Hugo Chávez and The Bolivarian Dream
By Nicole Cacozza
The late president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, inspired both fanatical support and deep mistrust in the international community. Born in 1954 in the small town of Sabaneta, he entered the military academy at seventeen where he served until his political debut—first as an opposition to the President, then later as president himself. After his ascension to the presidency in 1998, he clashed openly with the United States government, famously calling George W. Bush “el Diablo” before the UN in 2006 and publicly expressing support and solidarity for deposed Libyan leader Mohammar Gaddafi. [Watch his speech subtitled in English.] Critics often point to how he has managed to consolidate political power in the executive and Chavez is frequently labeled a dictator despite the presence of nominally democratic elections (in 2006, the last round of presidential elections in Venezuela, Chávez won with a resounding 65 percent of the votes.) Despite such claims, he retained widespread popularity in Venezuela and had political allies throughout Latin America and the Middle East. His work to re-legitimize the branches of government that had become corrupt, nationalize the oil production of Venezuela, and provide social programs to citizens built a broad base of support—one that Chávez inevitable relied upon during the 2012 elections where he defeated opposition candidate Henrique Capriles with 55% of the popular vote over Capriles’ 44%. He maintained his image and connection to the people of Venezuela through his weekly talk show Aló Presidente where he frequently takes calls, and through an active Twitter account (@chavezcandanga).
In order to better understand Chavez’ political philosophy it is crucial to examine the figures he credited with inspiration. Chief among these is the revolutionary hero Simón Bolívar. An orphaned son from a wealthy Venezuelan family, Bolívar traveled to Europe and America as a young man and wrote extensively throughout his life, expressing political and social view in vast volumes of letters, speeches and monographs. He supported the first revolutionary junta, which declared Venezuela’s independence in 1811. However, European resistance to liberation led to years of war in order to fully secure this independence. The first junta fell and Bolívar was driven out of the country. He quickly recovered and launched a new campaign to drive the Spanish from Caracas. In yet another fleeting victory, he captured the city, only to lose it within the year to replenished Spanish forces. Bolívar was forced into exile for a second time, and once more he recruited new forces in order to launch a third and final offensive. In December 1816 he returned to South America for the last time, and for nearly a decade Bolívar and his allies fought Spanish royalists, eventually driving them from the continent altogether. His leadership in the revolution earned him the nickname El Libertador, The Liberator.
Ultimately, Bolívar played a part in the independence of modern day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia—a country renamed in his honor—but after freeing this huge swath of Latin America, he could not effectively govern such widespread territory. Despite his long held aspirations of a unified Latin American bloc, regional differences came to the forefront of the newly liberated countries. Bolívar’s vision of the entirety of Latin America joining together in a proposed “Congress of Panama’’ never came to fruition. In 1830, only six years after securing the continent’s independence, Bolívar withdrew from public life shortly before succumbing to tuberculosis.
Chávez identified both personally and politically with Bolívar and used this to insert himself into a narrative of sacrifice for the advancement of the country. Bolívar’s personal life was tragic, both parents died before he was ten, and his wife, too, died when he was only twenty. Bolívar himself marked this as a turning point; with a wife and family he claims that he may never have been anything greater than a small town mayor. Instead, his life was a story of intellectual and then military pursuit of greatness, answering not to familial love, but the love of the patria, the country. For Hugo Chávez to call on Bolívar when he identified himself, he, too, claimed that role, and dedicated his life and his work to Venezuela. It is not that he is in search of power; it is that he is part of a greater destiny and a larger purpose. Chávez is a part of the revolutionary movement that Bolívar began, and he is compelled and inspired by fate to continue it into the twenty-first century.
Bolívar in Venezuela today represents the centralized power of the leader, the militarism of a radical reform, and the overhaul of society that demonizes the colonialists, imperialists and their allies in favor of the peopleI. It is unsurprising that Chávez publicly considered him a hero, and often drew comparisons (both direct and indirect) between himself and El Libertador. Instead of Spanish colonialism, Chávez fought against the economic domination of the United States. Instead of royalist insurrections, he faced the opposition of the business elite who mistrusted his politics. He still reached out to los pueblos de mundo, the peoples of the world, sought validation from the lower classes. Neither leader relied on a political party, instead choosing to ignite and ride a movement to power. Bolívar is not trapped in the past as it were; Chávez brought him out, in more ways then one, to continue to spread a liberation message.
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