Latin America’s foreign and domestic policies were drastically influenced by Hugo Chavez and his regime. He successfully demonized the United States and rejected capitalistic ideas replacing them with government funded social programs. Due to a plethora of social and economic policy changes, the people of Latin America were profoundly impacted by Hugo Chavez and his sovereignty in Venezuela.
Venezuela’s steady economic decline can be directly attributed to the rise of radical leftist, Hugo Chavez and his revolutionary socialist policies. Chavez was born in 1954 and raised as a low-middle class citizen of Venezuela. He attended the Venezuelan Military Academy and joined the Venezuelan Army in 1971 at age 17 (Biography). Because the majority …show more content…
Chavez rose through the ranks of the Venezuelan Army and as a 30 year old Lt. Col in the Paratroop Regiment, was involved in a coup d’état intending to overthrow the established government in Venezuela. The coup was unsuccessful however, resulting in Chavez incarceration, but not before he was politicized by a brief speech given prior to his arrest (Bulmer-Thomas). Following his release, Chavez won the Venezuelan presidential election in December of 1998 and vowed to reform their government and reconstruct the Venezuelan Constitution (Biography). Through a series of political reforms and constitutional amendments, Chavez began to gain total control of Venezuela. He appointed government officials who agreed with his ideology as justices for their Supreme Court. He intended to gain control of Venezuela’s oil revenue, which made it necessary for him to replace members of the Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) who oversaw the extraction, refinement and export of petroleum. Chavez relieved military officials …show more content…
Hugo Chavez’ primary ambition was to build an alliance between all Latin American countries and implement his left-wing policies throughout the region, rejecting and belittling capitalist tendencies resulting from U.S. influence. His role model for this scheme was Simon Bolivar, a revolutionary and liberal political activist who attempted to unite Latin America and ultimately socialize the whole region during the late 18th century into the 19th century (Lynch). His ambitions became later known as the Bolivarian dream. Chavez’ plan was to unite Latin American and Caribbean countries with a series of treaties and alliances. He provided cheap oil to Latin American countries in exchange for social services he was otherwise unable to support. For example, low oil prices were traded with Cuba for doctors and health care services. It should be noted that each of his “misiones” or social services, were monopolized by the Venezuelan government and funded with their oil revenues. Following in the footsteps of his beloved paragon, Simon Bolivar, Chavez intended to unite the countries of Latin America under a common government in order to prepare itself for a confrontation with the United States, and prevent the spread of free-market philosophies. In 2004, Chavez met with the Cuban president, Fidel Castro and signed into law a treaty known as the Bolivarian