HUGO Chavez is no more. He passed away on Tuesday, March 5, at the relatively young age of 58. Co-incidentally, he died in the same month as that of two of Guyana’s political icons, Cheddi and Janet Jagan whose life and works are being celebrated by the ruling People’s Progressive Party this month.

As mentioned by Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar in his message of condolence to the Government and people of Venezuela, Chavez was a great friend of Guyana. During his tenure as President of Venezuela, he sought to promote harmony and solidarity between our two nations. The peoples of Guyana and Venezuela have benefitted greatly from an enhanced programme of bilateral co-operation as a result of President Chavez continental and internationalist outlook, and approach to development, President Ramotar said in his message.
There could be no doubt that under the leadership of Chavez, the bonds of friendship and solidarity have grown much stronger than before. The border dispute, which in the past generated much tension between the two neighbouring countries, has, for all practical purposes, been put in cold storage allowing Guyana to press ahead with its developmental agenda in the disputed Essequibo region. Guyana, and for that matter the region as a whole, has benefitted substantially from fuel supply from Venezuela on highly concessionary repayment terms under the Petro Caribe programme. There has also been greater access to the Venezuelan market for a number of Guyanese products, in particular rice, which has given the industry a significant boost.
But it was his courage and tenacity to challenge the status quo that endeared him to the hearts and minds of Venezuelans, in particular the poor and the powerless. Despite the country’s oil riches, the vast majority of Venezuelans live in poverty, while a handful of rich basked in the glory of revenues earned from oil. I was amazed during a visit to that country, some time back, to see the large number of shacks built around the outskirts of Caracas, the country’s capital city, which would make some of our few remaining squatting areas here in Guyana look good by comparison. The wealth of the country was highly skewed in favour of the rich, thereby depriving the vast majority of the people any real chance of upward social mobility.
It is to the credit of Hugo Chavez that he radically changed the structure of the country’s politics to one in which there is greater empowerment of the working people. This was done through improvements to education access, especially at the secondary and tertiary levels, and significant allocations to the social sectors, such as health, housing, water and other welfare programmes.
This endeared him to the vast majority of the Venezuelan people, allowing him to win re-election in three successive elections, all of which he won with clear majorities. He literally led a rebellion against the oligarchs who dominated political and economic life in Venezuela for decades, at the expense of the poor and the oppressed.  His was a ‘rebellion’ with a cause.
As to be expected, his policies and leadership style did no go down well with some, and there were attempts to derail his presidency when a few military officers pushed him out in a military coup in 2002. He managed to survive the coup and bounced back to power after two days, incommunicado and under arrest at an island military base. It took a counter coup by loyalist troops and massive demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of outraged supporters that forced the hand of Pedro Carmona, who had briefly seized power, to resign and hand over power back to Chavez who was constitutionally and duly elected in free and fair elections.
Chavez left-wing policies and programmes gained him tremendous respect and popularity among several leftist Latin American leaders, more notably Fidel and his brother Raul Castro of Cuba, and Evo Morales of Bolivia who saw him as a revolutionary and transformational leader destined to bring to fruition the ideas and ideals of the 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar. As testimony to his Bolivarian dreams, he changed his country’s name to the “Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”.
As to be expected, his closeness to Cuba and other leftist leaders in the region, coupled with close ties with Iran, created much unease with the United States and other western countries. The United States in particular was put in a rather uncomfortable position of being forced to recognize the Chavez administration because of its democratic credentials and also because of business interests, since Venezuela is a major supplier of oil to the USA.
Chavez will be missed, not only by Venezuelans, but also on the international stage. During an address to the UN General Assembly in 2006, a day after the then US President George Bush, he referred to Bush as a “devil”, much to the annoyance of the United States. “Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here”, he said , making the sign of the cross. “ And it still smells of sulfur today”.
It remains to be seen how the death of Chavez will impact on US-Venezuela relations. US President Barack Obama indicated that the United States was interested in starting a new relationship with Venezuela. In a statement on the passing of Chavez, he said : “At this challenging time of President Hugo Chavez passing , the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government.”