President Hugo Chavez: Oil Tyrant or Politician of the People?

James Donohue

Latin American and Caribbean History Spring 2013

Hugo Chavez was a socialist President of Venezuela who served from 1999 until his death in March of 2013. Throughout his presidency, Chavez withstood heavy criticism and disapproval for his socialist agenda from capitalist countries, particularly the United States. Chavezs socialist policies gave him a way to both enact strong influence over his countrys exportation of oil and petroleum products as well as win three reelections, as well as assure him the disapproval of capitalist countries such as the US. Although the US government as a corrupt dictator has often labeled former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, many scholars say that to his own people, Chavez was a beloved politician who truly had his countrys best interests in mind. Hugo Chavez was born into a lower-middle class family on July 28th, 1954 in Los Rastrojos, Venezuela. The son of schoolteachers, Hugo and his family went through poverty, hunger, humility and suffering brought on by the injustices of the world throughout his childhood. When he was 17, he began the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. At the Academy he studied military tactics and history, taught by progressive, nationalistic military officers. 1 Several years later Chavez himself began teaching at the Academy in 1981. Dissatisfied with the Venezuelan government, he preached his own ideas and his beliefs in Bolivarianism to students. Bolivarianism is a set of political doctrines
1

Cannon, Page 55

named after Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan patriot who helped lead the revolutions of many South American countries during the 19th century. Bolivarianism entails anti-imperialism (inspired by South Americans hatred of imperialism having been victims of European rule for hundreds of years) economic self-sufficiency, nationalism, and democracy. Chavez created a secret group called the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, the MBR-200, for students and fellow soldiers who believed in his teachings and wanted to work toward changing the corrupt and violent government.2 In 1992 Chavez started a military coup dtat called Operation Zamora, which failed. Chavez surrendered under the terms he and his men would be harmed. Chavez was placed in prison until 1994 when the new President, Rafael Caldrera, pardoned him.3 In 1998 Chavez and his supporters created a new political party, the Fifth Republic Movement, a left-wing party practicing in Bolivarian and socialist policies. With the support of his new party, Chavez won the presidential election of 1998, and was sworn into office in 1999. His first acts were to replace government officials with ones he trusted. He replaced the head of the secret police and the Governor of Caracas political allies. It was clear from the beginning that Chavez was going to be a powerful president. Chavezs first major act as new president was constitutional reform. Chavez had a new constitutional assembly created, made up of elected politicians from all

2 3

Cannon, Page 57. Ibid

political parties in Venezuela.4 The constitution increased the protections and rights of both women and indigenous people, as well as made access to public education, housing, and healthcare all constitutional rights for all Venezuelan citizens, a major leap in the modernization of South America. Since Chavez became president, oil products have become the staple export of the Venezuelan economy. Following a three-month strike by workers in the oil industry in 2002, Chavez nationalized the Venezuelan oil industry in 2003. 5 His reasoning for this was that the country of Venezuela could not survive without the booming oil industry it boasts, and nationalization of the industry was the best prevention of the industrys failure. As a result of nationalizing oil, President Chavez had strong influence on the Venezuelan oil industry. Being president of a country that was a founding-member of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Nations), Chavez was also a very powerful man in the international oil industry. The United States has been at odds with OPEC for decades as a result of the United States wanting cheaper and easier access to oil. Some scholars agree with the United States in saying that since Chavezs rise to power he has used his countrys petroleum resources as a means to attempt to single-handedly dominate the world oil industry. Greg Palast was interviewed by Paul Jay one week after Chavezs death on March 5th, 2013. Paul Jay, founder and CEO of The Real News Network, is a journalist and filmmaker, specializing in US foreign policy. While interviewing another Palast, Jay states that Chavez became more of a dictator than elected president, even

4 5

Marcano and Barrera, Page 130. Cannon, 42

though time and time again the citizens of his nation reelected him. Jay states that a significant portion of his country disagreed with him, saying, But that doesn't mean there was a lot of bitter opposition to him, and not only from just the rich. There wereyou know, if youI've been in Caracas quite a few times, and, you know, there was opposition even at levels in the working class, in the middle class.6 Jay goes on to say that so long as Chavez controlled the oil in his nation, he would continue to be despised by capitalist countries such as the United States.7 Greg Palast is an award winning author and freelance journalist, mostly doing work for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Before Chavezs death, Palast had visited the president multiple times and had come to know the man on a personal level, which gave him a much clearer insight to the politics and controversy surrounding the Venezuelan ruler than most journalists and scholars would have. Because of this insight, Palast has knowledge of the situation that gave him reason to defend Chavezs nationalization of oil and his control over the oil industry. A week after Chavezs death on March 5th, 2013, Paul Jay of Real News asked Greg Palast the question during an interview: Why did Big Oil and the US hate Chavez? Palast stated that the reasons for hatred were because, Hugo Chvez is sitting on the world's largest pool of oil. It's biggernow the Venezuelan reserves are actually bigger than those of Saudi Arabia. And therefore the U.S. oil companies, the British oil companies, French oil companies want to know why Venezuelans are sitting on top of their oil and won't give it away to them.8

Jay, Paul. "Why did the US government and big oil hate Chavez?" Venezuela News, Views, and Analysis. REAL NEWS, 12 Mar. 2013. 22 April 2013. 7 Jay 8 Palast, Greg. "Why did the US government and big oil hate Chavez?" Venezuela News, Views, and Analysis. REAL NEWS, 12 Mar. 2013. 22 April 2013.
6

Paul countered saying that Chavez did sell to the United States, actually becoming their main oil supplier, yet he hated doing so.9 However, Palast responded saying that he never wanted to stop selling to the United States, that he knew His nation would die if it didn't sell oil.10 Palast said that the reason many people believe that Chavez refused to sell oil to the US was that he sold Venezuela crude oil for $101 a barrel, $33 more a barrel than the US spends to buy from Canada.11 Palast says he does this so that he may take the extra profit and put it towards public welfare and financial support programs, which the Venezuelan government runs. From the interview it seems that Chavez truly was a man of the people and was not trying to reap the rewards of nationalization for private gain or just raising oil prices to spite the United States. This article has given important insight into a less biased view than most Americans are given easy access to, as a result of most American media groups being heavily against Chavez. Most Americans see the raised oil prices and nationalization happening in Venezuela and begin to think of what the repercussions will be in the US. However, they do not see that the raised prices are for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, not for the government or Chavezs own private gain. Though selfish it may be, it is understandable why most Americans care more about the raising gas prices at home, more than they are the wellbeing of citizens of a country thousands of miles away.

Palast. Ibid 11 Jay.

9 10

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was the president of Brazil from 2003-2011. During his time as president, Silvas work resulted in Brazil becoming one of the worlds leading economies. "Under Lula, Brazil became the world's eighth-largest economy, more than 20 million people rose out of acute poverty and Rio de Janiero was awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first time the Games will be held in South America."12 Da Silva worked closely with Chavez while working to establish the Union of the South American Nations in 2008, and maintained both a political relationship and personal friendship with Chavez. On March 6th 2013, da Silva wrote an essay that was published by the New York Times. The essay was called Latin America After Chavez, and it discussed his opinions on what the political climate in Latin America would be like after Chavezs death. He wrote about the significance of the role Chavez played in the unifying of Latin America. He writes, Mr. Chvez was instrumental in the 2008 treaty that established the Union of South American Nations, a 12-member intergovernmental organization that might someday move the continent toward the model of the European Union.13 This modernization and unity has helped make South America into one of the most dynamic continents in the world. The treaty has helped expand the growth of trade between South American countries and international partners. The treaty also allowed for the establishment of The Bank of the South, a lending institution that will help the growth of businesses and corporations in South

Forero, Juan. "Brazilian President's Handpicked Successor Leads, Faces Runoff." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 04 Oct. 2010. Web. 8 May 2013. 13 Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "Latin America After Chavez." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 31 Apr. 2013.
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America in an effort to raise both private and public wealth and increase employment opportunities.14 The unity of the countries demonstrate Chavezs socialist values, and the ideas he had of unifying different groups together for the betterment of the general public, as well as his belief in a stronger government being able to do more for citizens than a weak one. This modernization was also apparent in the constitutional reform of Venezuela that Chavez started in 1999 when he first became president. Barry Cannon is a member of the Irish Research Council at the School of Law and Government of Dublin City University. Cannon specializes in development and democratization, mainly in Latin America. He spent eight months living in Venezuela in 2001-2002, and witnessed the failed coup attempt against President Chavez in April of 2002. During his time in Venezuela Cannon witnessed first hand the support Chavez had from his people and the effects that his policies had on his citizens. In 2009 Cannon wrote a book called Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution, which talks about Chavez, Bolivarianism, and populism. In the book, Cannon writes about Chavezs ability to practice the populism and socialism that Bolivarianism entails while still having maintained a democratic government. Cannon writes that in Chavezs Venezuela, democracy was the only game in town.15 He praised Chavezs social politics, saying that he took many steps to provide the wellbeing for his people, including education and healthcare. However Cannon also says that Chavezs foreign policy and tactics were flawed, saying the Chavez should have stopped trying to butt heads with the United States and agree to
14 15

da Silva. Cannon, 62

start selling oil at a lower price. He stated that Chavezs methods should have been to lower oil prices and therefore sell even more oil and raise more profits for his people. It seems that while most scholars are either completely for or completely against Chavez, Cannon stands one of few that agrees with some of his policies and disagrees with others. Following Chavezs decision in 2003 to nationalize oil and control the industry, scholars began discussing his influential time as president of his nation. While many scholars agree that nationalizing the oil industry in his nation was important at a time to assure its continued success, some believe that it made him into too powerful a ruler and that he became less president and more of a dictator. However most scholars agree that his social policies have been very important to the well being of his people. Without them, scholars agree that he would have been under scrutiny by more governments as a result of his continued growth of power if he hadnt also been doing so much work to improve life for his citizens. Despite the power of Hugo Chavez, many scholars agree that his presidency had a positive effect on the citizens of his country and that throughout his presidency Chavez was in fact working towards the wellbeing of his people, and not in an effort to become a dictator for personal gain.

Bibliography Books: Cannon, Barry. Hugo Chvez and the Bolivarian Revolution: Populism and Democracy in a Globalised Age. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Marcano, Christina and Tyszka, Alberto Barrera (2007). Hugo Chvez: The Definitive Biography of Venezuela's Controversial President. New York: Random House. Internet: Forero, Juan. "Brazilian President's Handpicked Successor Leads, Faces Runoff." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 04 Oct. 2010. Web. 8 May 2013. Jay, Paul. "Why did the US government and big oil hate Chavez?" Venezuela News, Views, and Analysis. REAL NEWS, 12 Mar. 2013. 22 April 2013. Da Silva, Luiz Inacio Lula. "Latin America After Chavez." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 31 Apr. 2013. Palast, Greg. "Why did the US government and big oil hate Chavez?" Venezuela News, Views, and Analysis. REAL NEWS, 12 Mar. 2013. 22 April 2013.