{"id":5507,"date":"2026-08-31T18:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T18:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5507"},"modified":"2026-08-31T18:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T18:15:25","slug":"to-hell-and-back-venezuelas-quarter-century-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5507","title":{"rendered":"To hell and back: Venezuela\u2019s quarter century journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, a populist, won Venezuela’s\u00a0presidency\u00a0in a\u00a0democratic election with about\u00a057% of the vote in 1998.<\/p>\n

Read more Summertime and Antifa was Uneasy<\/a><\/p>\n

Prior to Ch\u00e1<\/span>vez,\u00a0Venezuela had been\u00a0a functioning democracy for 40 years.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez campaigned as an outsider who would clean up corruption, challenge the International Monetary Fund (which had wrought havoc on the country through its shock-therapy economic ‘reforms which created\u00a0a crisis),\u00a0and replace the country’s established political system.<\/p>\n

Unlike Castro in Cuba, Ch\u00e1vez did not seize power in a communist revolution. However, by 1999; Ch\u00e1vez changed the political system, by establishing a Constituent Assembly,\u00a0to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution.<\/p>\n

A new constitution was approved in a December 1999 referendum to substantially reorganize the government to give the president significant powers.<\/p>\n

By 2001\u20132002 the hidden communist agenda began to become visible, because he received expanded decree-making powers and introduced\u00a0\u201cmajor economic and political reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

But things were not as presented because opposition from business groups, unions, political parties and parts of the military grew. An unsuccessful coup was attempted by 2002, something that\u00a0Chavez, having been jailed for one in 1992, was no stranger to. After that, expropriations, price controls, court takeovers, corruption of the electoral apparatus, destruction of independent trade unions, repression of the free press, the insertion of Cuban ‘advisors’ into every government agency, and state takeovers of electricity and other vital services followed.<\/p>\n

Sadly, by 2009, Venezuela was no longer considered an electoral democracy because the democratic institutions had been so\u00a0weakened over years.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Chavez died and Nicol\u00e1s Maduro took over. Then something crucial happened in 2016; Maduro’s government neutralized\u00a0the opposition legislature.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (think Supreme Court) aligned with the government, blocks opposition legislators from taking their seats and subsequently invalidates much of the National Assembly’s authority. This is generally considered the year in which Venezuela shed\u00a0its democratic fa\u00e7ade. After that, the oil industry collapsed, and drug-dealing began to become prominent in financing Venezuela’s power centers, which included the military, and thug enforcement operations in the slums, effectively turning Venezuela into a narcostate.<\/p>\n

Any communist takeover of a country needs thuggish enforcers and it was widely reported that for nearly two decades, an estimated 25,000 Cuban personnel \u2014 including elite bodyguards, military advisers, and intelligence agents \u2014 acted as the foundational “coup-proofing” scaffold for the Venezuelan regime. However, Cuban enforcers\u2019\u00a0presence has rapidly collapsed following the Jan.\u00a03, 2026, U.S. military operation that captured President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/p>\n

It took the American military, in a brilliant snatch and grab raid, to bring the hemispheric narco-corrupt Maduro to justice and thus open up a\u00a0 new dawn for all Venezuelan citizens, rich and poor.<\/p>\n

Read more Putin doesn\u2019t have to invade NATO to attack it<\/a><\/p>\n

Now this very bright future for all in Venezuela was just announced, first by President Trump, and then by Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez: \u00a0\u201cVenezuelan interim president offers details on U.S. oil deal.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 25-year bilateral project envisages the development of 17 strategic oilfields with a production target of more than 1.5 million barrels per day,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said on state TV outlet VTV in a late-night address. \u201cThat \u2060figure relates solely to the bilateral agreement between Venezuela and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deal establishes $19 going to Venezuela for each barrel of oil produced and sold to the U.S., generating an estimated $209 billion a year to the South American country, she said. The benchmark price per barrel is $65, which she said could fluctuate based on global prices.<\/p>\n

The deal\u00a0involves\u00a0about 21 percent of Venezuela\u2019s total proven reserves, which\u00a0amount to 303 billion barrels of oil.<\/p>\n

If Venezuela decides to study the Norwegian Model of their North Sea oil revenues and commit to creating their own sovereign wealth fund, such innovative free market capitalism will portend a very bright future for that previously traumatized country.<\/p>\n

Norway is a very prosperous, and globally judged as a very happy country of 5.6 million citizens. Their visionary government leadership commits around $67 billion per year to their Oil Fund, which is now worth between $2.2 trillion\u00a0and $2.3 trillion.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s current population is 29 million, consequently, with a significantly greater yearly oil revenue growth \u00a0just announced, building a national sovereign\u00a0wealth fund will bring a bright prosperous future for a country that suffered greatly under communism, assuming no corruption.<\/p>\n

If Venezuelan oil revenues are managed with transparency for both immediate needs to make up for communist state controlled terror, greed, and mismanagement but also an investment in the future it will be a historic and ongoing lesson for free market capitalism.<\/p>\n

Ed Timperlake was the DOD representative to the National Counterintelligence Executive Committee in Bush 43 and saw firsthand the actions of the Cuban Intelligence Services.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Read more California bruits recognition of two Muslim holy days as official state holidays<\/a><\/p>\n

Image: ChatGPT ai-generated illustration<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, a populist, won Venezuela’s\u00a0presidency\u00a0in a\u00a0democratic election with about\u00a057% of the vote in 1998. Read more Summertime and Antifa was Uneasy Prior to Ch\u00e1vez,\u00a0Venezuela had been\u00a0a functioning democracy for 40 years. Ch\u00e1vez campaigned as an outsider who would clean up corruption, challenge the International Monetary Fund (which had wrought havoc on the country through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,594],"tags":[2190],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-policy","category-venezuela","tag-related-topics-venezuela-energy"],"yoast_head":"\nTo hell and back: Venezuela\u2019s quarter century journey - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5507\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To hell and back: Venezuela\u2019s quarter century journey - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, a populist, won Venezuela’s\u00a0presidency\u00a0in a\u00a0democratic election with about\u00a057% of the vote in 1998. 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