From the day he became president in 1999 until his untimely death in 2013, Hugo Chávez left an indelible mark upon Venezuela. Practicing what he called the "socialism of the 21st century," Chávez attempted to establish a loosely aligned federation of revolutionary republics as a resistance bloc in the Americas, particularly to superpowers like the United States.
That is a message that resonates even today to many Venezuelans. To keep the leader's memory and mission alive, a group called Creative Trench has created an "anti-imperialist" font from his handwriting.
Chávez's signature upon his country is so literal that it's not uncommon to see three-story recreations of his handwriting on the side of buildings in Venezuela. It is also seen on T-shirts and baseball caps.
ChávezPro is modeled after letters Chávez wrote in prison in 1992 after a failed coup. Creative Trench digitized his handwriting, and released the font just to commemorate the 60th anniversary of his birth.
The handwriting of a dead politician turned into an infinitely reproducible computer font that anyone can use to write everything from political manifestos to advertising copy? This probably isn't what Chávez thought the socialism of the 21st century would look like. But even so, my guess is that the person who happily wrote his name on the side of 36-foot-tall buildings would approve.
You can download the ChávezPro font free on the Creative Trench website.
[H/T Guardian]