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Hugo Chávez
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Introduction

• President of Venezuela in 1998
• A passionately disputed personality

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Introduction

• A liberator who fights for Latin American
  integration and against imperialism,
  neoliberalism and poverty
• An authoritarian demagogue who threatens
  Venezuela's economy and democracy, meddles in the
  affairs of other Latin American countries, and
  exacerbates international tensions 

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Introduction

• A threat to Latin Americas future ?
• A thriving force for a better future on the Latin
  America continent ?
• Do the US have reasons to fear Hugo Chávez ?

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Introduction

• Who is Hugo Chávez ?

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• SUMMARY
• Introduction
• Biography
• Chávezs domestic policy
• Chávezs foreign policy
• US reactions
• Chávezs popularity
• Conclusion Chávez, a threat?

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I. Biography

• Born in 1954
• Educated at the Military Academy of Venezuela.
• A career army officer, rising to the rank of
  lieutenant colonel.

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I. Biography

• 1992 participated in an unsuccessful coup
  against President Carlos Andrés Pérez
• 1992-1994 imprisoned
• 1997 creation of the Fifth Republic movement
  (Movimiento V (Quinta) Republica, MVR)
• 1998 President (56 of the votes)

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I. Biography

• A peaceful social revolution to help Venezuelas
  poor majority
• 1999 creation of a constitutional assembly to
  draft a new constitution

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I. Biography

• Main changes
• 1) The change of the Republics name
• 2) More power for the president
• 3) Less power for the legislative and judicial
  institutions
• 4) Guarantee of Human Rights

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I. Biography

• Referendum constitution passed with 71,78 of
  the votes
• 2000 re-elected President (59,5 of the votes)
• 2004 a recall referendum (58,91 of the
  Venezuelans against his recall, 40,60, for 0,49
  null and void)

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II. Chávezs domestic policy

• Aim Implementation of Bolivarism
• 6 political components
• 1. Venezuelan economic and political
  sovereignty
• 2. Grassroots political participation of the
  population through
• popular votes and referenda
• 3. Economic self-sufficiency (in food, consumer
  durables) 4. Instilling in people a national
  ethic of patriotic service
• 5. Equitable distribution of Venezuela's vast
  oil revenues
• 6. Eliminating corruption

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II. Chávezs domestic policy

• 2) Concrete measures
• Many referenda
• Bolivarian Missions (a series of social
  programmes whose stated goals are to combat
  disease, illiteracy, malnutrition, poverty, and
  other social ills)
• Bolivarian Circles
• Measures against corruption

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II. Chávezs domestic policy

• 3) Criticisms
• Authoritarian direction abandoning democratic
  traditions
• Rampant corruption
• A threefold higher murder rate
• Controversial poverty and unemployment figures

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III. Chávezs foreign policy

• Latin American integration
• Integration model strongly
• opposed to the neoliberal model
• (against the FTAA)
• Own regional integration
• mechanism the Bolivarian
• Alternative for the Americas (2001)

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III. Chávezs foreign policy

• Petrocaribe a Carribbean oil alliance with
  Venezuela to purchase their oil on conditions of
  preferential payment (June 2005)
• Telesur a pan- Latin
• American television network
• a counterweight to networks
• like CNN (December 2005)

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III. Chávezs foreign policy

• Other projects
• - Petrosur
• - A gas pipeline from
• Venezuela to Argentina
• - Bank of the South
• - A common Latin American Currency

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III. Chávezs foreign policy

• 2) Fight against imperialism and neoliberalism
• The main target the US
• Many criticisms against the US-policy (e.g. Iraq,
  Haiti)
• Strategic alliances

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Russia
India
China
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Iran
Cuba
Venezuela will stay by Iran at any time and
under any condition Chavez I feel I have met a
brother and trench mate after meeting Chavez
Ahmadinejad
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IV. US-reactions

• Massive accusations
• Threat of a second Cuba
• Venezuela portrayed as a threat to international
  peace and a negative force in the region

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IV. US-reactions

• 2) Offensive measures
• Searching for support from Venezuelas neighbours
  (bilateral trade agreements, military bases,
  joint military operations)
• High activism to avoid election of potential new
  allies
• Opposition to Venezuelan arms purchases
• Support for domestic opposition

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V. Chávezs popularity

• In Venezuela
• Increasing popularity
• among the poor
• Growing Opposition
• (e.g. Coup in April, 2002)

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V. Chávezs popularity

• B) In Latin America
• Sympathy among
• neighbouring countries
• -gt integration into the Mercosur
• (December 2005)
• -gt bilateral agreements

Chávez, Kirchner, Lula
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V. Chávezs popularity

• No real support from
• the newly leftist politicians
• Only two key allies on
• the continent Fidel Castro
• and Evo Morales
• Setbacks in Peru and
• Mexico

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V. Chávezs popularity

• C) Internationally
• Gained sympathy around the world
• gtThe symbol of resistance against neoliberalism
  and US hegemony

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V. Chávezs popularity

• Resounding success at
• the World Social Forum
• in Porto Alegre (Jan. 2005)
• Chávezs speech
• to the opening of the
• 61st UN General
• Assembly greeted
• with applause (Sept. 2006)

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V. Chávezs popularity

• Failure to gain a non permanent seat on the UN
  Security Council
• gt Mixed success in the international arena

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Conclusion Hugo Chávez, a threat ?

• US have failed thus far to isolate Chávez
  diplomatically

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Conclusion Hugo Chávez, a threat ?

• Failure of Chávezs
•  oil diplomacy 

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Conclusion Hugo Chávez, a threat ?

• gtNo high popularity, especially among Latin
  American politicians
• gt No threat of a  Chavez wave 
• gt No massive loss of US influence on the
  continent

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Conclusion Hugo Chávez, a threat ?

• Opportunity for the US to keep their influence on
  the continent
• One condition negociations on equal terms

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Conclusion Hugo Chávez, a threat ?

• A threat to his own country
• - Radicalisation of the regime
• - A hostile climate for foreign investment
• - Economic development based on the oil industry

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Conclusion Hugo Chávez, a threat ?
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References

• The Economist (Sept 28th 2006, August 31th 2006,
  June 8th 2006, Jul 28th 2005, June 9th 2004,)
• Courrier International (Nov 9th 2006, Jan 19th
  2006, Nov 13th 2003)
• Le Monde diplomatique (March 2005, April 2004,Nov
  2000)
• Vocable (Nov 16-29th 2006)
• www.venezuelananalysis.com
• www.risal.collectif.net
• www.guardian.co.uk
• www.news.bbc.co.uk
• www.lateinamerikanachrichten.de
• www.en.wikipedia.org