In view of the commemoration for the 10 years of the death of Hugo Chavez, the Cuartel de la Montaña where his remains rest has been closed to the public for renovation works. In that zone of January 23, it has been evident that the fervor no longer manifests itself as before. We show you a before and after in photos that makes it clear, while we assess the opinions of different actors on the figure of the late ex-president
The “Santo Hugo Chávez del 23” chapel, which supporters of the former president installed a decade ago, no longer shines with flowers, candles or messages as in another era. The place, located on 23 de Enero, in Caracas, is just a vestige of what it once showed: devotion to the president who died on March 5, 2013.
Now, it is only “dressed” for emblematic dates, say merchants in the area. «They are conditioning it, they put some (floral) arrangements on it and that. On February 4, when the 31st anniversary of the attempted coup led by a young Hugo Chávez was commemorated, they lasted one day. They put them on very early, around 5:00 in the morning and, later, a girl came up to me to ask me if I knew who took those arrangements,” a neighbor commented.
These two photos show the contrast. Both taken at the same location, by the same person, but on different dates: March 2023 and March 2015 (swipe the middle slider to compare).
On Sunday, there will surely be new flower arrangements, especially since that day there will be official events at the Mountain Barracksthe old Military Museum converted into a mausoleum. «By March 5 this has to be ready, I swear, because that day is the day of Chávez’s death», explains a soldier at the gate of the site, while workers are heard working inside the place. For the past two weeks, the infrastructure has been closed to the public while that work progresses.
“At 4:25 in the afternoon, today, March 5, Commander President Hugo Chávez Frías has died,” Nicolás Maduro announced that Tuesday afternoon in 2013, through tears.
A decade later, Maduro asks to keep the former president present as an emblem of his Bolivarian revolution. «The best way to remember Commander Chávez is not by crying. I gave up on that a long time ago. It is not remembering it as the past, but as the present, as a challenge for the future. Remember it as a commitment to honesty, ethics, being loyal to the people, “he said this Thursday, March 2, in a televised broadcast.
In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez continues to be valued positively by at least half the country. A Datanálisis survey released in February 2020 placed its acceptance at 57%, even when deceased.
The 10 years that they have spent with their “children” in charge of the country, the economy has reduced 80% of its size, political prisoners have increased to reach and exceed 300 between civilians and soldiers, there was a five-year hyperinflation , there are more than seven million Venezuelan migrants and refugees, and alliances have been lost with sectors of the left and of Chavismo itself.
Degradation
Sergio Sánchez accompanied the “Bolivarian process” until a few years after Chávez’s death, when he became a dissident together with the former minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres. Today he is the leader of the Movement for Democracy and still values the legacy of the former president. «Among the positive is the visibility of the poor as human beings and social subjects and not only as statistics. The second thing is the demand for sovereignty, independence, the Latin American union », he details.
But they are principles that have been swept away, in his opinion, by those who today claim to represent that legacy: “Chavismo degraded itself to an authoritarian movement, with hegemonic and very clientelistic features, which reduces the role of the people almost to servitude, which is absolutely intolerant of dissent and criticism, which it became what he denounced and worse“Says Sanchez.
Tomás Guanipa, vice president of Political Affairs at Primero Justicia, believes that the man who died a decade ago achieved almost absolute control of the country thanks to the oil boom. «Chávez meant the beginning of a hegemonic process of authoritarianism in the country. His death coincided with a process of economic deterioration that in the following 10 years, also due to the mismanagement of Nicolás Maduro, has become an absolute disaster ».
The former deputy points out a “big difference” between that leadership and those who control the national Executive today: “Chávez, having a very important popular connection, He did not need to be the authoritarian, persecutor and violator of human rights that Nicolás Maduro has ended up being«.
He also comments that Maduro has used force and repression to subjugate a people that he has filled with hunger and misery, since he does not have popular support. “The most terrible thing is that he has divided the family, making seven million Venezuelans have to leave.”
Guanipa agrees that it is more dangerous to oppose Maduro than his predecessor: “He has assumed a role of persecution that with Chávez was not so virulent. There has been an absolute deterioration of the political and human rights of all citizens. It is evident that Maduro continued a hegemonic and authoritarian process, but it has meant much more suffering than what Hugo Chávez meant at the time.”
But the figure of Hugo Chávez is more than an analysis. For those who remember it fondly, it is a feeling. «For me, Chavez is not dead, but he is alive in my heart. I feel Chávez as if he were a relative, as if he were my father, my brother, “says Mayra Rodríguez.
The Cuartel de la Montaña has been closed due to infrastructure arrangements for March 5, 2023 | Photo: Victor Amaya
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