President Hugo Chavez salutes the crowd next to his wife Marisabel Chavez during a military parade commemorating the seventh anniversary of his failed 1992 coup in Caracas, Venezuela, 1999. He was elected President of Venezuela in 1998. He won lifelong support from the poor and was an inspiration for the South American left. He nationalised the country's oil reserves and funnelled money into programmes to help the poor. But in doing so he alienated the middle class - whom he called 'esqualidos' (the weak ones) (AP Photo/Douglas Engle)
President Hugo Chavez salutes the crowd next to his wife Marisabel Chavez during a military parade commemorating the seventh anniversary of his failed 1992 coup in Caracas, Venezuela, 1999. He was elected President of Venezuela in 1998. He won lifelong support from the poor and was an inspiration for the South American left. He nationalised the country's oil reserves and funnelled money into programmes to help the poor, providing them with ample health care services, homes and work. But in doing so he alienated the middle class - whom he called 'esqualidos' (the weak ones) (AP Photo/Douglas Engle)