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Hugo Chavez Timeline Over the Past 10 Years Has Drastically Reduced Misery. People Before Profits is a Crucial Lesson That Must be Learned to Avoid Total Economic Collapse.

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The Hugo Chavez timeline to initiate change was short.

In his first year in office, he began the process of nationalization of Venezuela’s mineral and oil wealth that traditionally had benefited transnational companies exploiting the resources.

His first year also brought the convening of a constituent assembly to re-write the Venezuelan Constitution.

For a time it appeared that the Chavez timeline would be cut short through instability provoked by the angry elite that used their local media empires to wage a constant campaign against the government.

With support from the United States, the former ruling class and its allies that were still in the Venezuelan Army staged a coup.

But within 48 hours, an outpouring of international protest and the avalanche of support that poured down from the shanty towns on the Caracas hillsides carried Chavez bloodlessly back to power.

The Hugo Chavez timeline reveals that the will of the people defeated the coup, a historic event for Latin America.

Having weathered the storm, it was easy to purge the military officers and functionaries that had outwardly opposed the legitimate government.

For the first time, political stability came to the country and the oil-rich economy could quickly enter into recuperation.

Venezuela rapidly moved to consolidate the improvements the Chavez Government was bringing about through putting the Venezuelan poor at the center of the national agenda.

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3 Phases of the Hugo Chavez Timeline

According to Chavez in his speech on December 8, 2008, commemorating a decade since his election, the Hugo Chavez timeline of the Bolivarian Socialist Revolution has three phases.

The first phase was the popular revolt, the “Caraczo” in 1988 when the outraged population of Caracas spontaneously rioted over the neo-liberal economic policies of Carlos Andres Perez.

The ensuing repression may have left thousands of people dead and injured.

That first phase was the beginning of a rising consciousness in Venezuela which concretized with the 1998 election of Hugo Chavez as President, thus initiating the second phase which has lasted up until now.

The third phase will be 2009 until 2019. Although Chavez’s Constitutional term comes to an end in 2012, he expects to win a referendum for Constitutional reform scheduled for February 2009.

Among the elements of the package of Constitutional reforms is the re-election of the president for more than 2 terms.

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Ten Years of Fighting Misery Paid Off

Vast strides have been made in terms of healthcare and education as well as other basic social rights.

Despite inflation being high, it is much lower than it was prior to Chavez.

A network of government-subsidized stores selling food at cost as well as free food programs ameliorates food costs.

According to official figures, the number of Venezuelans in extreme poverty, which was 17.1% of the population in 1998, has dropped to 7.9% by 2008.

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People Can Come Before Profits

On December 7, 2008 Chavez celebrated the Anniversary addressing a multitude of sympathizers for the man who has governed for 10 of the 50 years since electoral politics began in Venezuela, the longest of any leader.

And with 57% support in public opinion polls, Chavez plans on staying around for a long time.

“Something very important is happening in Venezuela today, something that holds extremely important lessons for the left and for our conceptions of how we might want to organize a better society.”

– Gregory Wilpert said in a September 2007 interview with Znet.

Wilpert is the author of “Changing Venezuela by Taking Power,” published in 2007, and he has been following the Venezuelan process closely since the 1998 elections.

Lessons should be learned from Venezuela. One lesson is that much can be done by putting a nation’s resources in function of human development rather than private profit.

It’s a lesson the American people really need to learn.

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