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| Hugo Chavez - 28 July 1954 - 5 March 2013 |
In life,
there are those individuals who one seems to always follow in every element.
There movement, quotes, ambition or just the mere fact of their contribution.
Whether they personally touch your inner nature or just their character, and
they isn’t many figures in power at this moment with true intention’s personality.
I wanted to
go off topic in this article and write about the late Hugo Chavez, who passed
away this Tuesday (05/03/2013).
I always
tend to avoid writing about individuals who I have never met but with Hugo
Chavez, I am sure, like many citizens around the world who are mourning, Mr
Chavez came across as that man you never met but knew. Whether they were in his
speeches, poems, public views or just the fact of being a man for the people
and by the people, Hugo Chavez never seized to amaze me.
Chavez
was a highly controversial and divisive figure both at home and abroad, but to
many other’s also a hero and a man who stood up for his views, no matter the
outcome. He single handily raised the aspirations of many people in Venezuela for
his social development programs and was a model for several South American
leaders who had seen him as man who they feel will raise the true expectations
of the people in the region.
Having been blessed with a huge amount of Oil, power had also came to him in that respect and understood that in order to raise the living standards of local Venezuelans’, he had to take a route which benefit the whole country and not the elite. In 2008, Human Rights Watch released a report reviewing Chavez’s human rights record over his first decade in power. The report praises Chavez’s 1999 amendments to the constitution which significantly expanded human rights guarantees, as well as mentioning improvements in women's rights and indigenous rights.
Having been blessed with a huge amount of Oil, power had also came to him in that respect and understood that in order to raise the living standards of local Venezuelans’, he had to take a route which benefit the whole country and not the elite. In 2008, Human Rights Watch released a report reviewing Chavez’s human rights record over his first decade in power. The report praises Chavez’s 1999 amendments to the constitution which significantly expanded human rights guarantees, as well as mentioning improvements in women's rights and indigenous rights.
But not
all were in his side, never the least to say governments who felt they had a
threat. At a speech at the UN General Assembly on 2006, which I remember
clearly and had me chuckling for a while, Mr Chavez caused an uproar by stating
about Former US President George W Bush "The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulphur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of."
A lot of
negativity was thrown around Mr Chavez by the media wherever he went but always
was welcomed by huge crowds in every country he had visited. This was a man who
had the power to make people rise. In this day and age, having the wisdom to awake a population can mean that you are dangerous to society.
Hugo
Chavez passed away this Tuesday after suffering from cancer, but his views, movement and personality is sure to go on
for a long time. Rest in Peace Comrade Hugo Chavez!
Mohamed Hassan (Dj)
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