O libertador está vivo: uso e reinvenção do mito bolivariano no governo de Hugo Chávez

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze how the former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez sought to reconstruct the figure of the greatest hero of his country, Simón Bolívar, and to use it as the main standard of his government. The objective of this research is to demonstrate how Chavez took advantage of a traditional and recurring element in the local political sphere (the Bolivarian myth), differing, however, to argue that Bolivar would be holder of revolutionary and popular ideals, and therefore , it could be used as theoretical support of a breaking process in Venezuelan society (marked by oppression of a minority over the majority of the population), while the vast majority of governments used it through an aggregator bias. This use of Bolívar, entered as mentor of a government which proposed as revolutionary, will be demonstrated through the analysis of speeches in which Chavez makes mention of such features of the Liberator and defends the relevance of the Bolivarian ideals in the current context of Venezuela. In this occasion, will discuss the historical and political landscape that marks the pre-Chavez Venezuela, the origins of the cult of Bolívar and its incorporation into the sphere Venezuelan politics, as well as the different uses of the Bolivarian myth by local political leaders. Such an approach will culminate in the analysis concerning the construction of Chavez`s Bolivar, their use of strategies and the attempt to create a mythic image around the former President based on such references.