Factbox: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

(Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is seeking re-election in an October 7 vote which, if he wins, would potentially extend his socialist rule to 20 years.

Here are some key facts about Chavez:

Born to a poor family in the Venezuelan plains, or "llanos," on July 28, 1954, Chavez once aspired to be a painter and then a professional baseball player. He often explains politics using baseball metaphors and the folksy language of the llanos he learned during his childhood.

A former lieutenant colonel, Chavez spent much of his later military career conspiring with other leftist officers to overthrow the traditional political order. He led a 1992 coup that failed but made his reputation and propelled him toward the presidency as a populist leader.

Chavez won a 1998 presidential election and took office early the following year. Opposition politicians and dissident troops led a coup against him in 2002, but supporters and loyal soldiers swept him back to power in less than two days. Chavez accuses the U.S. government of backing the putsch.

Chavez has enjoyed wide backing among Venezuela's poor majority with massive social spending to expand health and education programs, financed by income from oil exports. He has also cultivated support by confronting the United States, which he denounces as a decadent empire.

Chavez has at various points threatened to shut off oil supplies to the United States - including when he accused then-U.S. President George W. Bush of backing the short-lived 2002 coup attempt - but has always backed off. The United States remains Venezuela's major export market.

Inspired by his friend and mentor, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chavez has taken Venezuela down an increasingly radical path, nationalizing large swaths of the economy and running the government with a personalized - many say autocratic - style. Opponents say he has become an old-style Latin American "caudillo," or dictator, repressing critics, squandering the nation's oil wealth and ruining its economy.

Chavez has a deliberately populist style and is famous for his strong language and long-winded speeches that often drag on late into the night. He recently broke his own record to give a speech for 9 1/2 hours.

Chavez announced in mid-2011 that he was being treated for cancer. He had three operations in Cuba, where two malignant tumors were removed, but declared himself completely cured in July just before the campaign's final stage. Doctors say it is impossible to rule out another recurrence.

(Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Kieran Murray)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-venezuelan-president-hugo-chavez-050920779.html

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