First let us take a look at his 'hero' side, a side that interested me from the start. How many heads of states do we see in the modern day handing out relief packages to the poor (and so many of them) to the extent that Chavez did? Born into a relatively poverty stricken family himself, it was presumably his own roots that led him to take the stance he stood for in his politics. Chavez's journey to the top of the politics tree wasn't exactly a straightforward one. After a failed coup to oust the then president of Venezuela in 1992, Chavez was imprisoned. He took this opportunity to explain himself on national TV, which enabled him to gain his first loyal followers who sympathized with his situation. After creating secret societies such as the
Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario during his time in the military, Hugo Chavez evolved his own brand of socialism, labelled 'bolivarism' after Venezuelan Simon Bolivar who fought to rid spanish rule of South America. In 1998, after already gaining a small following of economically less well off Venezuelans, Chavez won a landlside election and became president for the first time. After his election was when he started to implement some of his Bolivar inspired policies, main things that Chavez incorporated in his policies for the genuine good including nationalising the industries within Venezuela and using the booming oil revenues (thanks to Venezuela having one of the largest oil supplies in the world) to accomodate some of the most generous welfare packages ever seen for the poor in the country. These welfare reforms included healthcare, setting up of medical facilities, education, improving literacy skills amongst those in greatest poverty. In fact official figures show that poverty rate since Chavez was elected decreased as in 1999, 23.4% of the population was recorded as being in extreme poverty, this fell to 8.5% in 2011 according to official government figures and infant mortality also decreased thanks to the new and improved healthcare and infrastructure in the country. Another key success achieved by Chavez was the fall of the unemployment rate which dropped by almost half from 15% to around 7%. With the continued reforms and handouts to the masses of poor in the society it is of no doubt that Hugo Chavez became such a loved and revered hispanic figure amongst much of the South American continent, not just Venezuela. He was part of a wider new leftist South American front. To ordinary Venezuelans, Chavez was a relatable figure, with his charismatic presence and latin revolutionary blood.
On the other hand, there is no shortage of people who believe that Chavez was the contrary to what lower class venezuelans think. To some he was a tyrant, a revolutionary figure who was a pain in the back of 'capitalist western societies'. But why do many hold this opinion? Firstly it's important to note that not all venezuelans viewed Chavez in such a positive light, to some of the middle class and the minority upper class, he was a terrible economist who had inflated the economy and trade extremely badly due to his 'reckless handouts'. Those upper and middle classes also blame Chavez for enforcing tight restrictions on press and enforcing pretty harsh sentences for crimes such as slander, even abusing human rights in some cases. For the west, he was a potential dictator, after passing a decree that allowed him to run for election (pretty much all the time) he was seen as a tyrant and controller, who openely followed the lead of fellow socialist figure-Fidel Castro by befriending possible 'unstable' countries such as Iran, Cuba and Nicaragua. His views were so anti imperialist against the west that he even took it upon himself to publically label George Bush a ''burro'' or a ''donkey''. This to me is extremely comical!Aside from the for and against Chavez argument, it can be concluded that Hugo Chavez was not only a controversial force for good in terms of providing welfare basics for the people of his country, but whatever your personal opinion of him, i'm sure you can agree that he was one of the most charismatic leaders that the world has ever seen. Some of his more 'debatable' slash 'ludicrous' claims are as follows:
-Senor Chavez was not a fan of coke zero. He claimed that the drink was invented by the Americans as an imperialist indoctrination tool to make venezuelans drink fizzy drinks so that they would become fat and ultimately be unable to fight if it came to all out guerilla war. Slightly strange that he didn't ban any other fizzy drinks.
-Chavez also didn't think it was good for children to be frightened by ghosts and skeletons on halloween as he again believed consumerist halloween were an act of 'imperialist terror' on behalf of the united states.
-He was also not a fan of golf, claiming that it was a sport of the bourgeoisie, he hated golf so much that he had one of the world's best golf course's shut down. This again is quite ironic as his idol Fidel Castro, adored golf and wanted more golf courses in Cuba.
-Hugo had his own tv show 'alo presidente' where he basically spoke to himself regarding things such as capitalism taking over life on mars...oh and calling George Bush a donkey.
All in all, he was a charismatic figure wasn't he?
