεν είναι δυνατόν να εκδοθεί δύο φορές για τον ίδιο πεθαμένο
πιστοποιητικό θανάτου.
Το κωμικοτραγικό δράμα λύνεται τελικά με τρόπο άκρως
αποτελεσματικό: ο ανιψιός πνίγει τον αρχιγραφειοκράτη διευθυντή του νεκροτομείου μέσα
στο τσιφλίκι του, δίπλα στον ανοιχτό και αναμενοντα τάφο του γλύπτη.
Ο σεναριακός μύθος είναι στ' αλήθεια καταπληκτικός στη σατανική του ευρηματικότητα.
Είναι ένας μύθος ρεαλιστικός στο έπακρο (οι αναφορές σε μια πραγματικότητα δεν
αφήνουν κανένα περιθώριο για μεταθέσεις στην περιοχή του φανταστικού) και ταυτόχρονα
τόσο παράλογος, που μόνο στην περιοχή του φανταστικού μπορούσε να δικαιωθεί από τη
μυθοπλασία.
Απλό διδακτικό συμπέρασμα: η γραφειοκρατία δεν είναι παρά η εισβολή του φανταστικού
και παραλόγου στο χώρο του πραγματικού και λογικού. Είναι, μ' άλλα λόγια, ένα σκάνδαλο
της λογικής, και ως τέτοιο θα μπορούσε εύκολα να απαλειφθεί με μια απλή ενεργοποίηση
του κοινού νου, και μια επαναφορά του μυαλού στη φυσιολογική του θέση μέσα στην
κρανιακή κάψα.
Ο θαυμάσιος Αλέα, που σπούδασε κινηματογράφο στο Τσέντρο Σπεριμεντάλε της Ρώμης,
εκμεταλλεύεται το δικό του σενάριο με τρόπο που αποτελεί ένα είδος σύνοψης ολόκληρης
της ιστορίας της κινηματογραφικής κωμωδίας, και γενικότερα της παρεμβολής του χιούμορ
σε όλα τα κινηματογραφικά είδη. Σχεδόν η κάθε σκηνή της ταινίας είναι μια εύκολα
διαγνώσιμη αναφορά σε μια συγκεκριμένα ταινία, απ' όπου ο Αλέα δανείζεται ένα
συγκεκριμένο εύρημα. Τούτα τα δάνεια όχι μόνο δεν τα αποκρύβει κατά τον προσφιλή
στους ιδεοκλόπους τρόπο, αλλά έχει την εντιμότητα να αφιερώσει την ταινία του σε όλους
όσοι «έκλεψε». Στο ζενερίκ προσθέτει πάνω από δεκαπέντε ονόματα κινηματογραφικών
του προγόνων, συμπεριλαμβανομένου του Μπιουνιουέλ και του Ουέλς.
«Το Βήμα», 28-12-1978. Λεξικό Ταινιών Βασίλης Ραφαηλίδης (Κριτικός κινηματογράφου,
μαρξιστής συγγραφέας)
http://tsak-giorgis.blogspot.gr/2015/01/blog-post_126.html
OI ARXONTEW TOY XRHMATOS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sz2xLzaaugM
The Money Masters [Greek Subtitles] Part 1
zeitgeistgreece