Chavez, a previous military officer who propelled a disastrous overthrow in 1992, was chosen leader of Venezuela in 1998 on a populist stage. As an applicant, he railed against the nation's elites for broad debasement, and swore to utilize Venezuela's immense oil riches to diminish destitution and disparity.

Amid his administration, which kept going until his demise in 2013, Chavez confiscated a large number of sections of land of land and nationalized several private organizations and remote possessed resources, including oil ventures kept running by ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.