The Inflation of Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez, the recently deceased Venezuelan president, oversaw a sharp drop in poverty and included millions of marginalized citizens in politics for the first time. But poverty has plummeted in almost every country in the region since the start of the century – and at a far lower cost.
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MEXICO CITY – Supporters of Hugo Chávez, the recently deceased Venezuelan president, and even many of his critics, have repeatedly emphasized two supposed achievements that will burnish his legacy. First, the share of people living in poverty plummeted to approximately 28% in 2012, from a peak of 62% in 2003 (though it was 46% three years earlier, at the beginning of Chávez’s first term). Second, he gave to a majority of Venezuelans a sense of identity, pride, and dignity long denied them by a corrupt, elitist, light-skinned oligarchy.