Chávez Frías, Hugo Rafael (1954– )

Venezuelan military officer and left-wing populist politician, president from February 1999. First elected in 1998 with 56% of the vote, he was re-elected in 2000 and 2006 with larger majorities. A proponent of Latin American integration, close ally of communist Cuba, and fierce critic of US foreign policy and globalization, the Chávez presidency saw a radical change in direction for Venezuela and a restructuring of its political system, using plebiscites and enabling acts to rule by decree. Chávez used the country's oil wealth to fund a populist programme of investment in education, healthcare, and social welfare. He first rose to prominence in February 1992 when in the army, he led an unsuccessful attempted coup against President Carlos Andrés Pérez, and was imprisoned for two years. In 1994 he founded the democratic socialist Fifth Republic Movement, inspired by the ideals of the 19th century freedom fighter Simón Bolivar. In April 2002, after he had dismissed the management of the state-owned oil company PDVSA, he was briefly removed in a coup by factions of the military, but after pro-Chavez uprisings, he was quickly restored to power.

The 1992 coup was preceded by a severe economic crisis and huge foreign debt repayments, with an austerity programme that lead to widespread civil strikes, rioting and many deaths. The coup orchestrated by Chávez emphasized that, despite over three decades of democratic rule, the military were prepared to overrule any form of government.

Born in Sabaneta, Barinas, the son of poor schoolteachers, he trained at the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences and served for 17 years in the army, specializing in counter-insurgency. Inspired by the 19th century revolutionary Simón Bolivar, in 1983 he set up the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (MBR-200).