FJP, good interchange.While I have an interest in Venezuela, due to having worked there and to having worked with Venezuelans in the US, I am a native of the US. JHM: in reading your posting I am reminded of the blog Radar de Los Barrios.

Thank you JHM, Catire and Opie for your very kind comments. I am not Venezuelan nor do I consider myself to be any kind of expert on the matter; but do consider myself to be very much an 'American' in the true sense of the word (ie, North, Central and South) and am very fond of Venezuela and a great admirer of Simon Bolivar as well. Your collective commentaries are both enlightening and ones which certainly offer a bright glimmer of hope for the future of Venezuela (I assume you all are Venezuelan). Unlike some from afield who view the situation in Venezuela either far too cynically or naively it seems that both Catire and JHM, and from very different perspectives at that, are looking at the issues in a balanced and objective standpoint. In the end it is simply unforgivable what Chavez has done. This said I am confident that he will one day meet with due justice and it will more than likely be far from pleasant. As JHM well stated, all dictators eventually are brought down by their own people. Unfortunately the damage to the Venezuelan psyche will take years if not decades to repair (an interesting case and possible parallel for me is what happened to Nicaragua after the Sandinista's first round). I wonder, what would Chile be today with Venezuelan oil revenues or, more to the point, Venezuela with Chile's political maturity and conscience of the last twenty years or so? JHM is right as to needing to understand the Venezuelan people and their plight. In this regard Bolivar had very keen insight which is still relevant in many ways today. From another standpoint, oil increasingly seems to have been more a bane than a blessing to Venezuela so far as she has little, actually, all things considered, nothing to show for it. So far it seems to have been more an 'opium' in every sense of the word than anything else. Finally to Ms Neumann I would like to thank you for your article which clearly sparked interesting responses from far and wide. I sincerely hope that you did not take offence at most of the well meaning commentary and that it has possibly made you think about your beloved Venezuela in a more comprehensive light. You are very articulate and there is no question that your country will need all its 'intelligentsia' working collectively for it once the current group of plunderers are finished. What was that song from The Who decades ago? 'We Won't Get Fooled Again!' In Venezuela's case, I certainly hope not.

This is a very interesting article in that it shows us how we see life through our own interests and sometimes are unable - or unwilling - to understand the different dimensions of the situations. Vanessa Neumann (who I gather is a relative of Hans Neumann, founder of Venezuela's daily English language newspaper), sees the Venezuelan situation through her rose coloured elitist lenses and is very offensive to poorer chavistas, by calling them "ignorant and desperate hordes". Has she ever even been to a barrio? Has she spoken, for example, to the thousands of venezuelans who have benefitted from the social missions, especially the adult education ones? Does she even know what it means to feel human dignity after having been repressed? True, the objectives of the social missions have been terribly distorted since their implementation in 2003, but great good has been achieved in many senses. As some of the other commentators wrote, venezuelans have been participating in politics over the last ten years more than ever before, and that is both commendable and highly desirable in a participatory democracy. Now, to be clear about this, I am not a Chavez supporter, for I hate what he is doing to my country, but as a venezuelan sociologist who worked in the barrios for a number of years, with the impoverished people of the nation, and growing up in the upper middle class of the venezuelan society, I am fortunate enough to understand at least some of the different dimensions of the venezuelan society and politics. FJP gave an excellent analysis in his/her comment. Bravo. Many people, especially those from the D, E and F socioeconomic strata (the lower to the lowest) really believed in Chavez and in what he represented and for quite some time he gave them a voice and the means to become empowered. It is terrible that he is a megalomaniac and a caudillo with his own interests at heart, which have led to further destruction of the venezuelan society. But is our opposition any better? The venezuelan opposition now has another, opportunity to really come together and help rebuild our society. Will we really do it? Or will power and resentment continue dividing the society? To be able to understand Chavez, the Bolivarian Revolution and the Venezuelan society today we need to understand the culture and the history of the people. These cannot be understood merely through economics and the price of oil. Oil revenues are a major factor indeed, and high revenues have been the financial motor of the expansion of the revolution and of Chavez' influence within and beyond Venezuela's borders, but the fundamental development of the revolution has been carried out by the people. Do you want to understand the poor people of Venezuela, which comprehend the overwhelming majority of the population? Go to the barrios and poorer neighbourhoods, spend time there, be with the people, talk with them, cook with them, eat with them, work with them, get to know them, and you will understand the hope and the despair, the dreams and the sorrow and the natural good naturedness of the people who brought Chavez to power and will take him down. All in all, the situation is much more complex than any one of us can explain here, without writing a book on Venezuelan society and politics - and one book would never enough, for the story unfolds even as we speak, as it should.

Vanessa: sorry to hear that the Country Club is suffering. Unfortunately this is rather more than counter-balanced by the massive number of Venezuelans aided by reforms. That's what happens if a large number of people get oil wealth instead of a small number. http://scriboergosum.org.uk

FJP: we definitely have some common ground. I should have read past your first few sentences. My mistake. Do you read any of the English language blogs on Venezuela, such as Devil's Excrement, Caracas Chronicles, or Daniel- Venezuela( Venezuela News and Views)? Caracas Chronicles, in the upper right part of its home page, has a link to "Beginner's Guide to the Chavez Era." Perhaps one of the best quick summaries of Venezuela and oil is found in the Beginner's Guide" in "The Petrostate That Was and the Petrostate That Is." Chavez's path in power can be correlated with the price of oil. 1998: $10/bbl. 2008:$140.2009:$50 (whatever).The popularity of Venezuelan governments the last 40 years is closely correlated with the price of oil and the ability of the government to distribute the corresponding goodies. My first reaction to Chavez was that his ascendancy to the presidency was the result of corruption and poor governing. When I worked with some Venezuelans in the US, I got an additional perspective. Regarding "utterly baffling," one might ask why anyone would be surprised that an army officer who had instigated a failed coup would, upon being elected, proceed to govern in a manner not entirely consistent with the norms of law and democracy. What you see is what you get. A golpista in power will govern like a golpista.

Somehow I don't think you understood my commentary; there is no way it can be construed as remotely defending Mr Chavez in any way whatsoever. If I was too kind to him it was in stating that his misguided policies are 'destined to fail' when in fact - as you rightly have pointed out - they have already failed in a massive way. Ten years with your stated $700B in revenues with nothing but misery to show for it 'should' be enough for any country to dismiss the government. Yet he amazingly still enjoys a healthy approval rating in Venezuela. Why? A total lack of social conscience, maturity and short sightedness by the majority of the Venezuelan people? Utterly baffling to say the least.

By the way FTP, while Chavez campaigned in 1998 to stop corruption, corruption is worse than ever. If Hugo's management of $700 billion in oil revenues for the last 10 years has been so good for the poor, then why has the murder rate tripled since 1998?

after the comment by FJP there is nothing left to say. Well done.

Mr Chavez is the result of 40 years of rape, pillaging and plundering of the country's coffers by the upper middle and upper socio-economic classes who had little if any respect or love of country. Venezuela has been blessed with every imaginable natural resource but also with a people who simply have only cared about themselves, individually. Chavez was nothing but a violent reaction to decades of this abuse of the country, its laws and a gross neglect for the overall betterment and well being of all Venezuelans by those who when they could have done something didn't. Chavez is nothing but a classic Latin American megalomaniac 'Caudillo' and his 'Revolutionary Socialism' nothing but a misguided, massively expensive, juvenile adventure motivated in large part by his own personal psychological demons and shortcomings made possible only by oil revenues, which is destined to fail. In the end he will be remembered as an opportunistic hypocrite and for what he inherently is: a traitor to the country's real Constitution and the democracy the Venezuela's founding fathers fought so bravely and unselfishly to establish against all odds. Cahvez's masquerading behind Simon Bolivar is both cheap and vulgar and clearly indicates that this man is nothing more or less than a 'poser'. Simon Bolivar would be appalled and insulted not for Chavez's misrepresentation of his ideals and name by this 'poser' but by the way he has abused the country and its people, all purportedly with the best of intentions and in the name of the 'Fatherland'. He is nothing but a clown. As it relates to Ms Neumann's account and point of view - and with respect - had she taken off what clearly were rose coloured glasses she would have seen a decidedly different Venezuela than that from the vantage point of her beloved 'Country Club' or through her father's Mercedes Benz saloon, one with very dangerous undercurrents gaining strength through the decades. Hopefully this cathartic process the country is going through will, finally, result in a more balanced approach to governance and a respect and love for country.

rich girl goes back to Venezuela for a wedding at the country club and tells us about the 'ignorant poor' bribed by alcohol. Most of this article is woefully ignorant - food shortages have resulted from the fact that the poor can afford them for the first time, and supply hasn't kept up with expanded demand. Do you really think we care about rich people being shaken down for money?