Chavez, you see, made sure the people were behind him in his socialist quest:
New York University historian Greg Grandin has pointed out, Chávez “submitted himself and his agenda to 14 national votes, winning 13 of them by large margins, in polling deemed by Jimmy Carter to be ‘best in the world.’”
That quotes Vox. I won't go there. 'Tis a silly place.
There were votes. And the people backed Hugo Chavez. A wagon train needs to yoke the oxen to get them pulling in one direction and a socialist dictatorship is no exception.
What was lacking was rule of law. Those votes merely allowed Chavez to push forward his dictatorship under the color of law. Without rule of law, elections are shams or selective questions put to the people by the rulers when it is convenient to the ruler.
And it is clear that Venezuela's rulers cared about the views of the people only when the people agreed with the rulers. Now the voice of the people is ignored and suppressed--starved and shot by Maduro's goons.
Maduro didn't betray the vision of Chavez. Maduro is the continuation of it. Just as Stalin was the continuation of Lenin and not a change of course.
Only a dotard could think otherwise.
