Hugo Chavez Research Paper

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
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
Originally, while he was a general in the army, Hugo primarily relied on coercive power to attempt to lead the government and legitimate power as the head of the Bolivar movement to lead his fellow soldiers. His usage of coercive power was evident during his attempted coup d’état in 1992, as he attempted to remove positive sanctions by stripping the title of President from Carlos Andres Perez. Some may not consider an attempted coup a demonstration of coercive power, but even though the President serves as a leader for the people, he is expected to follow the desires and work in the best interests of the people, and in that fashion the people are his superiors. Chavez’s legitimate style of leadership evolved as he became the leader of the Bolivarian movement, and this new position granted him a new type of power. Although the usage of referent power was applicable with some of the movement’s supporters that Chavez had known for a while, he simply didn’t have the time to form that close bond with every member of the movement and therefore he had to rely on the authoritative power granted him by the position he occupied. He continued to use both legitimate power and referent power following his election into the presidency, although he now began to incorporate reward and referent power as well. He used reward power when he began to reform the Venezuelan government,