A vast popular sentiment favouring real changes in the management of state affairs became manifest on December 6, 1998,  when 56.24% of voters elected Hugo Chávez Frías as Constitutional President of the Republic of Venezuela, through a transparent, fair and broadly participative electoral process, regarded by reputed analysts at home and abroad as one of the most transcendental in the country´s  contemporary political history. 

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was born in the town of Sabaneta, State of Barinas, Venezuela, on July 28, 1954. At Venezuela´s Military Academy he obtained a College-level degree in Military Sciences and Arts, Engineering Branch, Ground Specialty, graduating as a Second Lieutenant on July 5, 1975. It was there that his passion for the ideas of our Liberator, Simón Bolívar, took shape. Afterwards he went on with his bright military career, until he reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 1990.  

He attained the highest marks in the various courses in which he took part as a member of the Armed Forces. He was also a graduate student in Political Science at “Simón Bolívar” University.  

His duties while in charge of numerous professional positions and his close contact with different communities afforded him an on-the-spot perception of the social and political drama endured by the  republic.  

President Hugo Chávez has shown considerable sensitivity for the arts and a particular inclination towards baseball, Venezuela´s most popular sport. Tales, poems and some paintings have stemmed from his high regard for culture and the arts. Likewise, his vocation as a passionate advocate of social justice has been visible in the most critical moments of our country´s recent history. Risking everything at the head of a movement of young officers of the Armed Forces, inspired by Bolívar´s thought, he rebelled on February 4, 1992 against a social and political order, mainly characterized by corruption and injustice.  

The endeavour of this untainted group of idealistic officers and their supporters was not in vain. Hugo Chávez was imprisoned. But in 1994, as a result of demands voiced by the Venezuelan people and echoed by President Rafael Caldera, he was set free by stay of proceedings. From that moment on, a new chapter in the people´s struggle was resumed. Along with a qualified group of his army comrades he founded the “Fifth Republic Movement”, which later on, together with numerous political organizations, like MAS, PPT, PCV, MEP, and a broad array of forces from civil society, would propel him as the head of the nation.  

Released from prison, where he had reflected over national reality and devoted himself to its study and analysis, he set forth on a trek that took him to the most remote corners of the land, redressing principles of  liberty and justice, which were enthusiastically shared by large segments of the population. His proposal to found the republic anew, by means of the supreme democratic option of a national constituent assembly, received the support of the majority at the ballot box through direct, universal and secret vote.  

It is now President Hugo Chávez´s turn to lead the Venezuelan people in a new historical cycle. The old power structures are cracking up, giving way, collapsing. Through every pore of the social tissue alternative tendencies surge forth. Hopeful demands and unprecedented challenges show up ahead in the time to come. The political model built upon the framework of the “Punto Fijo Pact” has come to an end. The new nation makes its way through the old order´s rubble. It is the hour of the people once again, time for the nation´s voice.  

On February 2, 1999, in a multitudinous  and transcendental ceremony Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías took over the reins of the state to lead the nation´s destiny until the year 2004. He is, therefore, the last Venezuelan President of the XX century an the first one of the new millenium.  

President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is married to María Isabel Rodríguez and is the father of five children:  Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela, Hugo Rafael, Raúl Alfonzo y Rosa Inés.

TITLES OF DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA GRANTED
TO THE FIRST NATIONAL LEADER HUGO CHÁVEZ FRÍAS

1. Doctor Honoris Causa in Political Sciences
Granted by Rector Chungwon Choueby from the Kyung Hee University of Seul, South Korea. October 16, 1999.

2. Doctor Honoris Causa of the Faculty of Juridical Sciences
Granted by the Santo Domingo Autonomous University, Dominican Republic. March 09, 2001.

3. Professor Doctor Honoris Causa Title
Granted by rector Alberto Pérez from the University of Brasilia, Brazil. April 03, 2001.

4. Doctor Honoris Causa of the Diplomatic Academy
Granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. May 15, 2001.

5. Doctor Honoris Causa in Economy
Granted by the University of Economy and Trade of Beijing, China. May 24, 2001