Key dates in the political life of Hugo Chavez

CARACAS - Agence France-Presse

This undated picture shows Venezulean President Hugo Chavez (R) when he was a child posing with his brother Adam Chavez (L) in Barinas, Venezuela. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez passed away on March 5, 2013 in Caracas after a long fight with cancer, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced. AFP PHOTO

The following is a chronology of events in the political career of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died Tuesday at the age of 58: -- February 4, 1992: Chavez, then a 37-year-old paratrooper lieutenant colonel, leads a failed coup. He is jailed for two years.

-- December 6, 1998: Chavez is elected president with 56 percent of the vote. He takes office in February 1999.

-- July 30, 2000: Chavez is re-elected with 56.9 percent of the vote, seven months after a constitutional reform that extended presidential terms from five years to six.

-- April 11, 2002: Huge protest organized by business leaders and the biggest workers' union demanding Chavez's resignation. After clashes leave 19 people dead, the military ousts Chavez and jails him in a base on an island.

-- April 12, 2002: Pedro Carmona, president of the Venezuelan chamber of commerce, heads an interim government, throws out the constitution and dissolves the legislature. Elections are called for the following year.

-- April 13, 2002: Chavez supporters hold protests and loyal soldiers restore him to power 47 hours after his ouster.

-- December 2, 2002: The oil giant PDVSA begins a strike aimed at forcing Chavez out but the attempt ends in failure and huge financial losses two months later.

-- August 15, 2004: Chavez defeats attempts to force him from office in a recall referendum, getting 59 percent support.

-- December 4, 2005: The opposition boycotts legislative elections, handing Chavez loyalists all seats in the National Assembly.

-- December 3, 2006: Chavez defeats state governor Manuel Rosales in the presidential election, winning 62.89 percent of the vote.

-- December 2, 2007: Venezuelan voters reject a raft of constitutional reforms in a referendum aimed at eliminating presidential term limits.

-- February 15, 2009: This time, 54.36 percent of Venezuelans vote in favor of a constitutional amendment allowing presidents to run for office multiple times.

-- September 26, 2010: Chavez's party wins legislative elections but the opposition grabs 40 percent of the seats.

-- June 10, 2011: Chavez undergoes surgery in Cuba to treat an 'abscess' in his pelvic area.

-- June 30, 2011: Chavez discloses that he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.

-- October 20, 2011: Chavez declares he is free of cancer after four rounds of chemotherapy.

-- December 2, 2011: Chavez hosts a regional summit to launch the Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States (CELAC).

-- February 21, 2012: Chavez announces that tests found a lesion near where a tumor had been
removed and that he will again undergo surgery in Cuba.

-- March 4, 2012: Chavez confirms that a tumor was removed and that the cancer has returned, requiring radiation therapy in Cuba.

-- March-April 2012: Chavez makes multiple trips to Cuba for cancer treatment, withdrawing from public appearances.

-- July 9, 2012: Chavez declares himself cancer-free again.

-- July 30, 2012: In a rare trip abroad since the start of his battle with cancer, Chavez goes to Brazil to mark Venezuela's entry into the Mercosur trade bloc.

-- October 7, 2012: Chavez defeats opposition leader Henrique Capriles with 55 percent of the vote after his toughest campaign in years.

-- December 8, 2012: Chavez reveals a cancer relapse and that he urgently needs a new operation in Cuba.

-- December 11, 2012: Chavez undergoes a fourth round of cancer surgery in Cuba.

-- December 19, 2012: The government announces Chavez is in a "stable" condition after being diagnosed with a respiratory infection.

-- February 15: In a first glimpse of Chavez for two months, he is seen in photos in Havana bed-ridden but smiling.

-- February 18: Chavez says on Twitter that he has returned to Venezuela and is taken to a military hospital in Caracas.

-- March 4: Chavez suffers from a "new and severe infection" that has caused a "worsening of respiratory function," the government says.