The Role of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela
Introduction
Venezuela is a late bloomer in regard to having complete independence and in terms of running its own democratic government. Right now, the Venezuelan people are in the midst of the same debate that has historically plagued countries all over the world; the country is torn between class lines and is another classic example of the haves versus the have-nots. Caracas is the capital and the Andes region is home to two-thirds of the population. Mestizos make up 67% of the population, with 21% descending from white Europeans (primarily Spanish and Portuguese), blacks are 10%, and Amerinds are 2%. Unfortunately, the middle class has declined by as much as 25% since the
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In support of this tumultuous political tactic, along with the upper class, were the both the Venezuelan and U.S. media, and the U.S. government; examining their interests is the key to understanding why these groups are against Chavez and what hand they played in helping an undisciplined regime coordinate the coup. Furthermore, a look at the country's economic structure, its historical political leadership, Chavez's political stances, and the role of the media will help us to understand what has led Venezuela to this point of extreme division and political chaos.
Economy
Venezuela is one of the top ten producers of oil in the world and has become dependent on the country's primary export product. Although Venezuela possesses a lot of power due to its oil production for the international market, the Venezuelan economy is drastically affected by the world market's demand and price. A common theme in Venezuelan economic development has been the call to “sow the petroleum,” meaning to use the revenues and comparative advantages that petroleum brings to support government programs and other sectors of the economy. Since oil became the nation's number one export in 1925, until international petroleum prices plummeted in 1986 (a period during most of which Venezuela was the world's leading exporter), the nation was blessed by nearly steady economic growth (Ellner 7). Any decline in global commodity prices, as in the 1990s, places the government under stress
This project’s purpose is to record a people who have lived through the promises and outcomes of the Bolivarian Revolution, an idea that captured Venezuela’s spirit and spread across 16 Latin America nations as the Pink Tide. The poor and working class will be a fundamental component of this story as I investigate the role the revolution has played in shaping the lives of this perpetually overlooked group of people. Simultaneously, the nature of these issues will create a portal into the world of Venezuelan heritage, traditions, and political and civic culture. What I write will be the reality of the situation; the interpretation will be left up to the reader.
The “Bolivarian revolution” revolves around the rise of the leftest movement which started with Hugo Chavez, and soon many other leaders rose to the occasion. The sole purpose of this movement was to help Latin America get rid of dictators and reestablish under Simon Bolivar's ideals of making Latin America not a colony but a nation for the people residing in it. Now that Chavez is dead, I believe that he was able to complete Bolivar's conquest of freeing Latin America. Now that Chavez has passed away, he has left both good and bad implications, but I believe its more good than bad. “The real opposition to Chavez is from the United States which was so angry at the way that he built up a credible alternative to the U.S. idea of free trade with
In Venezuela, the Republics are torn down by bloody counter-revolutions, led by non-creoles. In Mexico, Father Hidalgo and Morelos were crushed by their conservative countrymen.
This article talks about Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro wanting to rewrite the country’s constitution, originally written in 1999. The exact changes that would be made to the document are not known, but citizens and leaders of both Venezuela and the United States, including President Trump, believe it will make the government too much like Cuba’s. Cuba has a communist government that controls everything. There will be a vote that many people plan on boycotting, and there have been many protests from all the people who do not want the President of Venezuela to go through with the changes. These strikes are dangerous and have ended up killing many people.
When Hugo Chavez emerged as an iconic figure against anti-imperialism he was supported by Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Raul Castro (Cuba). The reason why these leftist political leaders supported Chavez because of the intentions Chavez had to get people out of poverty and make Venezuela a rich Latin Nation. Another reason towards why Chavez was supported was because he demonstrated that the U.S. was not needed in order to prosper. Due to this, Chavez main opponent became the United States specially under the control of President George W. Bush. Since Chavez was becoming more popular in Latin America and was being aided by Cuba, the United States felt threatened and got
Venezuela, located in the Latin American region, is a country that has been characterized by its abundance of oil reserve. A natural resource that has shaped the history and development of the country, affecting its economic, social and most important is political spheres. For many years Venezuela was controlled by authoritarian regimes. The country, being very important in the sense of geo-politics due to its abundance of oil, has been a key player in the international arena and most important, to those that for many years kept the country under their regime. It was not until 1958 that Venezuela experienced the change to democracy and a stable democracy was kept between the two main political parties of the time, Accion Democratica (AD)
His strategy has always been to appeal to the electorate (which is why I say that he is not a "dictator" because almost everything he has done has had the support of the majority of the population). In this case, by appealing to the resentment sense that the population had towards the party system he called for a National Constituent Assembly. His first goal was to get most of the Assembly through the manipulation of a system of election of delegates. By this, he obtained the 93% of the seats in the assembly, giving him the freedom to make the changes. Some of the most important changes were the elimination of the Senate in its place he created the National Assembly. Chaves replaces the party system that had been established in Venezuela for nearly half a century. Taking advantage of the resentment of the population toward the parties, managed to strengthen the powers invested in the figure of the president. This gave him the power to make laws or declare a referendum without the need for support from the legal system. This in turn, will make things easier because there was no system of checks and balances. In the referendum conducted in 2009 to the executive branch led by Chavez was given the ability to dissolve the National Assembly too. Also, he gained control of the attorney general, comptroller general, and the militia and the National
Venezuela is located on the north coast of South America. It is a very interesting country, since it possesses many unique attributes and resources that other countries in the region do not. There are several different systems that represent these resources and attributes. Major Kris A. Arnold (2006) states “PMESII is (sic) military acronym listed in several joint and service publications, which evolved from a systems perspective, and equates to the political, military, economic, social, infrastructure, and information systems of states. The acronym provides a starting point for identifying key interrelated systems of an adversary and facilitates analysis and kinetic and non-kinetic targeting”. Venezuela is an especially interesting case due to the political system in place, in addition to the unique economic power that the nation has.
As a consequence, with the passing of the years he created an atmosphere of division, violence and unrest within the population.Thus, Created a marked difference between the supporters and opponents of his policies, a situation that President Hugo Chávez took in advantages for himself purposes, deploy a communist regime disguised as a socialist. In other words, Chavez tricked his people offering the establishment of a socialism that was nothing more than a dictatorship adapted to their own purposes, become the most recognized leader of the left in America and throughout the world.
(unknown, 2013). I don?t think there were doubts of Ch?vez good intentions at first, but somehow, all that power and politics took over and transformed his vision. He wanted to imitate Bolivar?s actions but some things just got lost in the way. As the article says ?There is no need to deny that in all likelihood Hugo Chavez was motivated by the best of intentions, or that worthwhile social reforms were achieved under his presidency. Nevertheless, like all other mortals, Chavez was susceptible to the corruption of power. That is one of the reasons why even the most benevolent tyranny cannot lead to a free classless society. The emancipation of the working class is the task of the working class itself.? (unknown,
With an economy dominated by the production of oil, Venezuela has enjoyed the highest standard of living in Latin America. In spite of its success in the oil industry, agriculture and manufacturing also play important roles in Venezuela’s economy. With this in mind, it would seem as though Venezuela’s economic state has flourished. Rather, it has suffered from the effects of political influence, corruption, and poor economic management. The distribution of wealth across Venezuela has caused the elite to benefit at the cost of the working people. This is mainly due to the economic and political structure of the country. Even with the plentiful resources Venezuela possesses, it is constantly being threatened by political instability,
The oil-rich Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, located on the northern coast of South America, was for many decades considered among the wealthiest nations in the entire continent. While having the largest proven oil reserves in the world has often proved a tremendous boon for Venezuela, the very black gold that has been the cause of its success has also proven to repeatedly be its kryptonite. Over half of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product stems from petroleum exports – which equates to approximately 95% of total exports. It is really not too hard to imagine what drastic consequences shifts in global oil prices could have on the economy.
Venezuela is currently facing the worst economic crisis in history. According to the International Monetary Fund, it has negative growth of -8%, the worst in the world and the worst inflation rate (482%). The current unemployment rate is 17% though this figure is expected to climb towards 30%. Venezuela is a country that is reported to have the worlds largest oil supply, a commodity that has a changing price based on supply and demand. Their ability to sell oil was a primary source of revenue for the government. Exporting oil was reported to be around 96 percent of Venezuela's total exports according to the World Bank. In 2014 the
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves and by 1960, it became the wealthiest country in Latin America. Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state owned company, was the key to economic and social development in Venezuela under president Hugo Chavez. His government was settled in an environment where the oil prices were rising and the economy was booming, so he was able fund social programs and practices that were popular to the poor masses. This wealthy and growing Venezuela made Chavez to be very popular and his regime very powerful. Oil revenue accounted for nearly 90% of exports, more than 50% of government revenue, and 35% of country’s GDP.
The main purpose of the following report is to provide information about the profile of The Bolivarian Republican of Venezuela; in order to study the current situation of the country for further investigations in the future that may help to understand the opportunities and risk involve in importing and opening new markets in Venezuela.