What has changed in Venezuela 20 years after the triumph of Hugo Chávez

On December 6, 1998, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías won for the first time the presidential election in Venezuela and ushered in a new page in the history of the country. At the time, Venezuela was punished for corruption, poverty and inequality. The new president came to power with the promise of a reconstituted republic, which would regenerate politics and bring the much desired social justice.

But, 20 years later, many of the problems of that era have worsened. The neighboring country is experiencing the biggest recession in its history. According to the National Assembly, the Venezuelan parliament, currently controlled by the opposition, announced 12 consecutive quarters of economic recession in July.

Inflation in the country is around 1 000 000% per annum. Hunger killed an average of 11 kilograms for Venezuelans last year.

The historian Agustín Blanco Muñoz, author of several books on the recent history of Venezuela and the figure of Chavez, explains the context of this victory of Chavez: "The system of fixed points, which has Ended the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958, was founded on two parties, Acción Democrática (AD) and the Independent Committee of political political organization (Copei), who alternated to power without being able to resolve

Then, the Venezuelans decided to trust Chavez, a young soldier who became famous as the leader of a coup attempt in 1992 against Carlos Andrés Pérez.

His televised message to the country soon after the failure of the rebellion, when he announced that his Bolivarian movement had not achieved its goals "for the time being", was, as was the case with wrote Gabriel García Márquez, "the beginning of his campaign" election. "

After having been pardoned in 1994 by President Rafael Caldera, Chavez, on a parity and no longer in military uniform, took part in the elections six years later and won … caption

In the campaign, Chávez taken as a flag the fight against corruption and poverty

"The situation in 1998 was a real disaster and it managed to present itself as a savior in the midst of this disaster, because Venezuelans no longer believed in traditional political parties," Blanco said.

Although he made contrary statements to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during his previous term (1974-1979) and during the presidential campaign of 1989, President Carlos Andres Perez made adjustments agreed. with the agency in exchange for credits so that Venezuela can cope with its huge external debt and improve its economy, affected by the drop in oil prices on the international markets.

At the time, as today, Venezuela depended on its exports of crude oil, without refining (thus without added value).

In the 1970s, especially under the first government of Perez, Venezuela had benefited from an oil boom that allowed considerable social spending. These were the years known as "Saudi Arabia", characterized by public investments and the creation of infrastructure in the country.

But in the 1980s, bonanza ended. Prices, unemployment and public debt have increased. [Andres Perez et Jimmy Carter, président des États-Unis d'Amérique.]

Legend of the Image
Getty Images

Until 1989, shortly after his election for the second time, Perez applied the economic program known as "pacotão", which included cuts in social services, tax hikes and privatization of state-owned enterprises. was the social climate at the time?

The 1998 Venezuela was still living under the trauma of the episode called "Caracaço". Shortly after the beginning of the Perez reforms, a popular revolt with demonstrations and looting broke out in Caracas. Getty Images

Historian Blanco Muñoz stated that the president had suspended several constitutional guarantees and that, "to protect himself and his government, he had put the army on the street with the order of kill". He calls this moment the "mbadacre of Venezuela".

"We still count the dead," he laments during a conversation with the BBC Mundo Juan Barreto, who followed Chavez's candidacy early in his life and was responsible for communication within from his government.

The wave of violence and repression at the time, they left hundreds of dead, but the exact number is still the subject of debate in the country.

Gustavo Márquez, twice minister of Chavez, said that in recent years the so-called system of alternation between the two main parties, the country's political elite s & # 39;

What is the situation of Venezuela today?

This political and economic context of the late 1990s facilitated the rise to power of Chavez, a soldier who has proposed to break with traditional politics.

In 2014 and 2017, several waves of protest took place against the government of Nicolas Maduro, successor of Chavez, who died in 2013. The clashes between the forces of the order security and protesters have also left dozens dead – there is no consensus on the exact number.

Barreto says that recently "the Maduro government has restricted freedoms, but we can not to say that it's the same thing q What was seen in Caracao ", where, according to him," they forced young people to shoot at the population "(19659013). (19659005) Image caption

Venezuela: ranks and small demonstrations

According to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, 2018 will be the year of the largest number of protests in Venezuela since 2011, the year in which the organization began to collect data. However, it seems that they are becoming less intense.

There are no major opposition marches, as in previous years, but smaller concentrations of retirees, health workers and other groups protesting against the government and its economic management and against lack of access to basic services.

According to the IMF, the country will have experienced its third consecutive year in 2018 with a drop of more than 10% of GDP, a dramatic reduction in its national wealth. Between 2013 and 2017, Venezuelan GDP decreased by 37%. The IMF expects a further 15% decline this year. and describes the situation as "one of the worst economic crises in history"

To this is added hyperinflation, a steady and accelerated rise in prices, which the IMF believes to 1,000,000% by the end of this year. Although inflation is already a problem in 1998, the current rate exceeds all precedents in Venezuela and almost everyone in the world.

The current crisis was also caused by the fall in the price of oil. For Chávista Barreto, "Chavez could not break with the model of the oil trader"

Is the corruption finished?

Image caption

Already in the 1970s, the scandals that badociated Carlos Andrés Pérez and people around him to an alleged misappropriation of public resources multiplied.

After the "Caracaço" and two coup attempts by Chávez, Pérez was formally accused of improperly spending millions of bolivars from a secret presidential fund and sending them to send a police mission to Nicaragua .

In 1998, Pérez was again accused of using public resources, which he reportedly concealed.

The case ended with his dismissal of the president by Congress and the Supreme Court sentenced him to two years and four months of house arrest. in US bank accounts. [19659137] Image caption

Chavismo did not get rid of the stain of corruption either.

A Florida court recently sentenced Alejandro Andrade, treasurer of the Republic and Chavez's bodyguard, to 10 years in prison for being accused of $ 1 billion in bribes.

Other persons belonging to the circle of Chavez were also charged. are accused in different parts of the world. His wife, Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillén, hopes in Spain that the court will rule on his extradition to Venezuela for his involvement in the project of the chavist treasurer.

The list does not stop there. In Andorra, a group of directors of PDVSA, the Venezuelan national oil company, accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars is being investigated.

The Venezuelan Public Prosecutor's Office announced a few weeks ago that it had discovered a scheme of misappropriation of funds by the company and declared that it had arrested those responsible.

In addition, two nephews of President Maduro's wife were sentenced in the United States. in 2017 for trying to bring 800 kg of cocaine to Haiti.

The situation is aggravated by the political upheaval. In 2015, Chavismo lost control of Parliament and Maduro, who constantly accuses opponents of trying to overthrow him by coups, decided to convene a National Constituent Assembly.

In practice, this was a strategy to completely squeeze the power of the legislator controlled by the opponents and to create an example of a parallel decision. Chavismo also dominates the Supreme Court of Justice, the highest court.

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