Why was Hugo Chávez a terrible president?
By: Jan Da Silva
Tags: Venezuela, Socialism, Hugo Chavez

Back in 1998, when Venezuelan presidential elections took place, Hugo Chávez was elected with a majority of the vote, a bit above of 50%. Back then, he was incredibly popular.

He was a former commander in the Venezuelan army, and he was a man on many other interests. Definitely a smart and charismatic man. He became widely know when he participated in a coup a few years before, and he briefly appeared on TV, admitting his responsibility. Then he did spend some time in jail, and should have not been able to run for office if he had been prosecuted for his crimes— here I must say that he should have been prosecuted — but he was was granted a pardon before that. This pardon was granted for political and ideological reasons. But that is a story for another day.

Despite all this, he still won — with legal elections — as he had lots of support from lower and middle class people. People were not having a good time back them, and lots of people wanted a radical change from the current political status quo. Also, people somehow romanticized the last military government that we had in Venezuela, back in the 50s, when apparently living standards and personal safety were much better, inflation was low, and the country seemed to be heading in the right direction. Or at least, that is what they believed to be true.

All this romanticizing for a military government generated the desire in people to get a strong hand in power, who would enforce the law, guide the country to prosperity and finish all this chaos. Then again, that a story for another day.

So, let's address the question: "why was Hugo Chávez a terrible president?". Note that he might not have seem as bad as other presidents in other countries and other eras, but he is — by far — the worse one that Venezuela has ever had, even if many people there disagree. Even compared to Venezuela's current one: Nicolás Maduro. And this last one is not an easy one to beat.

There are plenty of reasons:

Deeply divided the people, to a point where families and friends would argue, fight and hate each other over political reasons

Squandered billions and billions of USD, received as income for oil. And there is very little to show after all that.

Drove millions to poverty, millions to exile, and millions to die for lots of preventable causes

Purposely destroyed the economy, so most citizens would have to rely on government handouts to eat. This is also a story for another day

Drove corruption to a whole new level. In a country which was already pretty corrupt, now it is impossible to achieve anything without bribes and connections

Voluntarily surrendered Venezuela's sovereignty to another country: Cuba. And that is very hard to believe, but it is true

Eroded any trace of value of government institutions or authorities, in a way that citizens can no longer trust in any government body. Thus leaving people defenseless, without real rights, and totally at the mercy of the government. I am talking just about politicians, but about every other body that runs a country: police bodies, military forces, central bank, planning office, infrastructure, government-owned media, custom authorities, documentation authorities, tax office, local government, hospitals, utilities providers (all state-owned), any other one you could think of

In my opinion, this is the worst one: totally wasted an incredible opportunity to take Venezuela out from the Third World, and into the club of developed countries. He did it not only by wasting money, and also by causing a massive exodus of people and stealing the future of those who stayed, but mainly by wasting time (over 15 years on his mandate)

There is plenty that could be said about how did he manage to stay in power for longer than 5 years, which was the time prescribed for presidency when he first took office. Also, about the way he supported guerrilla in Colombia — and probably drug lords too, and the way he ignored corruption, and how he contributed to destabilize other countries, and bribes, and violence to local protesters… But that is a story for another day.