Hugo Chavez
Whether you consider him a dictator or a liberator, Hugo Chavez got under the skin and in the hearts of his people. As one of six children in the southwestern region of Venezuela, Chavez was raised by working class parents and eventually joined the military academy in pursuit of becoming a professional baseball player (the school had the best coaches). His skills on the diamond weren’t as strong as his dream however and he went on to start a career in the Army instead. While a lieutenant Chavez blew his first mission when he began sympathizing with the insurgents, peasants he believed were fighting for equality, he was meant to capture and detain. He then decided to use his military position to advance his new socialist beliefs, specifically a Bolivarian Revolution. He led a failed military coup in 1992. His second attempt was successful and catapulted him to the forefront of his country’s new government. He served as Venezuela’s President from 1999-2013 when he passed away of cancer. He incensed emotions in his country and the Western world for his anti-imperialist beliefs and actions. The Afro-Venezuelan started a socialist revolution in South America and inspired both ire and passionate loyalty amongst detractors and Chavistas alike.
