Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died Tuesday in Caracas after an almost two-year battle with cancer and 14 years of a dominating socialist presidency that leaves the country with the world's largest oil reserves mired in uncertainty.
The vociferous Chavez, 58, who once regaled supporters for hours in speeches and on his weekly television show, had not appeared in public after he underwent a fourth operation for cancer December 11 in Cuba. The only messages were sent through his Twitter account February 18 in which he said he had returned to Caracas. He remained in a military hospital, out of sight.
"We have returned to the fatherland. Thank you God!! Thank you beloved people!! We will continue with my treatment here," was the first of three tweets.
The only images of him had been photos released a few days before his return, showing a smiling Chavez with two of his daughters, and in one reading a recent edition of the Cuban newspaper.
The government had given a somewhat pessimistic medical report February 21, saying he still had respiratory problems and that his progress "has not been favorable."
Chavez disappeared from public view soon after he said December 9 that his cancer had returned and that he may not be able to serve a fourth term as president after winning re-election by a wide margin October 7. It was his first admission since being diagnosed with cancer in June 2011 that his medical condition may prevent him from staying in power.
Chavez leaves a country hit by economic problems including high inflation and large debt, despite the substantial revenue collected by oil exports. Venezuela turned to China in 2005 to help finance its expensive social programs, taking more than $38 billion in loans in exchange for oil supplies.
OIL WAS THE GREASE OF CHAVEZ'S SOCIALIST REVOLUTION
Crude oil has always been the grease of the political machine in modern Venezuela, but the Chavez administration took this to a new level. In the name of his socialist revolution, Chavez put into place a policy based on extracting the most money possible out of the country's oil reserves to use for social aid in poorer communities for his staunchest supporters. But the opposition and many outside analysts say his government's lack of investment in the industry has undercut its success.
Oil production in 1998, when Chavez took office, was about 3.2 million b/d. In 2011, that had declined to 2.991 million b/d, according to government figures, which most analysts say are inflated. Platts' most recent estimate for Venezuelan production was 2.32 million b/d in January.
Some analysts considered that PDVSA never recovered from a massive loss of human capital when the government fired 18,000 of its workers for taking part in protests against Chavez in 2002.
In 2007, Chavez led the country's second wave of nationalization -- the first was in the 1970s -- of its privately run oil fields, operated by some of the world's biggest oil companies. The country still faces 24 arbitration cases in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes related to the expropriation. Although Venezuela started the process of pulling out of the ICSID in January, pending cases and any filed within a certain window will continue.
But several international operators with appetites for some risk -- including BP,Chevron, Total and Statoil -- continue to operate in Venezuela through joint ventures with PDVSA. Other state oil companies, especially those of China, also have extensive partnerships with Venezuela.
Other key oil policies included defending the need for international oil prices above $100/b as a member of OPEC and raising taxes several times on international operators -- with some of these earmarked specifically for social aid projects.
The relationship between Cuba and Venezuela -- and Chavez and the Castro brothers -- also marked Chavez's time. Venezuela pumped millions into Cuba in the form of cheap oil, payment for medical services and other aids, while Fidel Castro gave revolutionary credibility and served as a mentor for Chavez.
Chavez began his move into power as an activist military officer, founding the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement on December 17, 1982. He led a coup against the then President Carlos Andres Perez in 1992, for which he served two years in prison before being pardoned.
He founded the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) political party, which supported him when he won the presidential election for the first time in 1998. The MVR later become the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Chavez used his overwhelming popularity with a large segment of the population to push through a new Constitution in 2000 that gave him the right to run for reelection for a six-year term.
But his unpopularity with the business and upper classes of Venezuela led to him being temporarily knocked from power during a coup April 11, 2002, led by businessman Pedro Carmona Estanga, who is currently in exile in Colombia. A huge outpouring from his followers, plus backing from the military, let him retake power two days later.
In 2006, Chavez won reelection for another six-year term, which ends this year. But he was able to run again because of a change to the Constitution in 2009 which allows for indefinite reelection of the president. Some 56.4% of Venezuelans voted for this change in a referendum.
Chavez was diagnosed with cancer by doctor in Cuba in June 2011, where he also underwent two operations, four sessions of chemotherapy and six session of radiotherapy to remove a malignant tumor in his pelvic region. The government did not reveal the type of cancer Chavez had.
Chavez was born in Sabaneta, in the state of Barinas, on July 28, 1954. He was the son of two teachers, Hugo de los Reyes Chavez and Elena Frias de Chavez. He had four children -- Rosa Virginia, Maria Gabriela, Hugo Rafael and Rosines.
