Within the series Thesis Pieces featured on For the Desk Drawer, this is the eighth contribution thus far with this contribution authored by Carolina Cepeda, a visiting PhD researcher from the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia to the University of Nottingham. While researching under the supervision of myself and Andreas Bieler, Carolina has been increasingly drawn to analysing the alter-globalisation movement in Latin America. In this piece she assesses the implications across the region in light of the death of Hugo Chávez and the regional impact this may have on the “Bolivarian Revolution”, following the recent elections in Venezuela.
Hugo Chávez died on March 5th and now Venezuela has a new president: Nicolás Maduro. Chávez was Venezuela’s President for 14 years during which he transformed the country through social programmes, political and popular education, and the redistribution of wealth, mainly funded through oil revenue. However his performance in power generated huge debates among academics, politicians and civil society in general because his important accomplishments in social policy were accompanied with charges of authoritarian practice and the lack of transparency in some procedures.