Chávez to blame

To quote Mark L. Schneider in his May 26 opinion piece, Venezuela is on the brink of a real social explosion, “Hugo Chávez should be turning over in his grave as the poor are suffering the most from Venezuela’s economic collapse.”

I am sorry, but that is pure historical revisionism. Why give Chávez a pass? He was the demagogue who orchestrated the destruction of whatever democratic institutions were then functioning in Venezuela.

Closer inspection shows that rather than improving the plight of the poor, his motivation was in empowering and enriching himself and his cronies.

This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Chávez to blame."