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Hugo Chávez
File:HugoChavez1824.jpeg
President of Venezuela
Assumed office
2 February 1999
Vice PresidentIsaías Rodríguez
Adina Bastidas
Diosdado Cabello
José Vicente Rangel
Jorge Rodríguez
Ramón Carrizales
Elias Jaua
Preceded byRafael Caldera
Personal details
Born (1954-07-28) 28 July 1954 (age 69)
Sabaneta, Venezuela
Political partyUnited Socialist Party (2008–present)
Other political
affiliations		Fifth Republic Movement (1997–2008)
Spouse(s)Nancy Colmenares (Div.)
Marisabel Rodríguez (Div.)
OccupationLieutenant colonel
Signature

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈuɣo rafaˈel ˈtʃaβeθ ˈfɾi.as]; born July 28, 1954, in Sabaneta) is the President of Venezuela. As a critic of neoliberalism, globalisation, and United States foreign policy,[1] Chávez has promoted ideas of socialism, participatory democracy and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation.

A career military officer, Chávez orchestrated a failed 1992 coup d'état against President Carlos Andrés Pérez, after the Pérez government dramatically cut social spending under guidance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and ordered the violent repression of protests against the cuts in a crackdown known as El Caracazo. Subsequently, he founded the left-wing Fifth Republic Movement.

In 1998 Chávez was elected President. Throughout the campaign Chávez promised to bring prosperity to Venezuela's poor majority and tackle inequality. Chávez was also the leading figure behind the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution, which was ratified by a referendum. It brought wide ranging legal changes to Venezuelan law, such as making access to state health care a right.[unbalanced opinion?] Chávez was reelected in 2000, as well as, in 2006. Chávez won each election with an increasing majority, and voter turnout also increased in both elections, reaching historic highs.[2][3][4][5]

On economic and social policy, Chávez has pushed for what he calls "Socialism of the 21st Century". The Venezuelan government under Chávez has maintained and encouraged nationwide worker-owned cooperatives, Communal Councils, communes and Bolivarian Missions, all with government start up funding, and the goals of combating disease, illiteracy, malnutrition, poverty, increasing democratic participation, and combating other social problems.[unbalanced opinion?]

On the world stage, Chávez is an advocate for cooperation in Latin America and was instrumental in setting up the pan-regional Union of South American Nations, an organisation modeled on the European Union, the Bank of the South, a counterpart to the IMF and TeleSur a regional television network, the latter two of which are based in Venezuela. In the realm of foreign relations, Chávez has acted against the Washington Consensus by supporting alternative models of economic development. Chávez's friendly relations with Russia and Iran have been a cause of tension between Venezuela and the United States.

Chávez remains a very controversial figure at home and abroad. Detractors within the Organization of American States, European Union, United Nations, U.S. State Department, and others, criticize Chávez for alleged human rights violations, while others point to improvements in constitutional and legal rights, poverty reduction, health care, women's rights, and treatment of native populations under his presidency.

His political influence in South America – partly due to his government's use of Venezuela's oil wealth – and his sometimes strained relationship with the United States endow him with a high geopolitical profile, leading Time magazine to include him among their list of the world's 100 most influential people in 2005 and 2006.[6][7]

Early life (1954–1992)

Further information: [[:Early life of Hugo Chávez]]

Chávez was born on 28 July 1954 in Sabaneta, Barinas to schoolteachers Hugo de los Reyes Chávez and Elena Frías de Chávez. He is the younger brother of both Barinas governor Adán Chávez and Sabaneta mayor Anibal José Chávez Frías. The Chávez family is of mixed Amerindian, Afro-Venezuelan, and Spanish descent.[8] Chávez was born in a mud hut near Sabaneta. Due to the Chávez family's impoverished conditions, Hugo Chávez was sent to Sabaneta with his older brother Adán to live with his paternal grandmother, Rosa Inés Chávez, where he pursued hobbies such as painting, singing, and baseball while attending elementary school at the Julián Pino School. He was later forced to relocate to the town of Barinas to attend high school at the Daniel Florencio O'Leary School.[9]

Military career

Further information: [[:Military career of Hugo Chávez]]

At age 17, Chávez enrolled at the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences. After graduating in 1975 as a sub-lieutenant with a degree in Military Arts and Science, Chávez entered military service for several months. He was then allowed to pursue graduate studies in political science at the Simón Bolívar University, but left without a degree.[9]

Chávez engaged in sporting events and cultural activities during these years as well. He played both baseball and softball with the Criollitos de Venezuela, progressing with them to the Venezuelan National Baseball Championships in 1969. Chávez also wrote numerous poems, stories and theatrical pieces.[9]

Upon completing his studies, Chávez initially entered active-duty military service as a member of a counterinsurgency battalion stationed in Barinas. Chávez's military career lasted 17 years, during which time he held a variety of posts including command and staff positions, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Chávez also held a series of teaching and staffing positions at the Academy of Military Sciences, where he was first acknowledged by his peers for his fiery oratorical style and radical critique of Venezuelan government and society.[10] In 1983, Chávez established the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200). Afterwards, he rose to a number of high-level positions in Caracas and was decorated several times.[9]

Coup attempt of 1992

Further information: [[:1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts]]
File:Hugo Chávez (1992 Coup Surrender).jpg
Chávez calls for the surrender of all forces on national television (1992)

President Carlos Andrés Pérez came into office after a campaign where he promised to go against the Washington Consensus and IMF. When he got into office, however, he dramatically cut social spending, put prominent businessmen in high government posts, and increased the costs of energy and fuel, leading to widespread public outrage.[11][12] To stop the widespread protests that were taking place throughout Venezuela as a result of his cuts in social spending, Perez also ordered the violent repression and massacre[13] known as El Caracazo, which "according to official figures ... left a balance of 276 dead, numerous injured, several disappeared and heavy material losses. However, this list was invalidated by the subsequent appearance of mass graves."[14][15]

Disturbed by the Caracazo, rampant government corruption, the domination of politics by the Venezuelan oligarchy, and what he called "the dictatorship of the IMF" Chávez began making preparations for a military coup d'état.[15] Initially planned for December, Chávez delayed the planned MBR-200 coup until the early twilight hours of 4 February 1992. On that date, five army units under Chávez's command moved into urban Caracas with the mission of assaulting and overwhelming key military and communications installations throughout the city, including the Miraflores presidential palace, the defense ministry, La Carlota military airport, and the Military Museum. Chávez's ultimate goal was to intercept and take custody of Pérez, who was returning to Miraflores from an overseas trip.

Chávez held the loyalty of less than 10% of Venezuela's military forces.[16] Numerous betrayals, defections, errors, and other unforeseen circumstances soon left Chávez and a small group of rebels hiding in the Military Museum, without any means of conveying orders to their network of spies and collaborators spread throughout Venezuela.[17] Further, Chávez's allies were unable to broadcast their prerecorded tapes on the national airwaves in which Chávez planned to issue a general call for a mass civilian uprising against Pérez. As the coup unfolded, the coup plotters were unable to capture Pérez: 14 soldiers were killed, and 50 soldiers and some 80 civilians injured in the ensuing violence.[18]

Chávez soon gave himself up to the government. He was then allowed to appear on national television to call for all remaining rebel detachments in Venezuela to cease hostilities. When he did so, Chávez said on national television that he had only failed "por ahora" (for now).[19] Chávez was catapulted into the national spotlight, with many poor Venezuelans seeing him as a figure who had stood up against government corruption and kleptocracy.[19][20] Before Chávez was sent to Yare prison he gave a speech to the members of the coup:[19]

Comrades: unfortunately, for the moment, the objectives that we had set for ourselves have not been achieved in the capital. That's to say that those of us here in Caracas have not been able to seize power. Where you are, you have performed well, but now is the time for a rethink; new possibilities will arise again, and the country will be able to move definitively towards a better future.

President Carlos Andres Pérez, the coup's intended target, was impeached a year later for malfeasance and misappropriation of funds for illegal activities.[21]

Personal life

Further information: [[:Early life of Hugo Chávez]]

Chávez has been married twice. He first wedded Nancy Colmenares, a woman from a poor family originating 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. They separated soon after Chávez's 1992 coup attempt. During his first marriage, Chávez also had an affair with historian Herma Marksman; their relationship lasted nine years.[22] Chávez is divorced from his second wife, journalist Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez.[23] Through that marriage, Chávez had another daughter, Rosinés. Chávez has two grandchildren. [24]

Chávez was raised a Roman Catholic,[25] although he has had a series of disputes with both the Venezuelan Catholic hierarchy and Protestant groups like the New Tribes Mission.[26][27] He describes himself as Christian who grew up expecting to become a priest. According to him, as a result of this background his socialist policies have been borne with roots in the teachings of Jesus Christ.[28]

Political development

Political rise (1992–1999)

Further information: Venezuelan presidential election, 1998

After a two-year imprisonment, Chávez was pardoned by President Rafael Caldera in 1994. After much internal debate over whether elections might be fixed against an MBR-200 candidate, the MBR-200 set up the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR—Movimiento Quinta República) in July 1997 in order to support Chávez' candidature for the presidency in the Venezuelan presidential election, 1998. In working to earn the trust of voters, Chávez drafted an agenda that drew heavily on his ideology of Bolivarianism. Chávez and his followers described their aim as "laying the foundations of a new republic" to replace the existing one, which they cast as "party-dominated"; the current constitution, they argued, was no more than the "legal-political embodiment of puntofijismo", the country's traditional two-party patronage system.[29]

Chávez's promises of widespread social and economic reforms won the trust and favor of a primarily poor and working class following. By May 1998, Chávez's support had risen to 30% in polls, and by August he was registering 39%. Chávez went on to win the 1998 presidential election in December 1998 with 56% of the votes.[30][31]

Chávez's current party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), had 5.7 million members as of 2007,[32] making it the largest political group in Venezuela.[33] The International Labor Organization of the United Nations expressed concern over voters being pressured to join the party.[34]

Political philosophy

Main articles: Bolivarianism and Bolivarian Circles

Chávez's Bolivarianism is based on ideas drawn from Simón Bolívar, Simón Rodríguez and Ezequiel Zamora,[35] influenced by the writings of Marxist historian Federico Brito Figueroa. Chávez was well acquainted with the various traditions of Latin American socialism espoused by Jorge Eliécer Gaitán[36] (a populist[37][unreliable source?] and Latin American socialist[36] and Salvador Allende (another Latin American socialist[36]) and from a young age by the Cuban revolutionary doctrine of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro.[36] Other indirect influences on Chávez's political philosophy are the writings of Noam Chomsky[38] and the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Bible[39][40]). Although Chávez himself refers to his ideology as Bolivarianismo ("Bolivarianism").

Chávez and his supporters emphasize the role that participatory democracy and Socialism of the 21st century (a form of socialism that emphasizes grassroots democratic participation) play in Bolivarianism.[41] Because his Bolivarianism relies on popular support, Chávez has organized the Venezuelan Communal Councils and Bolivarian Circles which he cites as examples of grassroots and participatory democracy. The councils and 'Circles' are forums for groups of residents to decide how to spend the government allowance for social development.

In 2010, Hugo Chávez proclaimed support for the ideas of 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 Karl Marx and Lenin.[42][43]

In a June 2010 interview with the Stephen Sackur on the BBC programme HARDtalk, Chávez said that when he had come to office he had been "gullible", and believed that a "Third Way", a sort of "Rhenish capitalism" – capitalism with a human face - was possible. But he then realised that he was wrong – "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."[44] On democracy, Chávez said that democracy wasn't 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 what's happening in almost all the so-called democratic Western capitalist countries."[44]

Presidency (1999–present)

Further information: [[:Presidency of Hugo Chávez]]

Following Chávez's inauguration in February 1999, a referendum for a new constitution was passed, and a constitutional assembly formed. The resulting 1999 Venezuelan Constitution was approved by referendum in December 1999, with the support of nearly 80% of the population.[45]

The new constitution included increased protections for indigenous peoples and women, and gave rights to education, housing, healthcare, food. It added new environmental protections, and increased requirements for government transparency. It increased in the presidential term from five to six years, allowed people to recall presidents by referendum, and added a new presidential two-term limit. It converted the bicameral legislature into a unicameral one (National Assembly). It also renamed the country to República Bolivariana de Venezuela.[46][47] Elections for all elected government positions followed in 2000 under the new constitution, including the 2000 presidential election.

A rally in favour of the 2004 effort to recall Hugo Chávez in the capital, Caracas. The recall referendum was defeated, with 59% of voters opposed to it.

Chávez survived the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt which briefly removed him from power until he was brought back by spontaneous popular protests from his supporters. A few months after the coup, in December 2002, the Chávez presidency faced a two-month management strike[48] at the national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) when he initiated management changes, leading to the eventual dismissal of 17,000 workers; the strike deepened an economic crisis and cut the government off from all-important oil revenue.[49] A 2004 referendum to recall Chávez was defeated.

Chávez won the Organization of American States (OAS) and Carter Center certification of the national election of December 2006 with "more than 60% of the vote", [50] beating his closest challenger Manuel Rosales who conceded his loss.[51] After this victory, Chávez promised a more radical turn towards socialism.[52]

In August 2007, Chávez proposed a broad package of measures as part of a constitutional reform. Among other measures, he called for an end to presidential term limits and proposed limiting central bank autonomy, strengthening state expropriation powers and providing for public control over international reserves as part of an overhaul of Venezuela's constitution. In accordance with the 1999 constitution, Chávez proposed the changes to the constitution, which were then approved by the National Assembly. The final test was a December 2007 referendum.[53] The referendum was narrowly defeated, with 51% of the voters rejecting the amendments.[54]

On 15 February 2009, Venezuelan voters approved a referendum to eliminate term limits, with over 54% in favor, allowing any elected official the chance to try to run indefinitely. The news was met by an outpouring of Chávez supporters throughout Venezuela.[55]

Domestic Affairs

Economic and social policy

See also: Economic policy of the Hugo Chávez government

Venezuela is a major producer of oil products, which remains the keystone of the Venezuelan economy. Chávez has gained a reputation as a price hawk in OPEC, pushing for stringent enforcement of production quotas and higher target oil prices. According to Cannon, the state income from oil revenue has "increas[ed] from 51% of total income in 2000 to 56% 2006";[56] oil exports "have grown from 77% in 1997 [...] to 89% in 2006";[56] and "this dependence on oil is one of the chief problems facing the Chávez government".[56] The economist Mark Weisbrot, in an analysis of the Chávez administration, said: "The current economic expansion began when the government got control over the national oil company in the first quarter of 2003. Since then, real (inflationadjusted) GDP has nearly doubled, growing by 94.7 percent in 5.25 years, or 13.5 percent annually."[57] For the year 2009, the Venezuelan economy shrank by an average of 2.9% due to the global recession.[58] Chávez has stated that the Venezuelan economy will most likely continue shrinking throughout 2010, citing both the IMF and World Bank. Chávez sees the economic crisis as "an opportunity for socialism to spread and take root ..".[59] According to Ian James, citing estimates from the Venezuelan Central Bank, the Venezuelan government "controls" the same percentage of the economy as when Chávez was elected in 1998, with "the private sector still control[ling] two-thirds of Venezuela's economy". [60]

Since Chávez was elected in 1998, over 100,000 worker-owned cooperatives—representing approximately 1.5 million people—have been formed with the assistance of government start-up credit and technical training;[61] 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 integration into regional umbrella organizations known as "Communes in Construction".[62] In 2010, Chávez supported the construction of 184 communes, housing thousands of families, with $23 million in government funding. The communes produce some of their own food, and are able to make decisions by popular assembly of what to do with government funds.[63] In September 2010, Chávez announced the llocation 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.[62]

Chávez has also supported the creation of a series of Bolivarian Missions aimed at providing public services to improve economic, cultural, and social conditions. A 2010 OAS report[64] indicated achievements in addressing illiteracy, healthcare and poverty,[65] and economic and social advances.[66]

Barry Cannon writes that "most areas of spending have increased".[67] "[S]pending on education as a percentage of GDP stood at 5.1% in 2006, as opposed to 3.4% in the last year of the Caldera government."[67] Spending on health "has increased from 1.6% of GDP in 2000 to 7.71% in 2006".[67] Spending on housing "receives low public support", increasing only "from 1% in GDP to 1.6% in 2006".[67] Teresa A. Meade, writes that Chávez's popularity "rests squarely on the lower classes who have benefited from these health initiatives and similar policies [...] poverty rates fell from 42 to 34 percent from 2000 to 2006, still leaving over 30 percent in this oil-rich nation below the poverty line".[68]

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) reports that the Venezuelan economy grew on average by 11.85% in the period 2004–2007.[69] According to The Washington Post, citing statistics from the United Nations, poverty in Venezuela stood at 28% in 2008,[70] down from 55.44% in 1998 before Chávez got into office.[71] Economist Mark Weisbrot found that, "During the ... economic expansion, the poverty rate [was] cut by more than half, from 54 percent of households in the first half of 2003 to 26 percent at the end of 2008. Extreme poverty has fallen even more, by 72 percent. These poverty rates measure only cash income, and does take into account increased access to health care or education."[57][72]

As of September 26, 2009, Chávez, along with allies such as Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia, has set up a regional bank and development lender called Bank of the South, based in Caracas, an attempt to distance himself from financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. Chávez first mentioned the project before winning the Presidential election in 1998.[73] Chávez maintains that unlike other global financial organizations, the Bank of the South will be managed and funded by the countries of the region with the intention of funding social and economic development without any political conditions on that funding.[74] The project is endorsed by Nobel Prize winning, former World Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz, who said: "One of the advantages of having a Bank of the South is that it would reflect the perspectives of those in the south," and that "It is a good thing to have competition in most markets, including the market for development lending."[75]

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Venezuela
File:HugoChavez1823.jpeg
Chávez holds a miniature copy of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution at the 2005 World Social Forum held in Brazil.

In the 1999 Venezuelan constitution, 116 of 300 articles were concerned with human rights; these included increased protections for indigenous peoples and women, and gave rights to education, housing, healthcare, 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.[46][47]

Amnesty International has criticized the Chávez administration for targeting critics following several politically motivated arrests.[76] Freedom House lists Venezuela as being "partly free" in its 2009 Freedom in the World annual report, claiming that women's rights and indigenous rights have improved, but that press freedom has been threatened.[77] A 2010 Organization of American States report found concerns with freedom of expression, human rights abuses, authoritarianism, press freedom, threats to democracy,[78][79] as well as erosion of separation of powers, the economic infrastructure and ability of the president to appoint judges to federal courts.[78][79][80] OAS observors were denied access to Venezuela;[80] Chávez rejected the OAS report, pointing out that its authors didn't even come to Venezuela. He said Venezuela should boycott the OAS, which he feels is dominated by the United States; a spokesperson said, "We don't recognize the commission as an impartial institution". He disclaims any power to influence the judiciary.[81] A Venezuelan official said the report distorts and takes statistics out of context, saying that "human rights violations in Venezuela have decreased".[82] Venezuela has said it will not accept an IACHR/OAS visit as long as Santiago Cantón remains its Executive Secretary, unless the IACHR apologizes for what he describes as its support of the 2002 coup.[64][83]

In 2008, Human Rights Watch released a report reviewing Chávez's human rights record over his first decade in power.[84] The report praises Chávez's 1999 amendments to the constitution which significantly expanded human rights guarantees, but notes a "wide range of government policies that have undercut the human rights protections established" by the revised constitution.[84] In particular, the report accuses 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."[85] The report also mentioned improvements in women's rights and indigenous rights. Over 100 Latin American scholars signed a joint letter with the Council on Hemispheric Affairs criticizing the report for its factual inaccuracy, exaggeration, lack of context, illogical arguments, and heavy reliance on opposition newspapers as sources, amongst other things.[86][87][88] The International Labor Organization of the United Nations expressed concern over voters being pressured to join the party.[34]

Venezuelan Judge Maria Afiuni was arrested in 2009 on charges of corruption, after she ordered the conditional release on bail of banker Eligio Cedeño, who had been held on charges of fraud and other crimes due to alleged illegal currency trading activities. Some human rights officials allege the arrest was politically motivated; Cedeño "had been in pretrial detention for nearly three years, despite a two-year limit prescribed by Venezuelan law".[89] Cedeño later fled to the U.S. to avoid prosecution. Following Afiuni's arrest, several groups, including the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela, Human Rights Watch, the Law Society of England and Wales, the U.S. Department of State, and the European Union Parliament accused Chávez of "creating a climate of fear" among Venezuela's legal profession.[90][91][92][93][94][89][95][96] The European Parliament called this "an attack on the independence of the judiciary by the President of a nation, who should be its first guarantor".[97] A director of Human Rights Watch said, "Once again the Chávez government has demonstrated its fundamental disregard for the principle of judicial independence."[89]

Media and the press

See also: Media representation of Hugo Chávez

The large majority of mass media in Venezuela is privately owned. As of 2007,[needs update] private corporations controlled 80% of the cable television channels, 100% of the newspaper companies, and 706 out of 709 radio stations.[98][99]

The Venezuelan government has required that all private television stations dedicate at least 25%[clarification needed] of their airtime to programs created by community groups, non-profits, and other independent producers. In July 2005 Chávez inaugurated TeleSUR, a Pan-American homologue of Al Jazeera that seeks to challenge the present domination of Latin American television news by Univision and the United States-based CNN en Español.[100] In 2006 Chávez inaugurated a state-funded movie studio called Villa del Cine (English: Cinema City).[101] According to Chávez, the goal of this indigenous film industry is to counter what he describes "the dictatorship of Hollywood", the lack of alternative media.[102]

Chávez has a Twitter account with more than 800,000 followers as of September 2010.[103][104] Chávez's Twitter account has been described as a way for people to bypass bureaucracy and contact the president directly. There is a team of 200 people to sort through suggestions and comments sent via Twitter. Chávez has said Twitter is "another mechanism for contact with the public, to evaluate many things and to help many people",[105] and that he sees Twitter as "a weapon that also needs to be used by the revolution".[106] In a Twitter report released in June 2010 Venezuela is third globally for the prevalence of Twitter with 19% of the population using it, nearly 2/3 of all internet users. This is behind Indonesia with 20.8% and Brazil with 20.5%.[107]

In 2010 availability of internet service in Venezuela rose by 43%. The Venezuelan state has instituted Infocenters, community spaces equipped with computers with internet connections which are free to use. As of March 2010 there are 668 such centres, with more planned.[107]

In 2008, Human Rights Watch criticized Chávez for engaging in "often discriminatory policies that have undercut journalists' freedom of expression."[108] Freedom House lists Venezuela's press as being "Not Free" in its 2009 Map of Press Freedom.[109] Reporters Without Borders has criticized the Chávez administration for "steadily silencing its critics".[110] In the group's 2009 Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders noted that "Venezuela is now among the region’s worst press freedom offenders."[110]

In the days before the 11 April 2002 coup, the five main private Venezuelan TV stations gave advertising space to those calling for anti-Chávez demonstrations.[111][112] In 2006, Chávez announced that the terrestrial broadcast license for RCTV would not be renewed, due to its refusal to pay taxes and fines, and its alleged open support of the 2002 coup attempt against Chávez, and role in helping to instigate the oil strike in 2002–2003.[113] RCTV was transmitted via cable and satellite and was widely viewable in Venezuela until January 2010, when it was excluded by cable companies in response to an order of National Commission of Telecommunications.[114][115][116] The failure to renew its terrestrial broadcast license had been condemned by a multitude of international organizations, many of whom have claimed that the closure was politically motivated, and was intended to silence government critics.[117][118][119][120]

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) questioned whether, in the event a television station openly supported and collaborated with coup leaders, the station in question would not be subject to even more serious consequences in the United States or any other Western nation.[121] In a poll conducted by Datanalisis, almost 70 percent of Venezuelans polled opposed the shut-down, but most cited the loss of their favorite soap operas rather than concerns about limits on freedom of expression.[122]

Crime

During the 1980s and 1990s there was a steady increase in crime in Latin America, and Colombia, El Salvador, Venezuela and Brazil all had homicide rates above the regional average.[123] The major reasons for high levels of crime in Latin America are high inequality, low incarceration rates and small police forces.[124]

During Chávez' administration, homicide rates have more than doubled, with one NGO finding the rate to have nearly quadrupled;[125][126] the number of homicides increased from 6,000 in 1999 to 13,000 in 2007.[127] Kidnappings have also become increasingly common.[128] Caracas in 2010 had the world's highest murder rate.[129] Chávez maintains that the nation is no more violent now than it was when he took office.[130]

Citizens now believe that crime is a serious problem and that police were themselves a factor in the increase in crime. Between 2000 and 2007, 6,300 police were investigated for violations of human rights. Because decentralization of police was blamed for their ineffectiveness, the 1999 constitution required the National Assembly to form a national police force; however legislation on this became bogged down in legislative discussions. In 2006 the government established the National Commission for Police Reform (Conarepol), in which a range of civil society representatives, politicians and academics investigated law enforcement in Venezuela and made recommendations. This included setting up a national police force designed to operate with high standards of professionalism and specific training in human rights. It also included initiatives whereby communal councils can participate in police supervision, by being able to request investigations into police behaviour and file recommendations and complaints.[127]

In 2008, Chávez passed a decree designed to implement Conarepol's recommendation on the national police force, and the National Bolivarian Police (PNB),[131][132] and Experimental Security University began operations in 2009. According to the PNB, murder has been reduced by 60%, robberies by nearly 59%, and gender-based violence has diminished by 66% in the pilot areas where the PNB has been active in and around Caracas.[132] However, not all homicides due to encounters with police are reported.[133] According to the publications El Espectador and Le Monde diplomatique, rising crime in rural and urban areas is partly due to increased cross-border activity by Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups like Águilas Negras.[134]

The decree has been criticized because it was negotiated behind closed doors, and did not follow all of Conarepol's recommendations to deal with human rights, and because "politicization of the force could undercut the goal of professionalization".[133][135]

Foreign policy

Further information: [[:Foreign policy of the Hugo Chávez government]]
Chávez and then-President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner discuss energy and trade integration projects for South America. They met on 21 November 2005 in Venezuela.

Chávez has 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".[136][137] Chávez stated that Venezuela has "a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage ..." He said, "It is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world, the United States."[138] Chávez has 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 have 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 barter arrangements that exchange Venezuelan petroleum for cash-strapped Argentina's meat and dairy products. Additionally, Chávez worked closely with other Latin American leaders following the 1997 Summit of the Americas in many areas—especially energy integration—and championed the OAS decision to adopt the Anti-Corruption Convention. Chávez also participates in the United Nations Friends groups for Haiti, and is pursuing efforts to join and engage the Mercosur trade bloc to expand the hemisphere's trade integration prospects.[139]

Awards

During his term, Chávez has been awarded the following honorary degrees:[140]

  • Honorary Doctorate in Political Science—Granted by Kyung Hee University (South Korea) by Rector Chungwon Choue on 16 October 1999.
  • Honorary Doctorate in Jurisprudence—Granted by the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) on 9 March 2001.
  • Honorary Doctorate—Granted by the Academy of Diplomacy of the Ministry of External Affairs (Russian Federation) on 15 May 2001.
  • Honorary Doctorate in Economics—Granted by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce of Beijing University (People's Republic of China) on 24 May 2001.

In a 2006 list compiled by New Statesman, he was voted eleventh in the list of "Heroes of our time".[141]

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Further reading

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