Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez. The name alone is instantly recognizable. The sixty-two year old man from Venezuela has made quite the splash with his entrance into the world of politics. His charisma is both mesmerizing and disarming, his upbringing humble and his ideals are revolutionary. Hugo Chavez is a true leader who, following in the footsteps of his lifelong rebel great-grandfather, aims to change the face and direction of the nation of Venezuela. His movements and decisions have garnered global attention and criticism, from the man he attempted to kill to the imperial nation he opposes. So how is it that a man who can create so much controversy can manage to captivate so many people and wield such control over the people of Venezuela? The answer to the question is simple: Hugo Chavez knows what it means to be a leader, and his actions make his knowledge evident.

Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias was born on July 28th, 1954 in the town of Sabaneta, Barinas in Venezuela. He was the second son of two poor schoolteachers, Hugo de los Reyes Chavez and Elena Frias de Chavez, who lived in the rural section of Sabaneta. Hugo and Elena Chavez had always wished for their children to lead a better life than them, hoping that one day they could live in the prosperous cities, escaping the poverty they found themselves in. As schoolteachers, it was only natural for them to view education as the best means of escaping their current situation, so young Hugo and his older brother Adan were urged to take advantage of the education offered to them, and it was a request Hugo fulfilled. However, despite their family’s problems with the political system and the fact that Hugo’s great-grandfather was a renowned rebel leader, Hugo’s parents did not wish him to be a politician. Elena Chavez wanted her son to be a man of god, and so at a young age Hugo Chavez entered into the priesthood as an altar boy. Chavez only served as an altar boy for a year, but during that time he created a lifelong distrust of religious hierarchies. His distrust began when he was given the task of cleaning and polishing figurines which depicted Jesus and the saints. The task angered Chavez, as the church’s portrayal of Jesus differed from Chavez’s own idea of who Jesus was. In his eyes, the church presented Jesus as an idiot whereas Chavez saw him as a rebel. Throughout his life Chavez continued to identify with rebels, however, the church’s portrayal of Jesus as something other than a rebel lead to Chavez distrust of religious hierarchies.

Despite the fact that Hugo differed with his mother on what his future looked like, he agreed that education was the path leading to it. When Chavez entered into Julian Pino elementary school, he no longer lived with his parents but with his grandmother. This had a strong effect on Hugo’s