Military career of Hugo Chávez

The military career of Hugo Chávez spans the seventeen years (1975–1992) that the later President of Venezuela spent in the Venezuelan army.

Born 28 July 1954 in rural Sabaneta, Chávez entered military service upon his graduation from the Military academy of Venezuela in 1975, as a military officer. Chávez thereafter held a variety of post, command, and staff positions. At the time, he was increasingly drawn into leftist political movements. Chávez led a 1992 civilian-military coup which sought to overthrow the elected government of Carlos Andrés Pérez. Although the coup ultimately failed—ending Chávez's military career—it also brought Chávez into the national spotlight and set the stage for his future rise to political power; he eventually engaged in electioneering and political campaigning.

Early military career (1975–1982) After his undergraduate studies concluded in 1975, Chávez entered active-duty military service. Chávez's first assignment was as commander of a communications platoon attached to a counter-insurgency force—the Manuel Cedeño Mountain Infantry Battalion, headquartered in Barinas and Cumaná. In 1976, it was tasked with suppressing a guerilla insurgency staged by the Hoxhaist Partido Bandera Roja (Red Flag Party). Despite this, Chávez saw little actual combat; this was due to a low density of insurgent activity in the Cumaná region. Later, in 1977, Chávez was appointed as a communications officer at the Center of Tactical Operations in San Mateo; it was here that Chávez first received first-hand and hands-on experience in counter-insurgency tactics. Chávez later recalled that, during these years, he experienced growing sympathy for the waning guerilla movements—the very groups he was tasked with countering. He harbored a growing dislike of what he viewed as corruption among the military hierarchy. He perceived such problems as a direct result of political corruption.

At the age of 23, Chávez married Nancy Colmenares. Colmenares, like Chávez, was also from Barinas and had roots in Venezuela's plains culture. Colmenares' friends gossiped that she was already pregnant with their first daughter before they were married in 1977. Thereafter, Chávez began to lead a "double life": while feigning disciplined obedience amidst his military superiors and miming political neutrality around his family, Chávez engaged in secret trysts with social democrats, socialists, communists, and other leftists.

From 1978 through 1979, Chávez was commander and squad leader of the 414th Apure Braves AMX-30 armored battalion in Maracay. (The unit's anthem, Fatherland Beloved by Venezuelan composer Heriberto Maluenga, the then battalion military band conductor when he served with the battalion, was the one song he sang during his 8 December 2012 final TV address to the nation.) Chávez received promotions in rapid succession, and was eventually appointed company commander and head of the Department of Physical Education at the Military Academy of Venezuela, remaining in that position from 1980 to 1981. He then headed the Department of Culture at the academy in 1982. Chávez was also a founding commander of the José Antonio Páez Company at the academy from 1983 to 1984. At the time, Chávez gained recognition for his lectures at Caracas's war college, in which he spoke for hours in a "folksy" manner that captivated supporters in his audiences. Chávez's interest in Venezuelan politics only grew throughout his career in the military.

Chávez received several decorations: the Star of Carabobo (Estrella de Carabobo); the Land Forces Cross (Cruz de las Fuerzas Terrestres); and was awarded the Military Order of Francisco de Miranda, the Order of Rafael Urdaneta, and the Order of the Liberator, 5th Class (Military Division). Chávez continued playing baseball and softball: he went to the 1976 National Baseball Championships, held in Barinas; and he played in military baseball tournaments, among the most important of which were those held in Cumaná in 1977 and the Dominican Republic in 1980. Apart from his writing, Chávez sculpted, producing such works as the 1980 Sombra de Guerra en el Golfo ("Shadows of War in the Gulf").

Premonitions of a military-civilian coup (1982–1989)

Chávez's first attempt at launching a political movement came in 1977, when he formed the Ejército de Liberación del Pueblo de Venezuela, or ELPV—the "Liberation Army of the Venezuelan People". Years later, he recalled that the ELPVs purpose was to "prepare ourselves in case something should happen" and that it was "an important pointer to the future". In 1978, dressed in his army fatigues, Chávez met then-presidential candidate José Vicente Rangel—who later became Chávez's vice-president—and subsequently aided him in affixing election materials in Maracay. Chávez risked expulsion from the military had his superiors found out about such leftist political activities. Under Venezuelan law at the time, military officers and other personnel were forbidden from involving themselves in political affairs of any sort. Moreover, engaging in such illicit activities while dressed in fatigues or in uniform was punishable by even harsher penalties.

It was not until the period 1982–1983 that Chávez seriously began to plot the overthrow of Venezuela's elected civilian leaders. On 17 December 1982, Chávez and his co-conspirators gathered under a large tree at Samán de Güere. There, they solemnly witnessed each other's repetition of a revised version of the oath Simon Bolivar undertook while upon Italy's Monte Sacro, this time adding Ezequiel Zamora's slogan during the Federal War:

{|style="border:1px; border: thin solid white; background-color:#f6f6FF; margin:20px;" cellpadding="10" |- |"Juro por el Dios de mis padres, juro por mi patria, juro por mi honor que no daré tranquilidad a mi alma ni descanso a mi brazo hasta no ver rotas las cadenas que oprimen a mi pueblo por voluntad de los poderosos. Elección popular, tierras y hombres libres, horror a la oligarquía."

{|style="border:1px; border: thin solid white; background-color:#f6f6FF; margin:20px;" cellpadding="10" |- |"I swear by the God of my fathers, I swear by my nation, and I swear by my honor that my arm will not relax, nor my soul to rest, until I have broken the chains that oppress my people through the will of the powerful. Free elections, free lands and free men, horror to the oligarchy."

On 24 July 1983, Chávez—along with peers from his days at the military academy—launched the Ejército Revolucionario Bolivariano (EBR-200—"Revolutionary Bolivarian Army"). The "200" in EBR-200'''s name derives from the movement's founding on the 200th anniversary of Simón Bolívar's birth. The movement established as its political goal the realization of "Bolivarianism" by means of a "Bolivarian Revolution". Chávez continued to play baseball in the military leagues. Indeed, he progressed with his team to the University League Championships, which were held in Caracas between 1984 and 1985. Chávez wrote collections of stories and poems, including Vuelvan Caras, Mauricio and El Genio y el Centauro ("The Genius and the Centaur"). El Genio y el Centauro garnered him 3rd prize at a 1987 competition held in the Teatro Histórico Nacional ("National Historical Theater") in Cañafístola. One of his poems honored the late Felipe Acosta Carles, a co-founder of the EBR-200.

In March 1986, the EBR-200 held its third congress in San Cristobal, close to Venezuela's frontier with war-torn Colombia. The EBR-200s inner circle came together for the secret meeting. Nine people attended, including six military personnel (including Chávez) and three civilians. Chávez's then-collaborator, Francisco Arias Cardenas (who, twelve years later, would lose the 2000 presidential election to Chávez) attended. Also in attendance was one of Chávez's uncles. Only one woman attended: Herma Marksman, who by then had become Chávez's mistress. Chávez's own wife and children remained alone in Sabaneta during these years. The attendees sought ways to attain power through a civilian-military power grab, a common method of power seizure in much of South and Latin America's history. Marksman played a crucial role in both Chávez's political and personal lives. Upfront, Chávez told Marksman that he would never marry her. Chávez stated that this stemmed from his mother's refusal to allow him to divorce Nancy. Nevertheless, he told Marksman that she was needed in his life. Thus, for nine years, Marksman would aid Chávez's plans by ferrying and delivering messages for him across the country. She performed various other tasks: placing phone calls and taking notes at meetings.

Leaders of the extreme left movement La Causa R—such as founder Alfredo Maneira (just prior to his 1983 death) and leader Pablo Medina—held meetings with Chávez. Medina recounts that during their meetings Chávez always came across as a jovial person. This was despite recollections of his taciturn demeanor. Medina recalled that Chávez did not articulate his own opinions. Rather, he appeared as a "sponge" via his absorption of vast amounts of information. In this regard, Chávez always reportedly requested a hard copy of all documents he was shown. Nothing of substance came of these initial contacts. Chávez, then a lieutenant, was stationed as commander of a motorized army division—the Francisco Farfán Cavalry Unit—in remote Elorza, Apure between 1985 and 1986. Elorza itself was situated twelve hours due south (by local bus) from Barinas and towards the vast Venezuelan interior. The distance from his previous acquaintances (including his brother Adán and numerous leftist associates) meant that Chávez had much less opportunity to plan for his desired insurrection. By 1987, Chávez and Arias were seen by associates as the clear leaders of the EBR-200. They together determined that it would be most opportune to launch their coup attempt halfway through the next president's term (they were not concerned about who won the presidential election). They reasoned that it was typically at mid-term that the President and his administration polled their lowest popularity levels.

Later, Chávez commanded the Civilian-Military Development Nucleus at the Arauca-Meta border between 1986 and 1988. There, Chávez took advantage of his authority by implementing experimental civilian-military programs. In these programs, he organized such military aid efforts directed at the surrounding population as socioeconomic development initiatives, historical re-enactments and pageants, and oral history documentation efforts. Chávez was also in charge of all patron saints' feasts held in Elorza, Apure between 1987 and 1988. Chávez realized that such projects would be essential in order to effectively allow Latin America to regain an autonomous cultural identity independent of U.S. "cultural imperialism". Yet, in 1988, Chávez was seconded to the Miraflores presidential palace; there, he was appointed assistant head of the National Security and Defense Council by Democratic Action President Jaime Lusinchi. The post would see Chávez sent off briefly to Central America on official business; he would remain at the post until 1989.

Reaction to the Caracazo (1989)