Ortega is a Spanish surname. In the 9th century a Saint Raymundo Ortega of Bejar was recorded to be in Salamanca, Spain. A baptismal record in 1570 records a de Ortega "from the village of Ortega". There were several villages of this name in Spain. The toponym derives from Latin urtica, meaning "nettle".

Some of the Ortega spelling variants are: Ortega, de Ortega, Ortegada, Ortegal, Hortega, Ortiga, Ortigueda, Ortigueira, Ortigosa, Orreaga, etc. A cognate surname in Italian is Ortica, in Romanian Urzică, in French Ortie, all from Latin urtica.

Origin[link]

Roberto Faure, coauthor of the Diccionario de Apellidos Españoles, states that Ortega is derived from the noun ortega, a spelling variant of the modern Castilian Spanish ortiga "nettle". The name of the plant is found as a toponym in various places in Spain, such as Ortega (Burgos), Ortega (Jaén) or Ortega (Monfero, La Coruña). Mexican author Gutierre Tibón advanced the alternative theory that the name derives from Ortún, earlier Fortún, from the Latin name Fortunius with an added suffix "-eca".^[1] The Dictionary of American Surnames additionally states that the name may derive from ortega: "black grouse."

The first Bishop of Almería, Juan de Ortega, died in the early 16th century, while another early occurrence is found in the baptismal record of Phelpa de Ortega, dated 2 March 1570 at Santa Maria Magdalena, Valladolid, Spain, during the reign of King Philip II of Spain. Other early records are found in Carrión de los Condes, Palencia. The name subsequently appears throughout Spain, especially in Castile, Andalusia and Murcia, as well as México and Latin America.

According to the Diccionario de Heráldica Aragonesa by Bizén d'O Río Martínez, there were two Aragonese lines using the surname, one of which was infanzon. Both lines originated in Cinco Villas and bore coats of arms that were variants of each other. One line is in Gallur in the 18th century, and in Tauste in the 19th century. The other is attested from 1626 in various locations in Aragón.

Coats of arms[link]

Ortega shield (quartered)

There were two arms-bearing families called Ortega. Their coat of arms were as follows:

• Divided horizontally, a gold fleur de lis on a blue background on the left side, and a black wheel on a gold background on the right. The entire shield has a silver border decorated with black ermine marks. These Ortegas were found primarily in Aragón at Gallur, Tauste, and originating in the Cinco Villas.
• Divided in quarters, with the gold fleur de lis on blue in the upper left and lower right, and the black wheel on gold in upper right and lower left. This shield also has the silver ermine border. The full coat of arms includes a helmet with three ostrich feathers and an armored arm holding a sword, above a crown of the Count. These Ortegas came from the Carrión de los Condes in the province of Palencia, moving to Castresana de Losa in the province of Burgos, all in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, later branching to other autonomous communities in Spain before settling in Aragón, at Cinco Villas. This coat of arms can be found among the Ortegas in the New World, brought by Caballero Don Alonso Ortega in 1536. A native of Portillo, Valladolid, and member of the Order of Calatrava, he came to take part in the conquest of México. After the pacification of Jalisco, he founded a house in México City. This Ortega line is still known as the Condes de Ortigueira y Monterroso, Valle de Oploca y Santa María de Guadalupe del Peñasco.

People named Ortega[link]

Politicians[link]

• Carlos Ortega, Venezuelan union and political leader
• Cynthia Ortega (b. 1956), Dutch politician
• Daniel Ortega (born 1945), past and present President of Nicaragua
• Humberto Ortega, Nicaraguan military leader
• Ivonne Ortega, governor of Yucatán
• Jesús Ortega (born 1952), Mexican left-wing politician
• José Francisco Ortega, (1734–1798), soldier and early settler of California
• Juan Ortega y Montañés (1627–1708), Spanish bishop and colonial administrator
• Katherine D. Ortega (born 1934), 38th treasurer of the United States

Artists and entertainers[link]

• Fernando Ortega, singer-songwriter
• Gilberto Hernández Ortega (1924-1978), a Dominican painter
• Jeannie Ortega (born 1986), American actress, dancer and songwriter
• José Gómez Ortega (1895–1920), Spanish matador
• José Ortega Cano (born 1953), Spanish bullfighter
• Kenny Ortega, American producer, director and choreographer
• Leanor Ortega, former member of the group Five Iron Frenzy
• Manuel Ortega (born 1980), Austrian-Spanish singer
• Micah Ortega (born 1976), former guitarist of the group Five Iron Frenzy
• Palito Ortega (born 1941), Argentinian singer
• Santos Ortega (1899–1976), American actor
• Sergio Ortega (1938–2003), Chilean composer and pianist

Sportspeople[link]

• Anita Ortega, UCLA basketball player
• Ariel Ortega (born 1974), Argentinian soccer player
• Buck Ortega, American football player
• José Ortega (boxer) (born 1963), Spanish boxer
• Mauricio Ortega (born 1980), Colombian road cyclist
• Víctor Ortega (born 1988), male diver from Colombia

Other people[link]

• Amancio Ortega Gaona (born 1936), Spanish fashion entrepreneur
• Casimiro Gómez de Ortega, Spanish physician and botanist
• Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino (born 1938), Archbishop of Havana
• José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955), Spanish philosopher
• Joshua Ortega (born 1974), author and journalist

Fictional characters[link]

• Gael Ortega, in the TV series 24
• Ishmael Ortega, in the Marvel Comics series District X
• Ortega, father of the hero in Dragon Warrior III
• Ortega (Castlevania), character from the Nintendo 64 video game Castlevania
• Victor Ortega, character from the Sega/Super NES video game Saturday Night Slam Masters
• The henchman in The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies who would later become a recurring guest character in Mystery Science Theater 3000
• Ortega Peru, character from Mr. Magoo(1997)
• Captain Ortega, in the TV series The Snorks
• Serge Ortega, in the Well of Souls novel series by Jack L. Chalker
• Susan Ortega, anchorwoman in the movie Bruce Almighty
• The Ortegas, Neverborn hunters led by Perdita Ortega in the tabletop game Malifaux

References[link]

• Gutierre Tibón: "Origen, Vida y Milagros de su Apellido (1946)," "Diccionario Etimologico Comparado De Nombres Propios De Personas (1986)"
• Casa Editora de Genalogia Ibero Americana, A. B. (S. A.)
• Roberto Faure: Diccionario de Apellidos Españoles
• Bizén d'O Río Martínez: Diccionario de Heráldica Aragonesa
• Bernard L. Fontana: "Entrada: The Legacy of Spain and Mexico in the United States"
• Rick McCallister and Silvia McCallister-Castillo: Found under Etruscan in "Compilation and translations from French, Italian and Latin (1999)"
• Charles Cawley: Medieval Lands Project - Asturias & Leon, Kings (2006-2008)

External links[link]

• Ortega Surname
• Histories
• redaragon.com
• Ortega History in México
• Paseo genealógico por la Argentina y Bolivia by Juan Isidro Quesada (google books)
• Ortega Royalty
• Another look at Asturias & Leon Kings
• Ortega y Pérez Gallardo, D. Ricardo

José Daniel Ortega Saavedra
President of Nicaragua
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 January 2007
Vice President	Jaime Morales Carazo
Preceded by	Enrique Bolaños
In office 10 January 1985 – 25 April 1990
Vice President	Sergio Ramírez Mercado
Preceded by	Himself (Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction)
Succeeded by	Violeta Chamorro
Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction of Nicaragua
In office 18 July 1979 – 10 January 1985
Preceded by	Francisco Urcuyo (Acting President)
Succeeded by	Himself (President)
Personal details
Born	(1945-11-11) 11 November 1945 (age 66) La Libertad, Nicaragua
Political party	Sandinista National Liberation Front
Spouse(s)	Rosario Murillo

José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (Spanish pronunciation: [xo̞ˈse̞ ðaˈnje̞l o̞rˈte̞ɣa saˈβe̞ðɾa]; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician. He is the current President of Nicaragua (since 2007), a position he has held previously between 1985 and 1990. A leader in the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN), his policies in government have seen the implementation of leftist reforms across Nicaragua.

Born into a working class family, from an early age Ortega developed a hatred of the ruling President Anastasio Somoza Debayle, who was widely seen as a dictator, and became involved in the underground movement to oppose Somoza's regime. Joining the Sandinistas, he also travelled to Cuba to receive training in guerilla warfare from Fidel Castro's Marxist-Leninist government. After the Nicaraguan Revolution resulted in the overthrow and exile of the Somoza's government in 1979, Ortega became a member of the ruling multipartisan Junta of National Reconstruction and was later elected president, serving from 1985 to 1990. At the time a Marxist-Leninist, his first period in office was characterized by a controversial program of land reform, wealth redistribution and literacy programs. Such leftist reforms damaged U.S. economic interests in the country, gaining hostility from the U.S.'s governing Reagan administration, who funded a right wing militia, the Contras, to overthrow Ortega's government.

Ortega was defeated by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in the 1990 presidential election, but he remained an important figure in Nicaraguan opposition politics, gradually moderating in his political position from Marxism-Leninism to democratic socialism. He was an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1996 and 2001, before winning the 2006 presidential election.^[1] In power, he has made alliances with fellow Latin American socialists, namely Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and signed Nicaragua up to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.

Personal life[link]

Early years[link]

Ortega was born to a poor class La Libertad, department of Chontales, Nicaragua. His parents, Daniel Ortega and Lidia Saavedra, were opposed to the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. His mother was imprisoned by Somoza's National Guard for being in possession of "love letters" which the police stated were coded political missives. It is still unknown if he even participated in any actual guerrilla fighting with the Somoza regime. He has two brothers, Humberto Ortega, former General, military leader and published writer, and Camilo Ortega, who died during combat in 1978.

Ortega was arrested for political activities at the age of 15,^[2] and quickly joined the then-underground Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).^[3] He was imprisoned in 1967 for taking part in robbing a branch of the Bank of America while brandishing a machine gun, but was released in late 1974 along with other Sandinista prisoners in exchange for Somocista hostages. While he was imprisoned at the El Modelo jail, just outside of Managua, he wrote poems, one of which he titled "I Never Saw Managua When Miniskirts Were in Fashion".^[4] During his imprisonment, Ortega was severely tortured.^[5] After his release, Ortega was exiled to Cuba, where he received several months of guerrilla training. He later returned to Nicaragua secretly.^[6]

Ortega married Rosario Murillo in 1979 in a secret ceremony (conducted by a Spanish priest turned guerrilla fighter)^[7] and moved to Costa Rica with her three children from a previous marriage.^[8] Ortega remarried Murillo in 2005 to have the marriage recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. The couple has eight children,^[9] three of them together.^[2] She is currently the government's spokeswoman and a government minister, among other positions.^[10][11] Ortega adopted stepdaughter Zoilamérica Narváez in 1986, through a court case.^[12]

Sexual abuse allegations[link]

In 1998, Daniel Ortega's adopted stepdaughter Zoilamérica Narváez released a 48-page report^[13] describing her allegations that Ortega had systematically sexually abused her from 1979, when she was 11, until 1990.^[14] Ortega and his wife Murillo denied the allegations.^[15] The case could not proceed in Nicaraguan courts because Ortega had immunity to prosecution as a member of parliament, and the five-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse and rape charges was judged to have been exceeded. Narváez took a complaint to the Inter American Human Rights Commission, which was ruled admissible on 15 October 2001.^[16] On 4 March 2002 the Nicaraguan government accepted the Commission's recommendation of a friendly settlement.^[12] As of 2006 Ortega continues to deny the allegations, but Narváez has not withdrawn them.^[15]

The Sandinista revolution (1979–1990)[link]

When Somoza was overthrown by the FSLN in July 1979, Ortega became a member of the five-person Junta of National Reconstruction, which also included Sandinista militant Moisés Hassan, novelist Sergio Ramírez, businessman Alfonso Robelo, and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the widow of a martyred journalist. The FSLN came to dominate the junta, Robelo and Chamorro resigned, and in 1981 Ortega became the coordinator of the Junta.^[17] As the only member of the FSLN National Directorate in the Junta, he was the effective leader of the country

In 1981, United States President Ronald Reagan accused the FSLN of joining with Soviet-backed Cuba in supporting Marxist revolutionary movements in other Latin American countries such as El Salvador. People within the Reagan administration authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to begin financing, arming and training rebels, some of whom were former officers from Somoza's National Guard, as anti-Sandinista guerrillas. These were known collectively as the Contras. This also led to one of the largest political scandals in US history, (the Iran Contra Affair), when Oliver North and several members of the Reagan administration defied the Boland Amendment to sell arms to Iran, and then used the proceeds to fund the Contras. Between 1980 and 1989, over 30,000 Nicaraguans died in the conflict between the Sandinista government and the Contras.^[18]

At the 1984 general election Ortega won the presidency with 67% of the vote and took office on 10 January 1985. According to many independent observers, the 1984 elections were perhaps the freest and fairest in Nicaraguan history. A report by an Irish governmentary delegation stated: "The electoral process was carried out with total integrity. The seven parties participating in the elections represented a broad spectrum of political ideologies." The general counsel of New York's Human Rights Commission described the election as "free, fair and hotly contested." A study by the US Latin American Studies Association (LASA) concluded that the FSLN (Sandinista Front) "did little more to take advantage of its incumbency than incumbent parties everywhere (including the U.S.) routinely do."^{[citation needed]}

33 percent of the Nicaraguan voters cast ballots for one of six opposition parties—three to the right of the Sandinistas, three to the left—which had campaigned with the aid of government funds and free TV and radio time. Two conservative parties captured a combined 23 percent of the vote. They held rallies across the country (a few of which were disrupted by FSLN supporters) and blasted the Sandinistas in harsh terms. Most foreign and independent observers noted this pluralism in debunking the Reagan administration charge—ubiquitous in the US media—that it was a "Soviet-style sham" election.^[19] Some opposition parties boycotted the election, allegedly under pressure from US embassy officials, and so it was denounced as being unfair by the Reagan administration.^[20] Reagan thus maintained that he was justified to continue supporting what he referred to as the Contras' "democratic resistance".^[21]

Interim years (1990–2006)[link]

In the 1990 presidential election, Ortega lost to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, his former colleague in the junta. Chamorro was supported by the US and a 14-party anti-Sandinista alliance known as the National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Oppositora, UNO), an alliance that ranged from conservatives and liberals to communists. Contrary to what most observers expected,^[22] Chamorro shocked Ortega and won the election. In Ortega's concession speech the following day he vowed to keep "ruling from below" a reference to the power that the FSLN still wielded in various sectors. He was also quoted saying:

...We leave victorious... because we Sandinistas have spilled blood and sweat not to cling to government posts, but to bring Latin America a little dignity, a little social justice.

— Daniel Ortega^[4]

Ortega ran for election again, in October 1996 and November 2001, but lost on both occasions to Arnoldo Alemán and Enrique Bolaños, respectively. In these elections, a key issue was the allegation of corruption. In Ortega's last days as president, through a series of legislative acts known as "The Piñata", estates that had been seized by the Sandinista government (some valued at millions and even billions of US dollars) became the private property of various FSLN officials, including Ortega himself.^{[citation needed]}

Ortega's policies became more moderate during his time in opposition, and he gradually changed much of his former Marxist stance in favor of an agenda of democratic socialism. His Roman Catholic faith has become more public in recent years as well, leading Ortega to embrace a variety of socially conservative policies; in 2006 the FSLN endorsed a strict law banning all abortions in Nicaragua^{[citation needed]}.

Ortega was instrumental in creating the controversial strategic pact between the FSLN and the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC). The controversial alliance of Nicaragua's two major parties is aimed at distributing power between the PLC and FSLN, and preventing other parties from rising. "El Pacto," as it is known in Nicaragua, is said to have personally benefited former presidents Ortega and Alemán greatly, while constraining then-president Bolaños. One of the key accords of the pact was to lower the percentage necessary to win a presidential election in the first round from 45% to 35%, a change in electoral law that would become decisive in Ortega's favor in the 2006 elections^{[citation needed]}.

2006 Presidential election[link]

Second presidency (2006–present)[link]

This section requires expansion.

Presidential styles of Daniel Ortega
Reference style	Daniel Ortega, Presidente de la República de Nicaragua Daniel Ortega, President of the Republic of Nicaragua
Spoken style	Presidente Ortega President Ortega
Alternative style	Señor Presidente Mister President

Soon after his inauguration, Ortega paid an official visit to Iran and met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ortega told the press that the "revolutions of Iran and Nicaragua are almost twin revolutions...since both revolutions are about justice, liberty, self-determination, and the struggle against imperialism."^[23] Since the start of his second presidency, various measures have been introduced to combat hunger and to improve access to healthcare, education,^[24] credit,^[25] and social security.^[26] In addition, other reforms have been carried out, including an enhancement of labour rights,^[27] the introduction of low-interest loans and training for female micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas,^[28] and the distribution of transport subsidies, scholarships, medicine, land titles, and housing materials throughout the population.^[24] Altogether, these policies have helped to reduce high levels of poverty and inequality in Nicaragua.^{[29][30][31][32][33][34]}

In June 2008 the Nicaraguan Supreme Electoral Council disqualified the MRS and the Conservative Party from participation.^[35] In November, 2008, the Supreme Electoral Council received national and international criticism following irregularities in municipal elections, but agreed to review results for Managua only, while the opposition demanded a nationwide review.^[36] For the first time since 1990, the Council decided not to allow national or international observers to witness the election.^[37][38] Instances of intimidation, violence, and harassment of opposition political party members and NGO representatives have been recorded.^[39] Official results show Sandinista candidates winning 94 of the 146 municipal mayorships, compared to 46 for the main opposition Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC).^[40] The opposition claimed that marked ballots were dumped and destroyed, that party members were refused access to some of the vote counts and that tallies from many polling places were altered.^[41] As a result of the fraud allegations, the European Union suspended $70m of aid, and the US $64m.^[42]

With the late-2000s recession, Ortega said that capitalism is in its "death throes" and the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (ALBA) is the most advanced, Christian and fairest project. He also said God was punishing the United States with the financial crisis for trying to impose its economic principles on poor countries and said God was rewarding Nicaragua with an increase in GDP (PPP) to $2,600 per-capita from $1,800 a decade ago. "It's incredible that in the most powerful country in the world, which spends billions of dollars on brutal wars ... people do not have enough money to stay in their homes."^[43][44]

During an interview with David Frost for the Al Jazeera English programme Frost Over The World in March 2009, Ortega suggested that he would like to change the constitution to allow him to run again for president.^[45] In Judicial Decision 504, issued on October 19, 2009, the Supreme Court of Justice of Nicaragua declared portions of Articles 147 and 178 of the Constitution of Nicaragua inapplicable; these provisions concerned the eligibility of candidates for President, Vice-President, Mayor, and Vice-Mayor.^[46] For this decision, the Sandinista magistrates formed the required quorum by excluding the opposition magistrates and replacing them with Sandinista substitutes, violating the Nicaraguan constitution.^[47] The decision was widely denounced by the opposing parties, the church and human rights groups in Nicaragua ^[48][49][50]

While supporting abortion rights during his presidency during the 1980s, Ortega has since embraced the Catholic Church's position of strong opposition.^[51] While non-emergency abortions have long been illegal in Nicaragua, recently even abortions "in the case where the pregnancy endangers the mother's life" have been made illegal in the days before the election, with a six-year prison term in such cases, too—a move supported by Ortega.^[52]

Ortega himself denies that the abortion legislation outlaws medical procedures necessary to save the woman's life if they result in the termination of pregnancy. "The medical Procedural Code, he says, is not affected by the law, and requires doctors to do what is necessary to save a woman's life if it is threatened by conditions related to her pregnancy."^{[citation needed]} He claims that the accusations that the abortion laws outlaw medical procedures necessary to save the life of the mother are part of "a media war".^[53]

Foreign policy[link]

Ortega with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev whilst on a state visit to Russia on 18 December 2008.

On 6 March 2008, following the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis, Ortega announced that Nicaragua was breaking diplomatic ties with Colombia "in solidarity with the Ecuadoran people".^[54] Ortega also stated, "We are not breaking relations with the Colombian people. We are breaking relations with the terrorist policy practiced by Álvaro Uribe's government".^[55] The relations were restored with the resolution at a Rio Group summit held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on 7 March 2008. At the summit Colombia's Álvaro Uribe, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Ortega publicly shook hands in a show of good will. The handshakes, broadcast live throughout Latin America, appeared to be a signal that a week of military buildups and diplomatic repercussions was over. After the handshakes, Ortega said he would re-establish diplomatic ties with Colombia. Uribe then quipped that he would send him the bill for his ambassador's plane fare.^[56][57]

On 25 May 2008, Ortega, upon learning of the death of FARC guerrilla leader Manuel Marulanda in Colombia, expressed condolences to the family of Marulanda and solidarity with the FARC and called Marulanda an extraordinary fighter who battled against profound inequalities in Colombia.^[58][59] The declarations were protested by the Colombian government and criticized in the major Colombian media outlets.

On 2 September 2008, during ceremonies for the 29th anniversary of the founding of the Nicaraguan army, Ortega announced that "Nicaragua recognizes the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and fully supports the Russian government's position." Ortega's decision made Nicaragua the second country after Russia to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia.^[60] A day after Venezuela recognised the two Republics, Nicaragua established diplomatic relations with Abkhazia, and plans to establish diplomatic relations with South Ossetia—embassies will be opened soon.^[61]

When getting in office, Ortega threatened to cut ties with the Republic of China/Taiwan in order to restore relations with the People's Republic of China (like 1985-1990). But he did not do so.^[62] However, with a trade show from the PRC in Managua in 2010, he is attempting a two-track policy to get benefits from both sides.^[63]

In September 2010, after a US report listed Nicaragua as a "major" drug-trafficking centre, with Costa Rica and Honduras, Ortega urged the US Congress and Obama administration to allocate more resources to assist the fight against drug trafficking.^[64][65]

During the 2011 Libyan civil war, Ortega was among the very few leaders that clearly spoke out in defense of the embattled Muammar Gaddafi.^[66] During a telephone conversation between the two, Ortega said Gaddafi was "waging a great battle to defend his nation"^[67] and "it's at difficult times that loyalty and resolve are put to the test."^[68]

Ortega was re-elected president with a vote on November 6 and confirmation on November 16, 2011. ^[69]

Electoral history of Daniel Ortega[link]

Presidential election results, 4 November 1984[link]

Presidential election results, 25 February 1990[link]

Presidential election results, 20 October 1996[link]

Presidential election results, 4 November 2001[link]

Presidential election results, 5 November 2006[link]

Presidential election results, 6 November 2011[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (September 2010)

• La Voz del Sandinismo (Spanish)

Wikinews has related news: Nicaragua's Ortega visits Imam Khamenei in Iran

• Office of the President
• Extended bio by CIDOB Foundation (in Spanish)
• Daniel Ortega: Sandanista leader, Nicaraguan president September 1997
• Remember Daniel Ortega? He's back. September 15, 2005
• An old-school Ortega keeps the pink flag flying November 2, 2006
• Leftward Tilt: Political Shift in Latin America 2007
• Intellectuals condemn authoritarian Ortega June 24, 2008
• Et Tu, Daniel?: The Betrayal of the Sandinista Revolution by Roger Burbach, March 1, 2009

v t e Presidents and heads of state of Nicaragua Fruto Chamorro · Francisco Castellón1 · Nazario Escoto1 · José María Estrada · Patricio Rivas · William Walker · Patricio Rivas · Tomás Martínez and Máximo Jerez Junta · Fernando Guzmán · José Vicente Cuadra · Pedro Joaquín Chamorro · Joaquín Zavala · Adán Cárdenas · Evaristo Carazo · Nicolás Osorno · Roberto Sacasa · Ignacio Chávez · Roberto Sacasa · Junta · Salvador Machado · Joaquín Zavala · José Santos Zelaya · José Madriz · José Dolores Estrada · Luis Mena · Juan José Estrada · Adolfo Díaz · Emiliano Chamorro · Diego Manuel Chamorro · Rosendo Chamorro · Bartolomé Martínez · Carlos José Solórzano · Emiliano Chamorro · Sebastián Uriza · Adolfo Díaz · José María Moncada · Juan Bautista Sacasa · Carlos Alberto Brenes · Anastasio Somoza García · Leonardo Argüello · Benjamín Lacayo · Víctor Manuel Román · Manuel Fernando Zurita · Anastasio Somoza García · Luis Somoza · René Schick · Orlando Montenegro · Lorenzo Guerrero · Anastasio Somoza Debayle · Liberal-Conservative Junta · Anastasio Somoza Debayle · Francisco Urcuyo · Junta of National Reconstruction · Daniel Ortega · Violeta Chamorro · Arnoldo Alemán · Enrique Bolaños · Daniel Ortega 1 in León.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2011)

Hugo Chávez
President of Venezuela
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 February 1999
Vice President	Isaías Rodríguez Adina Bastidas Diosdado Cabello José Vicente Rangel Jorge Rodríguez Ramón Carrizales Elias Jaua
Preceded by	Rafael Caldera
Personal details
Born	Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (1954-07-28) 28 July 1954 (age 57) Sabaneta, Venezuela
Nationality	Venezuelan
Political party	United Socialist Party (2008–present)
Other political affiliations	Fifth Republic Movement (1997–2008)
Spouse(s)	Nancy Colmenares (Div.) Marisabel Rodríguez (Div.)
Relations	Adán Chávez, Aníbal José Chávez Frías (brothers)
Occupation	Military officer (to 1992) and politician
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Venezuela
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1971–1992
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈuɣo rafaˈel ˈtʃaβes ˈfɾi.as]; born 28 July 1954) is the current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Following his own political ideology of Bolivarianism and "Socialism for the 21st Century", he has focused on implementing socialist reforms in the country as a part of a social project known as the Bolivarian Revolution, which has seen the implementation of a new constitution, participatory democratic councils and the nationalisation of several key industries.

Born into a working class family in Sabaneta, Barinas, Chávez became a career military officer, and after becoming dissatisfied with the Venezuelan political system, he founded the secretive Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) in the early 1980s to work towards overthrowing it. Chávez led the MBR-200 in an unsuccessful coup d'état against the Democratic Action government of President Carlos Andrés Pérez government in 1992, for which he was imprisoned. Getting out of prison after two years, he founded a social democratic political party, the Fifth Republic Movement, and was elected president of Venezuela in 1998. He subsequently introduced a new constitution which increased rights for marginalised groups and altered the structure of Venezuelan government, and was re-elected in 2000. During his second presidential term, he introduced a system of Bolivarian Missions, Communal Councils and worker-managed cooperatives, as well as a program of land reform, whilst also nationalising various key industries.

Chavez describes his policies as basically anti-imperialist^[1] and he is a vocal critic of neoliberalism and capitalism more generally, Chávez has been a prominent adversary of the United States' foreign policy.^[2] Allying himself strongly with the Communist governments of Fidel and then Raúl Castro in Cuba, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, his presidency is seen as a part of the socialist "pink tide" sweeping Latin America. He has supported Latin American and Caribbean cooperation and was instrumental in setting up the pan-regional Union of South American Nations, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, the Bank of the South, and the regional television network TeleSur. Chavez is a highly controversial and divisive figure both at home and abroad.

Early life[link]

Childhood: 1954–1970[link]

Sabaneta, Barinas, where Chávez was born and raised.

Hugo Chávez was born on 28 July 1954 in his paternal grandmother Rosa Inéz Chávez's home, a modest three-room house located in the rural village Sabaneta, Barinas State. The Chávez family were of Amerindian, Afro-Venezuelan, and Spanish descent.^[3] His parents, Hugo de los Reyes Chávez and Elena Frías de Chávez, were working-lower middle class schoolteachers who lived in the small village of Los Rastrojos. Hugo was born the second of seven children, including their eldest, Adán Chávez.^[4][5] The couple lived in poverty, leading them to send Hugo and Adán to live with their grandmother Rosa,^[6] whom Hugo would later describe as being "a pure human being... pure love, pure kindness."^[7] She was a devout Roman Catholic, and Hugo was an altar boy at a local church.^[8] Hugo described his childhood as "poor...very happy", and experienced "humility, poverty, pain, sometimes not having anything to eat", and "the injustices of this world."^[9]

Attending the Julián Pino Elementary School, Chávez's hobbies included drawing, painting, baseball and history. He was particularly interested in the 19th-century federalist general Ezequiel Zamora, in whose army his own great-great-grandfather had served.^[10][11] In the mid-1960s, Hugo, his brother and their grandmother moved to the city of Barinas so that the boys could attend what was then the only high school in the rural state, the Daniel O'Leary High School.^[12]

Military Academy: 1971–1975[link]

Aged seventeen, Chávez decided to study at the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in Caracas. At the Academy, he was a member of the first class that was following a restructured curriculum known as the Andrés Bello Plan. This plan had been instituted by a group of progressive, nationalistic military officers who believed that change was needed within the military. This new curriculum encouraged students to learn not only military routines and tactics but also a wide variety of other topics, and to do so civilian professors were brought in from other universities to give lectures to the military cadets.^[13][14][15] Living in Caracas, he saw more of the endemic poverty faced by working class Venezuelans, something that echoed the poverty he had experienced growing up, and he has maintained that this experience only made him further committed to achieving social justice.^[16][17] He also began to get involved in local activities outside of the military school, playing both baseball and softball with the Criollitos de Venezuela team, progressing with them to the Venezuelan National Baseball Championships. Other hobbies that he undertook at the time included writing numerous poems, stories and theatrical pieces, painting^[18] and researching the life and political thought of 19th-century South American revolutionary Simón Bolívar.^[19] He also became interested in the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara (1928–1967) after reading his memoir The Diary of Che Guevara, although also read books by a wide variety of other figures, from Karl Marx to Hannibal and Napoleon Bonaparte.^[20]

In 1974 he was selected to be a representative in the commemorations for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Ayacucho in Peru, the conflict in which Simon Bolívar's lieutenant, Antonio José de Sucre, defeated royalist forces during the Peruvian War of Independence. It was in Peru that Chávez heard the leftist president, General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1910–1977), speak, and inspired by Velasco's ideas that the military should act in the interests of the working classes when the ruling classes were perceived as corrupt,^[21] he "drank up the books [Velasco had written], even memorising some speeches almost completely."^[22] Befriending the son of Panamanian President Omar Torrijos (1929–1981), another leftist military general, Chávez subsequently visited Panama, where he met with Torrijos, and was impressed with his land reform program that was designed to benefit the peasants. Being heavily influenced by both Torrijos and Velasco, he saw the potential for military generals to seize control of a government when the civilian authorities were perceived as only serving the interests of the wealthy elites.^[21][23] In contrast to military presidents like Torrijos and Velasco however, Chávez became highly critical of Augusto Pinochet, the right-wing general who had recently seized control in Chile with the aid of the American CIA.^[24] Chávez would later relate that "With Torrijos, I became a Torrijist. With Velasco I became a Velasquist. And with Pinochet, I became an anti-Pinochetist."^[25] In 1975, Chávez graduated from the military academy, being rated one of the top graduates of the year (eight out of seventy five).^[26][27][28]