Almost all of the late president's children are outside Venezuela. His brothers have little influence in Nicolás Maduro's circle of power.
Five years ago, Hugo Chávez Frías died of cancer. He ruled Venezuela for 14 years, one of the countries with the most crude oil reserves in the world, but which today barely survives. The Bolivarian Revolution is failing with its political heir, Nicolás Maduro. That is his political heritage. What has happened to the Chávez family after the death of their most renowned son?
The Bolivarian leader married twice and had six children: Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela and Hugo Rafael, the result of his first marriage (1977) with a primary school teacher from his native Barinas. During the 18 years that he was married, he maintained a parallel relationship with the historian Herma Marksman. In 1997 he remarried the journalist María Isabel Rodríguez. He was married to her for 7 years and had a daughter, Rosinés.
And although not public, Chávez maintained other relationships, two of which left two girls: Génesis, the result of a relationship with the Venezuelan consul in Guayaquil, Lissette Segura; and the youngest, Sara Manuela, whose mother would have been the most important "love" of the commander's life. Who? The American press accuses Nidia Fajardo, a stewardess of the presidential plane, of being that love with whom she had a 14-year relationship. They even say that he got married secretly.
The clan, according to press reports, would have begun an internal struggle for control of the money left by the commander, which according to the Venezuelan press amounted to US$500 million. However, five years later, it is known that almost all of them are outside Venezuela, according to the official press, "due to opposition attacks." This is what transpired:
Fight with Cilia Flórez . A year after Chávez's disappearance, Miraflores had a new tenant: Cilia Flórez, Nicolás Maduro's wife, who wanted to take her place. For months he lived in La Viñeta, another residence with fewer luxuries, but then he claimed his place. The Madrid newspaper ABC reported then that Chávez's daughters, Rosa Virginia and María Gabriela, refused to leave the place they occupied for 15 years.
Rosa Virginia, the eldest daughter of the deceased, was married twice: the first to Pedro Manuel Prieto, nephew of a former Minister of Defense, with whom she had a son. "The rooster," Chávez called him. From her second marriage to Jorge Arreaza, former Minister of Communications and today Chancellor of the Republic, she had another son. It's already separated. He studied International Relations at the Central University of Venezuela, but has not been involved in politics.
Since Maduro assumed the presidency, he has been in charge of the Misión Milagros Foundation, a government project that he sponsors and that is part of the health mission, one of the most ambitious of the Chávez era, which welcomed millions of low-income Venezuelans, but today it is going through financial difficulties.
They say María Gabriela was Chávez's favorite, in fact she was the one who exposed the coup d'état in 2002 and that is why her father had a special affection for her. After her death, many said that she would become, in the distant future, her father's successor in power. Since last year she has held the position of Alternate Ambassador of Venezuela to the United Nations.
The only male, Hugo Chávez, would be the natural political heir, but he is completely removed from politics and is very distant from his sisters. He did not have a good relationship with Hugo Chávez. They say he lives outside of Venezuela with all the luxuries that his father left him.
The Chavez brothers . Hugo Chávez had five siblings, all born within the marriage of professors Hugo de los Reyes Chávez and Elena Frías in the state of Barinas. Last year, Aníbal, younger than the late president, died from a stomach infection caused by bacterial Salmonellosis affecting important organs.
The Chávez were owners and lords of the Barinas state. According to former opposition deputy Wimer Azuaje, the family owns 17 farms, many with private roads and airports, vehicles and accounts abroad. Although Jorge Arreaza claimed that Chávez only left "books and decorations" as a material inheritance, but no property or fortune.
During last year's demonstrations, Twitter users reported that a group of protesters burned down the birthplace of the late president, located in Sabaneta, Barinas state.
Today, says the Venezuelan press, Chávez's brothers still have power: Argenis has been president of the state electricity company Corpoelec, also governor of the state of Barinas, he was appointed by Maduro. and Narciso has dedicated himself to the purchase of land while trying to gain political power from the Socialist Party in Barinitas, coordinating the slaud agreement with Cuba. The father of the clan, Hugo de los Reyes Chávez, is still alive as is Elena Frías.
Adán Chávez, the eldest, was active on the left along with Hugo in his youth. He has been a university professor and physicist, as well as one of the founders of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Last year, his name appeared on the list of eight Chavista officials sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, after being appointed secretary of the National Constituent Assembly. He had already been Minister of Culture, governor of Barinas and is the only one who has contact with the Chavista power.
Today it is the family with the least power. After pulling all the strings from Miraflores, little by little the Chávez have distanced themselves from Maduro. Because of whom? Cilia Flores, who would have caused Hugo Chávez's heirs to lose influence in key sectors of the country.
