Mainstream WeeklyWhen Hugo Chavez was elected as the president in 1998, a movement swept through Venezuela, embarking on a journey that would emerge as the Bolivarian Revolution. The movement sought to reassert sovereignty over political decision-making, natural resources and regional alliances.
Hugo Chavez named the movement after Simon Bolivar, the 19th-century Venezuelan leader who played a key role in the Latin American war of independence, and whose legacy was invoked as a symbol of sovereignty and anti-imperialism.
After Chavez