Hugo Chávez, born on this day in 1954, was a socialist leader of Venezuela, serving as the country's President from 1999 - 2013. During that period, Chávez's government abolished illiteracy and codified healthcare as a human right.

Chávez was born to schoolteachers in the rural village of Sabaneta. While serving in the Venezuelan military as a young man, Chávez began reading Marxist literature which had been left behind by leftist insurgents his unit had been tasked with dispatching. By age 21, he came to recognize the need for a leftist government in Venezuela.

In 1982, while still active in the military, Chávez founded the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (EBR-200), inspired by Latin American revolutionaries Ezequiel Zamora, Simón Bolívar, and Simón Rodríguez.

In 1992, EBR-200 attempted a coup to oust President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who had reneged on campaign promises and begun instituting economic policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The coup attempt failed, killing fourteen people. Although Chávez was imprisoned, this incident helped him become a symbol of anti-corruption for working class Venezuelans.

In 1994, Chávez was pardoned by President Rafael Caldera and went on a 100-day speaking tour, promoting the Bolivarian cause of social revolution. He visited Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and Cuba, befriending Fidel Castro.

In 1998, Chávez won an election for the Venezuelan Presidency with 56% of the vote, promising widespread social and economic reforms. He would go on to serve as President from 1999 until his death from cancer in 2013 at age 58.

In 2002, Chávez fired executives of the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). Following violent protests between anti- and pro- government forces, the Venezuelan military attempted a coup, kidnapping Chávez. This was met with a massive pro-Chávez uprising from the public, and he was re-instated to power after just 47 hours.

Chávez's government succeeded in abolishing illiteracy, expanding access to social services such as healthcare and education, and established rights that protected indigenous cultural practices.

Chávez was subjected to particularly vehement criticism from liberal institutions and intellectuals. British Trotskyist Alan Woods wrote that the "media campaign of vilification against Chávez had no precedent in modern history". Some of this criticism comes from institutions such as the "Freedom House", a majority U.S. government funded think tank based out of Washington D.C., and "Bloomberg", a newspaper named after and majority controlled by American oligarch Michael Bloomberg.

"The capitalist model, the developed model, the consumer model which comes from the North, which it has forced on the world, is falling apart on Earth, and there is no planet nearby that we can emigrate to."

- Hugo Chávez