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] The high oil profits coinciding with the start of Chavez's presidency[12] resulted in temporary improvements in areas such as poverty, literacy, income equality and quality of life between primarily 2003 and 2007,[13][12][14] though extensive changes in structural inequalities did not occur.[15] On 2 June 2010, Chávez declared an "economic war" on Venezuela's upper classes due to shortages, arguably beginning the crisis in Venezuela.[16] By the end of Chávez's presidency in the early 2010s, economic actions performed by his government during the preceding decade, such as deficit spending[17][18][19] and price controls,[20][21] proved to be unsustainable, with Venezuela's economy faltering. At the same time, poverty,[12][22]inflation[23] and shortages increased.
Under Chávez, Venezuela experienced democratic backsliding, as he suppressed the press, manipulated electoral laws, and arrested and exiled government critics.[24][25][26] His use of enabling acts[27] and his government's use of propaganda were controversial.[28][29][30][31] Chávez's presidency saw significant increases in the country's murder rate[32][33] and continued corruption within the police force and government.[34][35]
Aged 17, Chávez studied at the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in Caracas, following a curriculum known as the Andrés 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.[47]
Personal life
Chávez married twice. He first wed Nancy Colmenares (d. 2022), 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 last of whom suffers from behavioural problems.[353] 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.[354] Chávez's second wife was journalist Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez, from whom he separated in 2002 and divorced in 2004.[355] Through that marriage, Chávez had another daughter, Rosinés.[356] Both María and Rosa had children.[353][357] When Chávez was released from prison, he initiated affairs with women that had been his followers.[358] Allegations were also made that Chávez was a womanizer throughout both his marriages, having encounters with actresses, journalists, ministers, and ministers' daughters.[358] The allegations remained unproven and are contradicted by statements provided by other figures close to him,[359] 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 from Chávez.[358]
Those who were very close to Chávez felt that he had bipolar disorder.[360] Salvador Navarrete, a physician that treated Chávez during his first years in the presidency believed that Chávez was bipolar.[360] In 2010, Alberto Müller Rojas, then vice president of Chávez's party, PSUV, stated that Chávez had "a tendency toward cyclothymia—mood swings that range from moments of extreme euphoria to moments of despondence".[360] A different explanation was that such behavior was a tactic used by Chávez in order to attack opponents and polarize.[360]
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 (liberation theology),[361] and he publicly used the slogan of "Christ is with the Revolution!"[362] 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.[363] 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 an idea was false.[364] 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".[365] Among other things, he cursed the state of Israel,[366] and he had some disputes with both the Venezuelan Catholic clergy and Protestant groups like the New Tribes Mission,[367][368] whose evangelical leader he "condemned to hell".[369] In addition, he showed syncretistic practices such as the worship of the Venezuelan goddess María Lionza.[370][371] In his last years, after he discovered he had cancer, Chávez became more attached to the Catholic Church.[372]
South Korea; Honorary Doctorate in Political Science – Granted by Rector Chungwon Choue on 16 October 1999.
Kyung Hee University
Dominican Republic; Honorary Doctorate in Jurisprudence, 9 March 2001.
Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo
Brazil; Honorary Doctorate – Granted by Rector Alberto Pérez on 3 April 2001.
University of Brasília
Nicaragua; Honorary Doctorate in Engineering – Granted by Rector Aldo Urbina in May 2001.[415]
Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
Russia; Honorary Doctorate, 15 May 2001.
Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
China; Honorary Doctorate in Economics, 24 May 2001.
Beijing University
Bolivia; Honorary Doctorate, 24 January 2006.[416]
Higher University of San Andrés
Chile; Honorary Doctorate – Granted by Rector Carlos Margotta Trincado on 7 March 2006.[417]
UARCIS
Syria; Honorary Doctorate – Granted by Rector Wael Moualla on 30 August 2006.[418]
University of Damascus
Libya; Honorary Doctorate in Economy and Human Sciences, 23 October 2010.[419][420]
University of Tripoli
Syndicated cartoonists from around the world created cartoons, illustrations, and videos of Hugo Chávez's controversial political career and the reactions to his death.[422][423][424]
[421]
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". Chávez appears in one segment being interviewed by Stone.[425]
Oliver Stone
In 2011, he appeared in a game .
Postal III
Bolivarian memorabilia for sale in Venezuela, 2006On 5 March 2014, Oliver Stone and teleSUR released the documentary film Mi amigo Hugo (My Friend Hugo), a documentary about his political life, one year after his death.
Hugo Chávez and most of the other Latin American presidents are parodied in the animated web page .[426]
produces a TV series called El Comandante about the life of Hugo Chávez with 60 episodes.
Sony Pictures Television
The 2018 documentary (Spanish: Chavismo: la peste del siglo XXI), analysis of the causes, social, political and economic that caused the rise of Chávez as president of Venezuela; "his abuse of power and the response of civil society, including the student movement; his political fall and as the secrecy that surrounded his illness and the succession of Nicolás Maduro".[429]
Chavismo: The Plague of the 21st Century
The documentary film released in 2018 (English: I am the people), directed by Venezuelan filmmaker Carlos Oteyza and produced by Mexican historian Enrique Krauze, explores the populism of Chávez.[430]
