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Press
Over nearly a decade and a
half, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela built a political movement and a
government that were centered on his outsize personality. More
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By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: March 5, 2013 351 Comments
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez
of Venezuela died Tuesday afternoon after a long battle with cancer,
the government announced, leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in
the grip of a political crisis that grew more acute as he languished for
weeks, silent and out of sight in hospitals in Havana and Caracas.
Related Multimedia
Past Coverage
- Illness Threatens Revolution (Dec. 13, 2012)
- Chávez Wins Bid to End Term Limits (Feb. 16, 2009)
- Opposition to U.S. Makes Chávez a Hero to Many (June 1, 2005)
- How Venezuelan Outlasted His Foes (Feb. 7, 2003)
- In the Time of Hugo Chávez (June 2, 2002)
- Democrat or Dictator? (April 10, 1999)
Related
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Hugo Chávez | 1954-2013: A Polarizing Figure Who Led a Movement (March 6, 2013)
Times Topic: Hugo Chávez
Related in Opinion
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Op-Ed Contributor: In the End, an Awful Manager (March 6, 2013)
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Room for Debate: The Future of Venezuela (January 3, 2013)
With his voice cracking and close to tears, Vice President Nicolás
Maduro said that he and other officials had gone to the military
hospital where Mr. Chávez was being treated, sequestered from the
public, when “we received the hardest and most tragic information that
we could transmit to our people.”
Within short order, police officers and soldiers were highly visible as
people ran through the streets, calling loved ones on cellphones,
rushing to get home. The capital quickly became an enormous traffic jam.
Stores and shopping malls abruptly closed. As dark fell, government
television showed a muted crowd congregating in the main square of
Caracas, some people crying.
Chávez supporters set fire to tents and mattresses used by university
students who had chained themselves together in protest several days ago
to demand more information about Mr. Chávez’s condition.
“Are you happy now?” the Chávez supporters shouted as they ran through
the streets with sticks. “Chávez is dead! You got what you wanted!”
Mr. Chávez’s departure from a country he dominated for 14 years casts
into doubt the future of his socialist revolution. It not only alters
the political balance in Venezuela, the fourth-largest foreign oil
supplier to the United States, but also in Latin America, where Mr.
Chávez led a group of nations intent on reducing American influence in
the region.
Mr. Chávez, 58, changed Venezuela in fundamental ways, empowering and
energizing millions of poor people who had felt marginalized and
excluded. But his rule also widened society’s divisions, and his death
is sure to bring vast uncertainty as the nation tries to find its way
without its central figure.
The Constitution says that the nation should “proceed to a new election”
within 30 days when a president dies, but there is some disagreement
over who should take the helm in the meantime. The election itself is
likely to pit Mr. Maduro, whom Mr. Chávez designated as his political
successor, against Henrique Capriles Radonski, a young state governor
who lost to Mr. Chávez in a presidential election in October.
But there has been heated debate in recent months over clashing
interpretations of the constitution, in light of Mr. Chávez’s illness,
and it is impossible to predict how the post-Chávez transition will
proceed.
“We, your civilian and military companions, Commander Hugo Chávez,
assume your legacy, your challenges, your project, accompanied by and
with the support of the people,” Mr. Maduro told the nation.
Only hours earlier, the government seemed to go into a state of
heightened alert as Mr. Maduro convened a crisis meeting in Caracas of
cabinet ministers, governors loyal to the president and top military
commanders.
Taking a page out of Mr. Chávez’s time-tested playbook, Mr. Maduro
warned in a lengthy televised speech that the United States was seeking
to destabilize the country and the government expelled two American
military attachés, accusing one of seeking to recruit Venezuelan
military personnel. He called on Venezuelans to unite as he raised the
specter of foreign intervention.
Mr. Chávez long accused the United States of trying to undermine or even
assassinate him, using Washington as a foil to build support or
distract attention from deeply rooted problems at home, like high
inflation and soaring crime.
American officials had hoped to improve relations under Mr. Maduro, with
informal talks taking place last year. But more recently, the
government has appeared to shift into campaign mode, taking sweeping aim
at the Venezuelan opposition and playing up its real or alleged ties to
the United States for political gain.
“We completely reject the Venezuelan government’s claim that the United
States is involved in any type of conspiracy to destabilize the
Venezuelan government,” Robert Ventrell, a State Department spokesman,
said after the expulsion of the American attachés. He added:
"Notwithstanding the significant differences between our governments, we
continue to believe it important to seek a functional and more
productive relationship with Venezuela.”
Related Multimedia
Past Coverage
- Illness Threatens Revolution (Dec. 13, 2012)
- Chávez Wins Bid to End Term Limits (Feb. 16, 2009)
- Opposition to U.S. Makes Chávez a Hero to Many (June 1, 2005)
- How Venezuelan Outlasted His Foes (Feb. 7, 2003)
- In the Time of Hugo Chávez (June 2, 2002)
- Democrat or Dictator? (April 10, 1999)
Related
-
Hugo Chávez | 1954-2013: A Polarizing Figure Who Led a Movement (March 6, 2013)
Times Topic: Hugo Chávez
Related in Opinion
-
Op-Ed Contributor: In the End, an Awful Manager (March 6, 2013)
-
Room for Debate: The Future of Venezuela (January 3, 2013)
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Mr. Chávez was given a diagnosis of cancer in June 2011, but throughout
his treatment he kept many details about his illness secret, refusing to
say what kind of cancer he had or where in his body it occurred. He had
three operations from June 2011 to February 2012, as well as
chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but the cancer kept coming back.
The surgery and most other treatments were done in Cuba.
Then on Dec. 8, just two months after winning re-election, Mr. Chávez
stunned the nation by announcing in a somber televised address that he
needed yet another surgery.
That operation, his fourth, took place in Havana on Dec. 11. In the
aftermath, grim-faced aides described the procedure as complex and said
his condition was delicate. They eventually notified the country of
complications, first bleeding and then a severe lung infection and
difficulty breathing.
After previous operations, Mr. Chávez often appeared on television while
recuperating in Havana, posted messages on Twitter or was heard on
telephone calls made to television programs on a government station. But
after his December surgery, he was not seen again in public, and his
voice fell silent.
Mr. Chávez’s aides eventually announced that a tube had been inserted in
his trachea to help his breathing, and that as a result he had
difficulty speaking. It was the ultimate paradox for a man who seemed
never at a loss for words, often improvising for hours at a time on
television, haranguing, singing, lecturing, reciting poetry and orating.
As the weeks dragged on, tensions rose in Venezuela, and the situation
turned increasingly bizarre. Officials in Mr. Chávez’s government strove
to project an image of business as usual and deflected inevitable
questions about a vacuum at the top. At the same time, the country
struggled with an out-of-balance economy, troubled by soaring prices and
escalating shortages of basic goods.
The opposition, weakened after defeats in the presidential election in
October and elections for governor in December, in which its candidates
lost in 20 of 23 states, sought to keep pressure on the government.
Then officials suddenly announced on Feb. 18 that Mr. Chávez had
returned to Caracas. He arrived unseen on a predawn flight and was
installed in a military hospital, where aides said he was continuing
treatments.
Over nearly a decade and a half, Mr. Chávez built a political movement
and a government that were centered on his outsize personality. He made
most major decisions and dominated all aspects of political life. He
inspired a fierce, sometimes religious devotion among his supporters and
an equally fervent animus among his opponents. As many of his followers
say: “With Chávez everything, without Chávez nothing.”
But that leaves his revolution in a precarious spot without its
charismatic leader.
“In regimes that are so person-based, the moment that the person on
which everything hangs is removed, the entire foundation becomes very
weak because there was nothing else supporting this other than this
figure,” said Javier Corrales, a professor of political science at
Amherst College.
Mr. Chávez’s death could provide an opportunity for the political
opposition, which was never able to defeat him in a head-to-head
contest.
Mr. Capriles lost by 11 percentage points to Mr. Chávez in October. But
he has twice beaten top Chávez lieutenants in running for governor of
his state, Miranda, which includes part of Caracas.
And Mr. Maduro is far from having Mr. Chávez’s visceral connection to
the masses of Venezuela’s poor. Even so, most analysts believe that Mr.
Maduro will have an advantage, and that he will receive a surge of
support if the vote occurs soon after the president’s death.
But even if Mr. Maduro prevails, he may have a hard time holding
together Mr. Chávez’s movement and furthering its socialist goals while
fending off resistance from what is likely to be a revived opposition.
Mr. Chávez’s new six-year term began on Jan. 10, with the president
incommunicado in Havana. In his absence, the government held a huge
rally in the center of Caracas, where thousands of his followers raised
their hands to pledge an oath of “absolute loyalty” to their commander
and his revolution. Officials promised that Mr. Chávez would have his
inauguration later, when he had recovered.
But the hoped-for recovery never came. Now, instead of an inauguration,
Mr. Chávez’s followers are left to plan a funeral.
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