I.

Introduction

Hugo Chávez, born in 1954, president of Venezuela since 1999. A former soldier, Chávez is a self-styled socialist who has won the allegiance of Venezuela’s poor and working class while alienating the upper class and some sections of the middle class. In foreign affairs he has cultivated close relations with the leftist governments of Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua, rejected efforts to establish free trade zones in Latin America, and defied the United States on many foreign policy issues, including developing closer ties with the anti-U.S. government of Iran.

Born in Sabaneta, he attended the Military Academy of Venezuela, graduating in 1975 as a second lieutenant. In 1982 he founded the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (MBR), a secret nationalist movement committed to restoring Venezuela to its former prominence. He progressed through the ranks of the army, and in 1991 he became colonel of a paratrooper regiment.