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A Decade in Power: An Assessment of Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution 
This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Ashley Wagner 
-Chávez celebrates a decade of power-Venezuela’s progress over the last 10 years-Chávez’s social and economic reforms-Trouble in Chávez Presidency-Future U.S.-Venezuelan relations
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a former paratrooper turnedsocialist revolutionary and regional leader, declared a national holidayfor February 2, the tenth anniversary of his being in power. On theday of the newly mandated celebration, Chávez remindedVenezuelans of the prosperity the country has witnessed over the lastdecade. He rallied his supporters with a speech proclaiming that hisadministration had encapsulated “three words: revolution,independence and socialism.” He proclaimed to the thousands of sympathizers lining Caracas’ streets that the spirit of Venezuela’sforefather, Simon Bolivar, had been revived in him ten years ago, andassisted in the effort to liberate the Venezuelan people. Chávez, thefounder of the
Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela
(United SocialistParty of Venezuela), also used the occasion to issue a new document,“The Achievement in 10 years of Revolution.” It outlines thegovernment’s accomplishments such as economic reform, socialwelfare, and the prospect of major land reform. Chávez triumphantlytold his followers that, “We have done in 10 years what couldn’t bedone in one century.”
Social Reforms
After the recuperation of the control of the national petroleumcompany PDVSA and nationalization of foreign-held petroleumdeposits and drilling sites, the resulting vast increase in governmentalrevenue began to be allocated towards critical achievements in livingconditions for Venezuela’s poorest citizens, through public health,education, and job training programs. Initiatives such as the “MissionVuelta al Campo” permitted the funding, construction, expansion andrefurbishment of healthcare facilities nationwide that ultimatelybenefited tens of thousands of ordinary Venezuelans. Free medicalcare allowed nearly two hundred thousand surgeries for cataracts andother ocular diseases that were performed nation-wide.A poor Caracas native testified that thanks to Chávez’s “RescatandoLa Sonrisa” dentistry program, which arose out of universalhealthcare, she was able to get her teeth fixed for the first time in herlife. Olivia Delfino, an impoverished Caracas native, voted to re-electChávez in 2004 due to her new-found literacy. “Can you imagine what
 
it has meant to me, at 52 years old, to now have a chance to read?It’s transformed my life,” she cried to an American reporter, just afterthe election. Delfino was not the only one affected by universaleducation and programs such as “Mission Robinson.” By 2005,illiteracy was essentially eradicated in the country. State sponsoredliteracy and educational programs also resulted in substantial gains inmiddle and higher education enrollment. Enrollment rates nearlydoubled from 1999 to 2008, the period of time spanning Chávez’sterm.Aside from improvement in everyday life, Chávez secured longerlasting social welfare programs like the “social stability funds” thatguaranteed workers “fundamental rights such as retirement,pensions, vacations, and prenatal and postnatal leave.” Under thenon-exploitative workers’ program, the work week was shortenedfrom 44 hours to 36 hours, and employers were prohibited fromforcing wage earners to work overtime (Prensa Latina). He also raisedthe minimum wage to $286 per month, boasting the highest wage inLatin America. In addition to subsidizing basic food stuff by 40percent, his decree on land reform, which aimed to eliminateVenezuela’s largest estates, while still allowing the plantation ownersto hold huge swaths of land, permitted him to re-distribute 3 millionhectares of land to the rural landless. For those most impoverished,Chávez put roofs over their heads by building block housing projects. To many observers, Chávez achieved the seemingly impossible overthe course of a decade.
Economic Reforms
Even though Chávez has been mainly successful in aiding the poor of Venezuela while decreasing the overall poverty rate to less than onethird of the population, he has been aggressively criticized for hisinability to significantly reduce the country’s reliance on oil revenueand faulted for the nationalization of numerous private businesses,which seemed to be not worth the effort. Venezuelans have seen thegovernmental takeover, or partial takeover, of major electricity andtelephone companies, reversing much of the privatization thatoccurred in the 1990s. Chávez bought an 82.14% stake in Electricidadde Caracas (AES Corp.) and a 28.5% stake in CANTV (VerizonCommunications) back in 2007. Such takeovers – some dating back asearly as 2003, and with the real GDP nearly doubling (growing anastronomical 95 percent in about six years) – were wildly popular andappreciated. On the other hand, foreign investments have plummetedin Venezuela while sky rocketing in many other Latin Americancountries. Peru, comparable in population to Venezuela, had an intakeof nearly US$5.4 billion, with Venezuela taking in a meager US$500million. Such down plunges have angered Chávez opponents whoclaim that his socialized businesses and government-subsidizedproducts have hurt their small businesses. A Venezuelan native andChávez adversary reported to the BBC that a newly opened and
 
government-subsidized Mercal supermarket will put her modest foodshop out of business.Chávez’s revolution has alienated foreign governments by interveninginto the external affairs of other countries. But his revolution showeda generosity of spirit which was almost unparalleled in terms of theoften significant financial contributions and sharing of the country’spetroleum revenues for educational and medical services, in additionto a wide roster of foreign aid and acts of goodwill. In 1999 he agreedto export cheap oil to the Caribbean and Castro’s Cuba, America’smortal foe. In 2007, Chávez upset the U.S. again by sending oil to Iranafter riots erupted regarding petrol shortages. Chávez also hasintentionally tried to isolate himself from the U.S. in order to generateauthentic indigenous customs and practices. He then created theBolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a trade bloc includingmembers from Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, and Cuba.Currently, ALBA is discussing the possibility of a regional currencywhich member states would use for intra-bloc trade. The primary goalof introducing a monetary union to Latin America is to reduce theirdependence on the U.S. dollar.Regardless of what critics may report, most of the population hasreaped some of the many rewards that nationalization has provided inthe form of governmental surplus. This, in turn, has created numeroussocial programs, which has had him promote social endeavors thathave managed to stimulate the Venezuelan economy, evident instatistical data from the CEPR, showing that social spending inVenezuela per person has more than tripled from 1998-2006.
Presidential Challenges
Although the anti-American leader and close friend of Fidel Castro,has maintained the longest running presidential term since thecountry restored democracy over four decades ago, numerousbeneficial changes have been generated. But Chávez’s presidencyhas not gone unchallenged. Chávez, who had first led a failed coupbefore being elected at the polls, faced a military coup of his own in2002. Against the backdrop of Chávez supporters clashing with anti-Chávez protestors, he was forced to resign his power and wasdetained at a Venezuelan military base, while business leader PedroCarmona was being introduced as the country’s interim president.Venezuelan soldiers loyal to Chávez, and of course those from theshanty towns who had been deprived of much information about whatwas happening downtown by the chicanery of the anti-Cháveztelevision channel RCTV, succeeded in mounting a counter-coup thatreturned Chávez to power. Later, Chávez adamantly insisted, withobjective evidence to support him, that the U.S. was involved in theattempt to overthrow him. Just a year later, 3.2 million Venezuelans demanded a recallreferendum to end Chávez’s presidential term prematurely. The
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