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Chávez is the son of Hugo de los Reyes Chávez (a former regional director of education and a former member of the rightist Social Christian Party , who is the current governor of Barinas State), and Elena Frías de Chávez. Chávez has four children of his own: Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela, Hugo Rafael, and Rosinés. He was married twice and is currently separated from his second wife, Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez.
He graduated from the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences on July 5, 1975, after being awarded master's degrees in military sciences and engineering. He continued his education by following a master's degree in political sciences at the Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, which he did not finish according to his university tutor and the head of the Political Science school.
An ex-paratrooper, Chávez came to prominence after heading a failed military coup on February 4February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 330 days remaining, (331 in leap years). Events 1454 In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederacy sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Mas, 19921992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday. Events January January The Internet Society is formed. January 1 Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General January 1 George H. Bush becomes the fi against then President Carlos Andrés PérezCarlos Andres Perez Rodriguez (born October 27, 1922) was President of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993. A member of Accion Democratica, in his first term he was praised by the country's leftist groups for taking steps to nationaliz. Pérez had presided over unpopular IMFThe International Monetary Fund IMF is an international organization responsible for managing the global financial system and for providing loans to its member states to help alleviate balance of payments problems. Part of its mission is to help countries austerity measures that led to protests in 1989, which he brutally suppressed, leaving hundreds dead. After spending two years in prison, Chavez was pardoned by former President Rafael CalderaRafael Caldera Rodriguez (born 24 January, 1916) was president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999. Rafael taught sociology and law at various universities before entering politics. He was a founding member of COPEI. He first ran fo, and emerged as a politician, organizing a new political party called the Movement for the Fifth RepublicThe Movement for the Fifth Republic ( Spanish: Movimiento V [Quinta] Republica MVR is a left-wing Venezuelan political party founded by Hugo Chavez, the current President of Venezuela. In the National Assembly it is the single largest party, with 76 seats.
Chávez won the presidential election on December 6December 6 is the 340th day (341st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 25 days remaining. Events: 1534 Spanish found Quito, Ecuador 1768 First edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is published 1790 United States Congress mov, 1998 by the largest percent of voters (56.2%) in four decades, running on an anti-corruption and anti-poverty platform, and condemning the two major parties that had dominated Venezuelan politics since 1958 (see: Venezuelan presidential election, 1998).
With Chávez's emergence, there has been a sweeping social and economic revamping in Venezuela. Traditionally, lighter skinned groups have held economic and political sway over this oil-rich nation. All of the five major TV networks, and most major newspapers, oppose him, but a small minority of the media is said to still support him. Chávez claims the opposition media is controlled by the interests which oppose him, whereas the media accuse him of having intimidated journalists with his pronouncements and of sending gangs to threaten journalists with physical violence. The Venezuelan business community, represented by the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecámaras), opposes Chávez and his policies deeply, and the largest labor federation joined them.
Chávez has launched sweeping land and education reforms as a way of offsetting the balance between the country's élites and masses, the estimated 80% living in poverty. Soon after taking office, for instance, the president turned part of his presidential palace into a high school for homeless children, a move his critics claim was politically motivated. He has also implemented widespread immunization and food distribution programs for children, mostly nonexistent under previous Venezuelan presidencies. These programs have been criticized as inefficient and incomplete by opposition figures but are widely heralded and appreciated by Chávez backers. Wealthy businesses, who had not been required to pay taxes previously, are now required to do so. In the process, the country has become deeply polarized, as Chávez, a self-described " Robin Hood" has tried to level the playing field by re-engineering the status quo, namely, taking from the wealthy and giving to the poor.
Shortly after taking office on February 2, 1999, Chávez embarked on a series of sweeping changes to the Venezuelan government. He organized a series of referenda; the first authorized re-writing the Venezuelan constitution . The second selected delegates to a new Constitutional Assembly, distinct from his country's legislature, to do the re-writing. Chávez's initial widespread popularity allowed supporters to win 120 of the 131 assembly seats .
In August 1999, the assembly set up a "judicial emergency committee" with the power to remove judges without consulting any other branch of government. In the same month, the assembly declared a "legislative emergency." A seven-member committee was created to perform congressional functions, including law-making. The Constitutional Assembly prohibited the Congress from holding meetings of any sort. In a national radio address quoted in the New York Times, Chávez warned Venezuelans not to obey opposition officials, stating that "we can intervene in any police force in any municipality, because we are not going to permit any tumult or uproar. Order has arrived in Venezuela."
The new constitution renamed the country to the "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela", after South American independence hero Simón Bolívar. It increased the presidential term of office to six years, while providing for a new procedure to recall a president and providing term limits to the president of two terms. It was approved in a nationwide referendum held in December 1999. Elections for the new, unicameral legislature were held in July 2000. During the same election, Chávez stood for re-election. Chávez supporters won roughly 60% of the seats in the new unicameral assembly and Chavez himself was reelected (see Venezuelan presidential election, 2000).In November 2000, he backed a bill through the legislature allowing him to rule by decree for one year. In December 2000 there was another set of elections. During elections for local officials, Chávez added a referendum on dissolving Venezuela's labor unions. Though it is unclear what authority was invoked, he attempted to consolidate all Venezuelan labor unions into a single, state-controlled Bolivarian Labor Force.
In November 2001, Chávez passed a set of 49 laws by decrees, shortly before the enabling law expired. One of the most controversial of these laws was the Ley de Tierras ("Land Law"), which created the Plan Zamora to enact land reforms in Venezuelan agriculture: taxing unused landholdings, expropriating unused private lands (with compensation), and giving inheritable, unsellable land grants to small farmers and farm collectives. Some of the wealthiest people in Venezuela own enormous ranches or estates that are mostly unused, while the farmers and the poor have to invade small properties to live. Fedecámaras vehemently opposed the 49 laws and called for a general business strike on December 10, 2001.
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