Rosa Albina García still remembers when Hugo Chávez visited her neighborhood in 1998 — when he was campaigning for president. She lives in the favela of La Vega, at the top of a hill overlooking the city.
Chávez, the charismatic, former military officer who took office in February of 1999, promised to empower the poor through a more inclusive democracy.
“Chávez would enter local businesses and talk to people in the streets,” she said from her tiny brick house with a corrugated zinc roof. “No other president had come here to the highest point of this barrio.”
García was born in Colombia’s countryside. She and her 10 siblings never received an education, as they had to start working at an early age. In the 1970s, most of her family moved to neighboring Venezuela because it offered better jobs and salaries at the time.
For decades, García worked hard as a janitor until then-President Chávez offered her an opportunity she would never forget: She learned to read and write through one of Chávez’s social programs, Misión Robinson. It changed her life. She was able to get a job with the city and stop cleaning.
In time, though, Chavez’s revolution turned into an authoritarian and repressive regime that, as evidence shows, executed an electoral fraud. Even so, today, his legacy looms — millions of Venezuelans continue to support Chavez’s handpick successor, Nicolás Maduro.
‘Venezuela is going to be for everyone’
People would call the president during his weekly Sunday television show, “Aló Presidente,” and beg him for favors, like a house, a job or education, and Chávez would promise to grant their wishes.
Chávez, taking advantage of high oil revenues, launched a series of short-term programs called misiones or “missions,” which helped people get affordable education, food and housing.
Chávez began to call his movement socialism and frequently talked about Karl Marx and Simón Bolívar, the founding father of Venezuela and other South American nations.
Opponents say Chávez led a cult of personality and a populist government. However, sociologist David Smilde said that people’s devotion to Chávez was anything but irrational.
“He promised that Venezuela is going to be for everyone, that he would use Venezuela’s resources to incorporate everyone and attend to everybody’s needs. And he actually does that.”
Chávez won several democratic elections and stayed in power until he died in 2013.
“If you’re that person who is poor, excluded, feels you don’t belong, and then you have this president [who] comes along and does include you, that generates an attachment,” he said. “And, of course, there’s an emotion to that.”
But Chávez was also criticized for his authoritarian style and failure to diversify the economy.
Right before he died of cancer, he picked Maduro as his successor.
A country in ruins
Maduro inherited economic problems, including low oil prices and a declining oil industry. That, combined with bad economic policies and rampant corruption, left the country in ruins, which meant Maduro had to stop many of Chávez’s missions.
“Maduro was never as popular as Chávez,” said Leonardo Vivas, a Venezuelan professor of Latin American studies. “There were waves of protests against the way that he was handling the country, and to stay in power, he had to adopt a number of repressive measures.”
His regime has imprisoned political opponents, disqualified opposition candidates, and now, controls all democratic institutions, the military and the media.
Nearly 8 million Venezuelans — a quarter of the country’s population — have left, according to the United Nations.
Maria Torres, another resident of La Vega, has a picture of Chávez hanging in the living room.
“My financial situation is not good. There is no doubt about that,” she said.
Her pension is only about $4 a month, and it’s far from enough to live on, so she depends on subsidized food and special bonuses distributed by the government.
Torres blames poverty on the economic sanctions imposed by the United States in 2019. But Rosa Albina García, her neighbor, acknowledged the situation started to get bad before the sanctions.
Both García and Torres say they are loyal to Chávez and will continue backing Maduro for the years to come.
Marcelo Andrade, a Venezuelan artist who lives in Los Naranjos, a wealthier neighborhood in Caracas, said he still supports Maduro because he’s defending Venezuela against imperialism.
“Latin American countries have long been victims of a colonialist model imposed by the United States, which has sabotaged Chávez’s revolution.”
He said that he is convinced that US economic sanctions are solely responsible for Venezuela’s collapse.
Despite millions of Venezuelans still backing Maduro, evidence is mounting to prove his regime just stole the July 28 election.
Data provided by the opposition and independently verified by several journalists, scientists, and nonprofit organizations indicates that the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, got twice as many votes as Maduro and won in every Venezuelan state.