This lowly army officer attempted to seize power in 1992 when he organized a coup. It was bloody but he was put down in the end and he was thrown into prison. He emerged saying he would seek power through the ballot box.
Successive Venezuelan governments have failed to make the country attractive for investment. This has resulted in the waste of oil wealth and capital flight. Venezuela was "dysfunctional," replete with perverse incentives, political corruption and simmering resentments. Mr. Chavez exploited this situation through demagogy and Cuba's dictator quickly stepped up to support him.
In 1998, he was elected president with 56% of the vote by appealing to the nation's poor, promising them greater prosperity and an end to crooked politics.
From there he vowed to change Venezuela through a "peaceful and democratic revolution." Through numerous referendums strongly backed by Venezuela's poor majority, Chavez brought the nation's legislature and judiciary further under his control and decreased the political power of the middle and upper classes.More than 80% backed his referendum to rewrite the constitution and gave his supporters all but 10 of 131 seats at the Constituent Assembly. This meant that they were able to write in much of his anti-private property program. Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly for the finished product and re-elected Mr. Chavez with 60% of the vote in 2000.
Mr. Chavez's expropriation of private property, his creation of Castro-style block committees to spy on families and his reshuffle of management at the state oil company finally made him unpopular. A coup as organized against him, but it failed and Chavez came back into power as a President. Saddam Hussein hailed his return.
In one of his inspired speeches President Chavez told opposition groups it is impossible to convoke elections before December 2006, one month before his term ends. There are no articles in Venezuela's Constitution - a charter pushed through in 1999 by a popularly-elected assembly packed with Chavez' allies - opening the way for early balloting.
A general strike was organized by the opposition. At the heart of the “strike” has been the oil industry. But nearly two million people took to the streets in Caracas on Saturday December 7th 2002 in support of Chavez, chanting "Chavez Makes Them Crazy!" and wearing the red, yellow and blue colors of Venezuela's flag, they streamed into downtown Caracas, led by Chavez's Cabinet ministers and key political allies.
In the first weeks of January 2003, banks and supermarket chains joined the shut down and the right-wing opposition announced it would urge people not to pay income tax. In Venezuela, only the top 20% of the population pay income tax and these people can afford private health care and education. This means they will not suffer the consequences of the drop in public spending that would result from the non-payment of tax. Private TV stations ceased running commercials, replacing them with constant messages from the opposition. The stations give blanket coverage to anti-Chavez protests while ignoring often much larger pro-Chavez demonstrations.
After coping with food and fuel shortages in March 2003 Venezuelans had to deal with scarcity of another essential: water.