For the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution generated immense hope. To its supporters, it constituted proof that another world — a world beyond capitalism — was not only possible but already in gestation. This hope is now gone. It was smothered by the profound crisis that decimated Venezuela beginning in 2014, with approximately a quarter of the population leaving in the decade since. And it has been all but extinguished by Nicolás Maduro’s brazen, and barely disguised, theft of the presidential election on July 28, 2024, and the state’s brutal crackdown on the popular protests that broke out immediately after.

The profound and tragic demise of the Bolivarian Revolution raises a host of questions: How should we evaluate the Chavista experience? How real was the hope this process generated? And what led to its failure?

To its detractors, Chavismo was a charade perpetuated by a charlatan. In this narrative, put forward by leaders of the US Democratic and Republican parties, the mainstream media, and many social scientists, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez was a demagogue who duped the masses through reckless and unsustainable spending. To these critics, Chávez is the chief culprit for the decimation of Venezuela’s economy and democracy. Maduro is relegated to a secondary role of continuing his predecessor’s disastrous policies, and little attention is given to the role of the United States or Venezuela’s domestic opposition in the country’s crisis.