Relations thawed somewhat under President Barack Obama in June 2009, only to steadily deteriorate once again shortly afterwards. Chávez said Twitter was "another mechanism for contact with the public, to evaluate many things and to help many people",[438] and that he saw Twitter as "a weapon that also needs to be used by the revolution". He also befriended pariah states such as Belarus and Iran. [240] Since the week prior to the shutdown of RCTV, many individuals, international organizations and NGOs—including the OAS's Secretary General José Miguel Insulza[241] and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression,[242] the Inter American Press Association,[243] Human Rights Watch,[244] and the Committee to Protect Journalists,[245]—have expressed concerns for freedom of the press following the shutdown. [149], Voter turnout was 63%, and Chávez won the election with 56% of the vote.

[214] Military officers, including General Raúl Baduel, a founder of Chávez's MBR-200, then decided that they had to pull support from Chávez to deter a massacre[214] and shortly after at 8:00 pm, Vásquez Velasco, together with other ranking army officers, declared that Chávez had lost his support. [474] Vice President Elías Jaua declared that the president remained in "full exercise" of power and that there was no need to transfer power due to his absence from the country. [412][413][414] OAS observers were denied access to Venezuela;[414] Chávez rejected the OAS report, pointing out that its authors did not even come to Venezuela. Chávez described his policies as anti-imperialist, being a prominent adversary of the United States's foreign policy as well as a vocal critic of U.S.-supported neoliberalism and laissez-faire capitalism. In particular relations between Venezuela and the United States deteriorated markedly as Chávez became highly critical of the U.S. foreign policy,[443] opposing the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and condemning the NATO–led military intervention in Libya. She has also worked on ... Sun, Nov 01 [397] The report praises Chávez's 1999 amendments to the constitution which significantly expanded human rights guarantees, as well as mentioning improvements in women's rights and indigenous rights, but noted a "wide range of government policies that have undercut the human rights protections established" by the revised constitution. [202], Meanwhile, the 2000 elections had led to Chávez's supporters gaining 101 out of 165 seats in the Venezuelan National Assembly, and so in November 2001 they voted to allow him to pass 49 social and economic decrees. The Hugo Chávez who entered there was a kid from the hills, a.

Indeed, Cárdenas soon joined the Radical Cause socialist party and won the December 1995 election to become governor of the oil-rich Zulia State. Carlos Nieto—head of Window to Freedom—alleges that heads of gangs acquire military weapons from the state, saying: "They have the types of weapons that can only be obtained by the country's armed forces. The 1980s was the decade of big hair, big phones, pastel suits, Cabbage Patch Kids, Rubik’s cubes, Yuppies, Air Jordans, shoulder pads and Pac Man. [363] According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2012 there were 13,080 murders in Venezuela. [324], Price controls initiated by Chávez created shortages of goods since merchants could no longer afford to import necessary goods. [248], In 2007, the Bolivarian government set up a constitutional commission in order to review the 1999 constitution and suggest potential amendments to be made to it. I am not communist, but I am not anti-communist. [187][188], The Chávez supporting constituent assembly[180] then put together a new constitution. [366] Also in 2009, it was reported that Venezuelan authorities would assign judicial police to Caracas area morgues to speak with families. [398] The Venezuelan government retaliated for the report by expelling members of Human Rights Watch from the country.

[364], In leaked government INE data for kidnappings in the year 2009, the number of kidnappings were at an estimated 16,917, contrasting the CICPCs number of only 673,[352] before the Venezuelan government blocked the data. Internationally, Chávez aligned himself with the Marxist–Leninist governments of Fidel and then Raúl Castro in Cuba, as well as the socialist governments of Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.
Discover what happened on this day. [207] In April 2002, Chávez appointed his allies to head the PDVSA and replaced the company's board of directors with loyalists who had "little or no experience in the oil industry", mocking the PDVSA executives on television as he fired them. "[273][275] He was well versed in many Marxist texts, having read the works of many Marxist theoreticians, and often publicly quoted them.

[181] Over 900 of the 1,171 candidates standing for election that July were Chávez opponents. [7][8][9][10][11][12] The high oil profits coinciding with the start of Chavez's presidency[13] resulted in temporary improvements in areas such as poverty, literacy, income equality and quality of life between primarily 2003 and 2007,[14][13][15] though extensive changes in structural inequalities did not occur. [294] A 2010 OAS report[300] indicated achievements in addressing illiteracy, healthcare and poverty,[15] and economic and social advances. [483] It was announced on 20 December by the country's vice-president that Chávez had suffered complications following his surgery. By 2006, all of the 32 operating agreements signed with private corporations during the 1990s had been converted from being primarily or solely corporate-run to being at least 51% controlled by PDVSA. [65][279] One dictator Chávez admired was Marcos Pérez Jiménez, a former president of Venezuela that he praised for the public works he performed. [258][259][260], On 7 October 2012, Chávez won election as president for a fourth time, his third six-year term.

4:40 PM PST [187] Chávez's popularity dropped due to his relationship with Fidel Castro and Cuba, with Chávez attempting to make Venezuela in Cuba's image. "En Pdvsa y Sidor se concentra criminalización de las protestas – Economía", "Marches and Counter-Marches Over TV Station's End", "Estudiantes de la UCAB y la USB protestan en apoyo a RCTV", "Ucevistas protestaron en la autopista Francisco Fajardo cierre de RCTV", "Venezuelans march against closure of TV station", "Secretary General expresses concern over decision not to renew broadcasting license of Venezuelan television station", "Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression expresses concern over the situation of RCTV in Venezuela", "IAPA assails Venezuela's Chávez over non-renewal of TV station license", "Venezuela: TV Shutdown Harms Free Expression", "Non-renewal of RCTV license a threat to media pluralism, will cost 2,000 their jobs, says IFJ", "Insulza: RCTV case will be solved by Venezuelan courts", "Insulza hopes Venezuela "to continue to be democratic, "Venezuela's Chávez calls for end to term limits", "Venezuela Vote Sets Roadblocks on Chávez Path", "Unos 170 millones de kilos de alimentos importados por Venezuela se han vencido, afirma la oposición", "Audiencia preliminar por caso PDVAL será el 10 de agosto", "Los tres acusados por el caso PDVAL serán enjuiciados en libertad condicional", "Imputados de PDVAL volvieron a sus cargos en Pdvsa", "Rechazan incluir en orden del día caso de alimentos descompuestos de PDVAL", "Venezuela: escándalo por alimentos vencidos", "Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez wins another 6-year term, electoral council says", "Chávez Wins a Third Term in Venezuela Amid Historically High Turnout", "Church warns Venezuela govt on constitution", "Nuevos rumores de muerte para Hugo Chávez", "Former envoy claims Venezuela's Chávez is dead", "Even after death, Hugo Chavez gets his choice of successor", "Venezuela's Chávez Closes World Social Forum with Call to Transcend Capitalism", "Hugo Chavez admits to being Marxist, just like Christ | World | RIA Novosti", "Chávez accelerates on path to socialism", "Venezuela after Chávez Now for the reckoning", "Wall Street Journal Claims Chávez Oil Policy "Aims to Weaken US, "Noam Chomsky Meets with Chávez in Venezuela, James Suggett, Mérida, 27 August 2009", "Chávez promises a socialist Venezuela as he starts new 6-year term", "North Africa, french fightings, anti-Berlusconi.