served with the battalion, was the one song he sang during his 8 December 2012 final TV address to the nation.) Chávez received promotions in rapid succession, and was eventually appointed company commander and head of the Department of Physical Education at the Military Academy of Venezuela, remaining in that position from 1980 to 1981. He then headed the Department of Culture at the academy in 1982. Chávez was also a founding commander of the José Antonio Páez Company at the academy from 1983 to 1984. At the time, Chávez gained recognition for his lectures at Caracas's war college, in which he spoke for hours in a "folksy" manner that captivated supporters in his audiences. Chávez's interest in Venezuelan politics only grew throughout his career in the military. Chávez received several decorations: the Star of Carabobo (Estrella de Carabobo); the Land Forces Cross (Cruz de las Fuerzas Terrestres); and was awarded the Military Order of Francisco de Miranda, the Order of Rafael Urdaneta, and the Order of the Liberator, 5th Class (Military Division). Chávez continued playing baseball and softball: he went to the 1976 National Baseball Championships, held in Barinas; and he played in military baseball tournaments, among the most important of which were those held in Cumaná in 1977 and the Dominican Republic in 1980. Apart from his writing, Chávez sculpted, producing such works as the 1980 Sombra de Guerra en el Golfo ("Shadows of War in the Gulf"). Premonitions of a military-civilian coup (1982–1989) Chávez's first attempt at launching a political movement came in 1977, when he formed the Ejército de Liberación del Pueblo de Venezuela, or ELPV—the "Liberation Army of the Venezuelan People". Years later, he recalled that the ELPVs purpose was to "prepare ourselves in case something should happen" and that it was "an important pointer to the future". In 1978, dressed in his army fatigues, Chávez met then-presidential candidate José Vicente Rangel—who later became Chávez's vice-president—and subsequently aided him in affixing election materials in Maracay. Chávez risked expulsion from the military had his superiors found out about such leftist political activities. Under Venezuelan law at the time, military officers and other personnel were forbidden from involving themselves in political affairs of any sort. Moreover, engaging in such illicit activities while dressed in fatigues or in uniform was punishable by even harsher penalties. It was not until the period 1982–1983 that Chávez seriously began to plot