The Rise and Fall of Venezuela: Chapter 2
(Note: This is the second part of a two part series. The first chapter can be read here ) Previously, we looked at the rise and fall of Venezuela between 1960 and the 1990s. The story of how this country drowned in their own success. What followed was a series of famine, riots, corruption, and hyperinflation, with the government continuously making poor decisions driving the nation into turmoil. We continue our exploration in 1998, when a military lieutenant by the name of Hugo Chavez decided to take advantage of the current public anger towards the government. An already known figure, he used his popularity and left-wing ideas to gain the confidence of the Venezuelan people, and eventually rise to power in 1999. Chavez started his Presidential leadership by going on a massive spending spree on social programs in an attempt to better the quality of living for the Venezuelan citizens who had previously been victim of extreme poverty and hyperinflation. Unsurprisingly, ...