Hugo Chavez Trivia Quiz

Answer: 28th July 1954, Sabaneta,Venezuela

Hugo Chavez was born in Sabaneta, a rural village in the Barinas state of Venezuela on 28th of July 1954. He was born in his paternal grandmother's home and was 2nd eldest of seven children after Adan Chavez. His full name was Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias. Chavez's parents were school teachers but lived in poverty, so sent young Chavez to live with his grandmother.

She was a devout Roman Catholic and Chavez described her as a pure human being, having pure love and pure kindness.

Answer: Caracas

Chavez enrolled at the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in Caracas at the age of 17 in 1971 and stayed there until 1975. During his time, fellow pupils studied under an Andres Bello plan where cadets studied more general subjects alongside their military studies, so professors from civilian universities were brought in to teach military cadets too.

The other cities mentioned are capitals of the various provinces of Venezuela.

Answer: Lieutenant Colonel

Hugo Chavez was commisioned into the Venezuelan Army in 1975 following his graduation from the Military Academy. He developed leanings towards the political left and formed a secret cell within the military known as the Venezuelan People's Liberation Army which was a compromise between the right wing policies of Venezuela's government at that time and that of the far left Red Flag party. He obtained his highest rank in the early 1990s. His military career came to an end in 1992 when he led a coup against president Carlos Andres Perez; it failed and Chavez was imprisoned as a result.

Answer: Two

Hugo Chavez's first wife was Nancy Colmenares with whom he had three children (two daughters and a son). He divorced her after 18 years in 1992. His second wife was a journalist named Marisabel Rodriguez with whom he had one daughter. The second marriage lasted only seven years from 1997 till 2004.

Answer: Simon Bolivar

Simon Bolivar was a Venezuelan political and military leader who lived in the early nineteenth century and was credited with liberating Latin America from Spanish rule. The country of Bolivia is named after him. Hugo Chavez based his politics around the ideals of Simon Bolivar.

He also admired Ezequiel Zamora who was a Federalist general in the 19th century and Chavez's Great-Great Grandfather served under him, but no country was named after him. Vladimir Lenin was the first leader of the Soviet Communist Party while Karl Marx was the founder of the ideas of Marxism.

Answer: 1999

Hugo Chavez's first presidential term lasted for almost two years from the 2nd of February 1999 to the 10th of January 2001. He contested the 1998 elections through the Fifth Republic Movement party (founded in 1997) and replaced Rafael Caldera who had been president since 1994 and who had freed Chavez from prison in 1994. Chavez defeated Henrique Salos Romer who came from the Project Venezuela party and was a Yale educated Economist.

Answer: Alleviate poverty of the Venezuelan working class

On the 27th of February 1999, Hugo Chavez introduced a social welfare program called "Plan Bolivar 2000" which involved 70,000 army officers going out into the streets of Venezuela to repair roads and hospitals. They would also offer free medicines and vaccinations. Food was also offered at cheaper prices to the general public.

Answer: Pedro Carmona

On April 11th 2002, mass protests broke out against Hugo Chavez, and people from the Military and the business community who were opposed to his policies used the civil unrest to launch a coup against him. Chavez was deposed as president and a wealthy business leader named Pedro Carmona took over as president. But he proved to be even more unpopular with the public due to the suspected totalitarian measures he introduced, so he stepped down and Chavez was restored to power on 14th of April 2002.

Evo Morales and Fidel Castro were leaders of Bolivia and Cuba respectively and were close allies of Chavez. Francisco Arias Cardenas was a former friend of Chavez who by 2001 denounced him as an autocrat and was also a rival in Chavez's second presidential election in 2001.

Answer: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

During the 2000s, Hugo Chavez and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared an "axis of unity against US Imperalism". Chavez called the US president George Bush a devil at a 2006 speech to the United Nations.

Pervez Musharraf was the Pakistani President while Hamid Karzai became the Afghani President following removal of the Taliban regime in 2001. Kim Jong-il was the leader of North Korea till his death in 2010. He was also an adversary of the US but Chavez had closer relations with Ahmadinejad.

Answer: Cancer, 5th March 2013

Hugo Chavez suffered from cancer for two years prior to his death in 2013. He was the president of Venezuela from the 2nd of February 1999 till his death, and his funeral was held in Caracas. He was survived by four children and four grandchildren. His vice president Maduro became the interim president and would remain so until presidential elections are held to elect a new president, which would be 30 days after Chavez's death.