The leader that launched major reforms in Venezuela was Hugo Chavez.
Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias was a Venezuelan politician and military, president of Venezuela from February 2, 1999 until his death in 2013.
After approving a new constitution in 1999, Chavez focused his policies on implementing a series of social reforms as part of the so-called "Bolivarian Revolution," described as a kind of socialist revolution. Thanks to record oil revenues during the 2000s, his government nationalized strategic industries, created the Communal Councils for democratic participation and implemented a series of social programs known as the Bolivarian Missions to expand the population's access to food, housing, health and education. With Venezuela receiving large profits from the sale of oil and with the fall of poverty rates and improvements in literacy and income equality, the quality of life improved, mainly between 2003 and 2007. At the end of the presidency of Chavez, in the decade of 2010, the country's economy began to falter, while poverty, inflation and scarcity increased, which critics attributed to the economic actions of his government in previous years, such as controls on prices and "excessive and unsustainable" spending. During his presidency, the country experienced a significant increase in crime, especially in the homicide rate, and in recent years the perception of corruption in government and police increased.
