i don't know if you caught that at the end, there.

how's this for a simple explanation: the reason venezuela has been dealing with crippling food shortages since the death of chavez is that food production actually remains under the control of american multinationals that would prefer to export for profit than sell to the local population, and that this is happening with the tacit support of maduro?

they talk of everything except what matters, which is that resources continue to flow in a one-way direction.

i stated this countless times when he was alive: what made chavez special was that he controlled the military. this is my realism burbling back up again, and as usual i don't like the reality it presents. but, this is both the reason he survived and the reason his reforms were partially successful. the threat of force was real.

it evaporated on his death.