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Rafael Caldera
Hugo Chávez was the socialist president of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013. After failing to overthrow the Venezuelan government in a coup d’état, he allied with Rafael Caldera in order to gain political legitimacy and went on to win four terms as president. During this time, the nation progressively fell into economic crisis and Chávez increasingly turned to authoritarian tactics in order to hold power. For instance, he continued to hold free elections, but arrested his opponents and ensured that the media was heavily biased towards him. His presidency shows how nations can slowly drift to authoritarianism over the course of years or even decades.
Hugo Chávez Quotes in How Democracies Die
The How Democracies Die quotes below are all either spoken by Hugo Chávez or refer to Hugo Chávez. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Introduction Quotes
Blatant dictatorship—in the form of fascism, communism, or military rule—has disappeared across much of the world. Military coups and other violent seizures of power are rare. Most countries hold regular elections. Democracies still die, but by different means. Since the end of the Cold War, most democratic breakdowns have been caused not by generals and soldiers but by elected governments themselves. Like Chávez in Venezuela, elected leaders have subverted democratic institutions in Georgia, Hungary, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Ukraine. Democratic backsliding today begins at the ballot box.
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Chapter 1 Quotes
A cast of political outsiders, including Adolf Hitler, Getúlio Vargas in Brazil, Alberto Fujimori in Peru, and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, came to power on the same path: from the inside, via elections or alliances with powerful political figures. In each instance, elites believed the invitation to power would contain the outsider, leading to a restoration of control by mainstream politicians. But their plans backfired. A lethal mix of ambition, fear, and miscalculation conspired to lead them to the same fateful mistake: willingly handing over the keys of power to an autocrat-in-the-making.
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Hugo Chávez Character Timeline in How Democracies Die
The timeline below shows where the character Hugo Chávez appears in How Democracies Die. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Introduction
...do this quickly—like Adolf Hitler did in 1933—or they can do it slowly, like Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Chávez was elected in 1998, took some small authoritarian steps in 2003, and...
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Chapter 1: Fateful Alliances
...repeated itself throughout history, with outsider figures like Hitler, Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, Fujimori, and Chávez. Political elites gave them all power in the hopes of preserving order—but they created autocracies...
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Chávez’s rise to power in stable, democratic Venezuela followed the same pattern. Declining oil prices threatened...
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Hitler, Mussolini, and Chávez all rose to power by partnering with establishment politicians who didn’t take them seriously. But...
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To stop wannabe authoritarians, party elites have to identify them first. Hitler, Mussolini, and Chávez declared their ambitions through violence, but many don’t. For instance, Viktor Orbán governed Hungary democratically...
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Chapter 4: Subverting Democracy
...insults and accusations, which then escalate to desperate actions. For instance, Juan Perón and Hugo Chávez’s opposition tried to get them out of power by any means necessary, and they escalated...
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...of opposition figures. Juan Perón, Viktor Orbán, the Polish Law and Justice Party, and Hugo Chávez all restructured their countries’ supreme courts to their favor.
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...kill opponents anymore, but they often can attack them through the law. Juan Perón, Hugo Chávez, and the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed all got opposition leaders arrested on dubious charges....
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Chapter 6: The Unwritten Rules of American Politics
...would have turned the Supreme Court into a political weapon, like Perón in Argentina and Chávez in Venezuela. But he failed—even many of his allies rejected his plan and voted to...
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Chapter 8: Trump Against the Guardrails
When he entered office, much like Chávez, Fujimori, or Erdoğan, Donald Trump started attacking his opponents (like the media, liberal judges, and...
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...antitrust suits. He tried to defund “sanctuary cities” through an executive order, much like Hugo Chávez tried to defund opposition-run cities in Venezuela. But the courts stopped his executive order on...
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...destroy democracy. Opponents and the media tend to think twice before criticizing popular presidents. Fujimori, Chávez, and Erdoğan all used their popularity to their advantage. Similarly, in conservative West Virginia, even...
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...Trump has attacked it in an unprecedented way. His personal attacks on reporters resemble Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro, and Rafael Correa’s public rhetoric. He has even rewarded news outlets whose coverage...
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Chapter 9: Saving Democracy
...moderates will abandon them and Republicans will unite to crack down on them. When Hugo Chávez’s opponents tried to oust him through a coup, general strike, and election boycott, they actually...
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