&gt;<i>Chavez was pushing a sort of ethnic nationalism for the mestizo majority. But his supporters just didn&#x27;t have the technical skills to run an advanced economy.</i><p>It has nothing to do with skills. Chavismo is a fundamentally broken agenda. Socialism (the real deal, not capitalist welfare states) does not work. Nationalizing industries does not work. Price controls do not work. Central planning does not work. The most skilled leader in the world couldn&#x27;t make this program work.<p>And no discussion of this monster is complete without mentioning the political prisoners, extrajudicial killings, and pro-government militias spreading terror just like the Brown Shirts. And look at the company they keep. Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, China, and the various Chavez-imitators in Latin America.<p>Chavez was an evil man.