Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías July 28, 1954 to March 5, 2013 ) was the democratically elected Democratic Socialist President of Venezuela. He was elected three times between 1998 and 2006 with approximately two thirds of the vote in elections deemed free and fair by the international community.   Since taking power in 1998, he used Venezuelan oil wealth to significantly raise the standard of living for poor Venezuelans. He gave them access to universal healthcare, education, and affordable housing, something that wasn't available under previous regimes. Venezuelans also enjoyed more civil liberties under Chavez including freedom to protest the government. Chavez permited private media to exist in the country even though it called for his violent overthrow. He had a constitutional referendum and allowed the Venezuelan people to vote on a new constitution.

Chavez was an outspoken critic of neoliberal globalization and was very critical of American style capitalism. Because of this, he was considered a threat to American corporate interests and had been branded a dictator in the Mainstream Media. Chavez was harshly criticized in the American media when he called former President Bush the devil at the UN General Assembly. He also recommend to all people in the world that they read "Hegemony or Survival" by Noam Chomsky, his favourite author.