Chávez death marks new era for Venezuelan Millennials
Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cry March 6 in front of the Military Hospital where he died a day earlier.
The death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez will likely mark the end of an era for the South American country that has been under his rule for 14 years.
But for Venezuelan Millennials, the possibility of a new administration signifies fresh opportunites for a generation who has grown up knowing nothing except his controversial regime.
“I always knew my parents were anti-Chavistas,” said Paola Finol, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, who was born in Venezuela. “They were always talking about how he was leading the country toward socialism, and they didn’t like the fact that he was power-hungry. That’s what I grew up thinking: He was a crazy man who really wanted power.”
Chávez, who died from cancer this week at the age of 58, was both praised and shunned for his socialist tendencies. Throughout much of his presidency, he directed many of his efforts toward helping the lower class, which some Venezuelans found polarizing.
“Yeah, he’s helped a lot of poor people but concentrates on the lowest of the lowest, and the way I view it, it was to gain votes,” said Juan Acosta, a student in Miami who was born in Acarigua, Venezuela and immigrated to Miami when he was 8 years old. “If you guide your campaign toward the poor, they’re all going to vote for you. He gave coupons for food and all sorts of help to the poor, but then you have middle class, working class, you have the upper class. They’re all suffering because of that.”
Kevin Castillo, a freshman at Miami Dade College in Miami, was born in the United States to a Venezuelan mother, but spent three years living in Venezuela until he chose to return to Miami last summer.
While living in Valencia, Venezuela, he noticed that security – or lack thereof – was a problem. The country has one of the highest murder rates in the world, but suffers from a shortage of police officers, which is one reason, Castillo said, that Millennials are interested in emigrating.
“People would ask me 'where are you from? Where are you from?’ And I would tell them, ‘From the U.S.’ And 95% of the people would ask me, ‘Why did you come here?’” Castillo said. “Because everyone knows the country wasn’t doing as well as it should be, especially compared to the U.S. So then, a lot of people would say, ‘Oh, take me with you.’ They want to move. A lot of people want to move.”
Regardless of people’s attitudes toward Chávez, the whole country was rocked by his death. Some wept, some celebrated, but the entire nation was affected in some way.
“It felt weird because I haven’t known any other ruler of Venezuela,” Finol said. “It’s kind of weird to think that there’s going to be a different leader, and there’s so many ways and consequences that can come out of this.”
Former vice-president Nicolás Maduro was sworn in as interim president, but an official presidential election will be held sometime next month.
If Maduro is elected, it’s almost certain that he will carry on Chávez’s legacy.
But if an outsider, like opposition frontrunner Henrique Capriles Radonski, wins the election, it could be the first step in showcasing a side of Venezuela that has been repressed, Acosta said.
“That’s where I was born, that’s where my parents were born. I obviously want to see it succeed: economically, politically, everything,” Acosta said. “I know that Venezuela has a lot of great qualities. I know it’s got a lot of potential, and it’s got a lot of resources to be able to become a great nation. I guess it’s just a matter time and a matter of the correct people being in power.”
Taylor Lewis is a Spring 2013 Paste BN Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.
This story originally appeared on the Paste BN College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.