PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – From the time in 1992 when, as a lieutenant colonel paratrooper in the Venezuelan army, he attempted a coup on the Carlos Andres Peres government, to being constitutionally elected just seven years later, Hugo Chavez as a political figure could not be ignored. His fervent supporters, amongst those who were socially dispossessed and historically discriminated against, perceived him as their redeemer. The middle and upper classes despised him and his socialist policies with equal passion. Undoubtedly, President Chavez made a difference to the lives of the underclass, including establishing a university to educate and facilitate their human development. Over the 14 years of his presidency, there was some change perhaps in the barrios (shanties of Caracas). However, at the same time, thousands of the business and investing classes took flight, exacerbating the historical social divisions.
