Violeta Ramirez Essay Example for Free

Violeta Ramirez Essay â€Å"To many Americans, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez seems a Latin wild man. But to the millions of Venezuelans who adore him, he is the first leader who genuinely cares for the nations poor majority, a welcome departure from politicians who traditionally catered to the elite. I think God sent him. I think hes the reincarnation of Simon Bolivar. Hes with the poor, says Omaira Perez, 60, referring to the 19th century general who liberated Venezuela from Spanish rule. † (Lynch, 2007) Hugo Rafael Chavez was born in Venezuela’s western grassland region on July 28, 1954. Socialism, Latin American integration and anti imperialism are promoted by the president because he was also leading the Bolivarian Revolution. Neo-liberal globalization and U. S. foreign policy were the main critics of the president. His parents were schoolteacher which is not a lucrative profession by any mean in Venezuela. He was belong to a poor family besides this in Venezuela dark skinned dark skin people faces strong racial divisions and white skinned people are elite. When he was seventeen years old he enrolled at Venezuela â€Å"Academy of Military Sciences† and studied engineering. After completion of acidic career he joined military for several months. Chavez was immediately popular with his fellow students, he and his fellow students developed a left nationalist doctrine that they termed Bolivarianism inspired by his real hero Simon Bolivar, the father of Venezuelan independence and a figure of legendary dimensions. (Resources on Iran, n. d. ) He was also the part of the lectureship and was famous for his fiercy lecturing style and radical critique of Venezuelan government and society. With his natural charisma, he brings closer soldiers to his ideas, and built a network of supporters within the army. In 1983 he established MBR 200, the revolutionary Bolivarian movement (Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario 200), 1983 being the 200th anniversary of Simon Bolivars birth. (ISIS Report, n. d. ) â€Å"With oil profits booming and his popularity high, Chavez seems to be in step with many Venezuelans even as spooked investors rushed to sell off Venezuelan stocks in companies subject to his nationalization plans. Chavez called that a knee-jerk overreaction, and shares in Venezuelas leading telephone company rebounded as the congressional finance chief assured reporters Wednesday that the government will negotiate compensation to the affected companies. He also visited the tomb of Simon Bolivar, the South American independence hero and inspiration for his Bolivarian Revolution, and blew kisses to supporters tossing rose petals at his open car. Before flying to Nicaragua, the former paratroop commander also watched a military parade with Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets thundering overhead. † (James, 2007) Simon Bolivar: Influent Al Person in Hugo Chavezs Life Major influence on Chavez came from Simon Bolivar, from where Bolivarian movement was developed. The memory of Simon Bolivar has yet kept alive in Venezuela, the revolution of 19th century which led the sub continent independence battle against Spain. Simon Bolivar was born in Spain and many of his followers were native of Venezuela. Nonetheless, Simon Bolivar remained to be a significant and founding myth for the Venezuela institute. Particularly, his arm forces helped him a lot to bind them together even though of political instability. Chavez when he was a school child during the periods of 1950’s and 1960’s in the school studied a lot Bolivar’s feats against the Spaniards. The defining event in his life came when in 1989 the economy was devastated by rising oil prices which led President Carlos Andres Perez to a serious of tough measures. As a result of rising oil prices, buses fares were increased which led to protests by poor people and the army was sent to suppress the protestors. Chavez belong that part of the group that was deployed and he was enraged when he listen the order shoot all the citizens who he believes had a legitimate grievances. This was the motivation which led to his army coup that he organized against the same president some three years later. (Amirpur, 2006) â€Å"Invoking Christ and Castro as his socialist models, President Hugo Chavez began his third term †¦ by declaring that socialism, not capitalism, is the only way forward for Venezuela and the world. † (James, 2007) MBR 200. Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 The MBR 200 was the social and political movement that Hugo Chavez founded in 1983. Chavez established MBR 200 setting as its political goals the realization of Bolivars ideals by means of a Bolivar resolution, which refers to a mass social and political movement in Venezuela aimed at eradication of corruption and emphasized on redistributive social justice and economic and political sovereignty. Some important points of Chavezs Bolivarianism are: †¢ Political participation of the masses by votes, referendum and councils †¢ Political and economic sovereignty †¢ Economic self – sufficiency †¢ Building in people nationality and patriotism †¢ Eradication of corruption †¢ Equal distribution of oil revenues of his land (Cordesman, 2005) 1992 Coup Chavez was working as a lieutenant colonel during his late 30s. In addition, he was also working as a committed left wing activist, mixing with left wing group outside the army and conspiring in the institution for the sake of coup d’etat. So, after an extended period of dissatisfaction and economic decline under the administration of President Perez, Chavez and his fellow conspirators launched a military coup in Feb 1992. Although the coup was not entirely successful Chavez came to national prominence due to a abruptly speech made shortly after his arrest, the Venezuelan government allowed him forty five second speech in order to tell his co-conspirators to lay down the arm. It was a mistake made on the government part and Chavez made the most of it. (Evans and Corsi, 2006) Chavez in Power When Chavez spent his 2 year life in Jail during the period of 1990s economy of Venezuela was went on to bear the huge burden of oil prices. Support for the two of main political parties decline in elections of 1994, Chavez found the population increasingly receptive to its critique of the two party models and its associated corruption. Chavez organized a new party called the â€Å"fifth republic movement† During 1996 97 his support gradually increased in polls and he scored a comfortable majority and took power in 1998, his first political office with 56 percent of votes. Resentment against the United States â€Å"One of the reasons that Chavez is so rhetorically antagonistic to the United States is that it plays very well in terms of his domestic support base at home. † (Lapper and Sweig, 2006) According to Richard lapper, the Latin American editor of Financial Times, Hugo Chavez â€Å"likes to present himself at the head of a kind of anti-Bush crusade. He likes to see himself as a crusader in that particular battle and likes to position himself at the head of that. † (Lapper and Sweig, 2006) â€Å"To be sure, President Chavez has legitimate reasons to lambaste the United States, which has tried to undermine him several times since he was first democratically elected in 1998. In October 2001, Washington requested that Mr. Chavez publicly retract criticism that he had made, in Venezuela, of the U. S. war in Afghanistan, well within his right as a sovereign leader. Carlos Romero, a political scientist at Central University in Venezuela and an expert in U. S. -Venezuelan relations, describes such U. S. hubris as a provocation, and a turning point in the deterioration of U. S. -Venezuelan relations. (Sreeharsha, 2006) Then the United States, despite its support of the Democratic Charter adopted at the 2001 Summit of Americas in Quebec, was quick to recognize the leaders of a coup in 2002 that quickly failed. The United States has provided opposition groups with millions of dollars of support in the name of democracy. Lately, the Bush administration has been keeping a low profile, Romero says, perhaps a disappointment to President Chavez. † (Sreeharsha, 2006) From Democracy towards a Totalitarian State â€Å"Violence has marked each step along Chavezs road to power. The former paratrooper first tried to seize control by a coup in 1992; he failed and instead spent two years in jail. He later tried democracy and was elected as an outsider by Venezuelans six years later. Chavezs opponents admit he is popular, especially among the poor. But being popular, they say, does not give the president the right to do whatever he wants. The police, military and armed thugs have been tools used freely by Chavez to hang on to power during a coup attempt and a national strike in 2002. (The Iron Fist of Hugo Chavez, 2005) There has been a continuous debate whether Chavez has released from corruption accusation or he himself damaged the country’s own foundation of democracy. Some believe that the Hugo Chavez have more power than any president should have. Chavezs new constitution has been seen as authoritarian. Although there are detailed sections involving human rights, but some believe that the power given to the highest branch of government can easily lead to human rights violations. The new constitution also allows the president to be in the office considerably, which some suggests leads to authoritarianism. Scholars also criticized the way Chavez gained power and his conduct afterwards. The motivation behind his recent constituent assembly has been seen as to settle the score with Venezuelans traditional opposition parties and remove them from all positions of influence. One scholar suggested that Chavez himself overthrown the government in 1992 as similar to the corruption of the traditional parties of Venezuela, which clutched power by the military inventions in 1945 and misbalanced Venezuela’s supreme court and congress. Now, buoyed by electoral victories and high oil prices, Chavez appears to be doing everything he can to snuff out democracy before the eyes of a nation and a world that does not seem to be paying much attention. Chavez has packed the Supreme Court and the army with his supporters, seized control of the countrys wealth and introduced a penal code that criminalizes dissent. Anyone who opposes him faces violence or prison. † (The Iron Fist of Hugo Chavez, 2005) â€Å"The Venezuelan leaders insistence on uniting numerous leftist parties into a single socialist bloc and eliminating the constitutions presidential term limits has opened the first fissures in his coalition. Annual inflation of more than 20% Latin Americas highest is undermining the economic gains of recent years and igniting doubts about Chavezs free spending. Recent nationalizations of two companies owned by U. S. firms further sours the business climate. † (Lynch, 2007) On the other way, some believe that the Chavez protected the democracy. In their point of views, since Chavez does not belong to any party, and he came from the grass roots and has seen all the hardships, therefore he is more capable to meet the interest of the Venezuelans. Some opponent of Chavez equates him with Fujiori but his comparison is not correct because unlike Fujimori Chavez has a self-governing foreign military, a revolutionary disclosure and he did not endorse huge privatization. Economic Policies â€Å"The changes are in keeping with pledges he made after his re-election last month to take a more radical turn toward socialism. His critics have voiced concern that he would use his sweeping victory to tighten his grip on power, following in the footsteps of Fidel Castro. Cuba, one of Chavezs closest allies in the region, nationalized major industries shortly after Castro came to power in 1959. Bolivias Evo Morales, another Chavez ally, moved to nationalize key sectors after taking office last year. † (Rueda, 2007) Venezuela is the 5th largest oil producer, which remains the key of Venezuelan economy. Chavez has gained a reputation as a price hawk in OPEC. At a meeting of OPEC in July 2006, Venezuela was the only country calling for lowered production to drive oil prices higher. Some critics say that under the President Chavez regime the output of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) which is a state owned company, has been reduced by 25% and Venezuela cannot meets it current quota. However Forbes argues that the political and other influence have an effect on numbers. Nonetheless, Chavez has attempted to broaden Venezuelas customer base by getting into joint ventures with other developing countries including China, Brazil, Argentina and India. Although the record oil prices have meant more funding for the social and development plans, but it has also left the economy dependent on oil sector, private sector role has diminished. â€Å"As Venezuela embarked on another six years under Hugo Chavez, the president announced plans to nationalize power and telecom companies and make other bold changes that will concentrate more power in his hands. † (Rueda, 2007)